In Box Review of Tamiya 1/350th Scale
Bismarck German Battleship
Kit no. 7301
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2005
Available at Mega Hobby for $ 91.80 or at 1001 Hobbies for $177.99 and at 5 locations overseas on the web.
I paid $125.00 for my kit 20 years ago at a local shop that went out of business.
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2005
Available at Mega Hobby for $ 91.80 or at 1001 Hobbies for $177.99 and at 5 locations overseas on the web.
I paid $125.00 for my kit 20 years ago at a local shop that went out of business.
HISTORY:
Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched in February 1939. Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power.
In the course of the warship's eight-month career under her sole commanding officer, Captain Ernst Lindemann, Bismarck conducted only one offensive operation, lasting 8 days in May 1941, codenamed Rheinübung. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain.
The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the battlecruiser HMS Hood initially engaged Prinz Eugen, probably by mistake, while HMS Prince of Wales engaged Bismarck.
In the ensuing battle Hood was destroyed by the combined fire of Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, which then damaged Prince of Wales and forced her retreat. Bismarck suffered sufficient damage from three hits by Prince of Wales to force an end to the raiding mission.
The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships. Two days later, heading for occupied France to effect repairs, Bismarck was attacked by 16 Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal; one scored a hit that rendered the battleship's steering gear inoperable.
In her final battle the following morning, the already-crippled Bismarck was engaged by two British battleships and two heavy cruisers, and sustained incapacitating damage and heavy loss of life. The ship was scuttled to prevent her being boarded by the British, and to allow the ship to be abandoned so as to limit further casualties. Most experts agree that the battle damage would have caused her to sink eventually.
The wreck was located in June 1989 by Robert Ballard, and has since been further surveyed by several other expeditions. A detailed underwater survey of the wreck in 2002 showed that the sustained close-range shelling was largely ineffective in the effort to sink the ship, the many torpedoes launched at Bismarck were also almost completely ineffective, and the plating of the armour deck was also found to be virtually intact.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Name: Bismarck
Namesake: Otto von Bismarck
Builder: Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Laid down: 1 July 1936
Launched: 14 February 1939
Commissioned: 24 August 1940
Fate: Scuttled following incapacitating battle damage, 27 May 1941 in the North Atlantic, 48°10′N 16°12′W
Class and type: Bismarck-class battleship
Displacement: 41,700 t (41,000 long tons) standard, 50,300 t (49,500 long tons) full load
Length: 241.6 m (792 ft 8 in) waterline, 251 m (823 ft 6 in) overall
Beam: 36 m (118 ft 1 in)
Draft: 9.3 m (30 ft 6 in) standard
Installed power: 12 × Wagner superheated boilers, 148,116 shp (110,450 kW)
Propulsion: 3 × geared turbines, 3 × screw propellers
Speed: 30.01 knots (55.58 km/h; 34.53 mph) during trials
Range: 8,870 nmi (16,430 km; 10,210 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement: 103 officers, 1,962 enlisted men
Sensors and processing systems: FuMO 23 Seetakt radar
Armament: 8 × 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 (4 × 2), 12 × 15 cm (5.9 in) SK C/28 (6 × 2), 16 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/33 (8 × 2), 16 × 3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30 (8 × 2), 12 × 2 cm (0.79 in) FlaK 30 (12 × 1)
Armour: Belt: 320 mm (12.6 in), Turrets: 360 mm (14.2 in), Main deck: 100–120 mm (3.9–4.7 in)
Aircraft carried: 4 × Arado Ar 196 floatplanes
Aviation facilities: 1 double-ended catapult
Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched in February 1939. Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power.
In the course of the warship's eight-month career under her sole commanding officer, Captain Ernst Lindemann, Bismarck conducted only one offensive operation, lasting 8 days in May 1941, codenamed Rheinübung. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain.
The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the battlecruiser HMS Hood initially engaged Prinz Eugen, probably by mistake, while HMS Prince of Wales engaged Bismarck.
In the ensuing battle Hood was destroyed by the combined fire of Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, which then damaged Prince of Wales and forced her retreat. Bismarck suffered sufficient damage from three hits by Prince of Wales to force an end to the raiding mission.
The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships. Two days later, heading for occupied France to effect repairs, Bismarck was attacked by 16 Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal; one scored a hit that rendered the battleship's steering gear inoperable.
In her final battle the following morning, the already-crippled Bismarck was engaged by two British battleships and two heavy cruisers, and sustained incapacitating damage and heavy loss of life. The ship was scuttled to prevent her being boarded by the British, and to allow the ship to be abandoned so as to limit further casualties. Most experts agree that the battle damage would have caused her to sink eventually.
The wreck was located in June 1989 by Robert Ballard, and has since been further surveyed by several other expeditions. A detailed underwater survey of the wreck in 2002 showed that the sustained close-range shelling was largely ineffective in the effort to sink the ship, the many torpedoes launched at Bismarck were also almost completely ineffective, and the plating of the armour deck was also found to be virtually intact.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Name: Bismarck
Namesake: Otto von Bismarck
Builder: Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Laid down: 1 July 1936
Launched: 14 February 1939
Commissioned: 24 August 1940
Fate: Scuttled following incapacitating battle damage, 27 May 1941 in the North Atlantic, 48°10′N 16°12′W
Class and type: Bismarck-class battleship
Displacement: 41,700 t (41,000 long tons) standard, 50,300 t (49,500 long tons) full load
Length: 241.6 m (792 ft 8 in) waterline, 251 m (823 ft 6 in) overall
Beam: 36 m (118 ft 1 in)
Draft: 9.3 m (30 ft 6 in) standard
Installed power: 12 × Wagner superheated boilers, 148,116 shp (110,450 kW)
Propulsion: 3 × geared turbines, 3 × screw propellers
Speed: 30.01 knots (55.58 km/h; 34.53 mph) during trials
Range: 8,870 nmi (16,430 km; 10,210 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement: 103 officers, 1,962 enlisted men
Sensors and processing systems: FuMO 23 Seetakt radar
Armament: 8 × 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 (4 × 2), 12 × 15 cm (5.9 in) SK C/28 (6 × 2), 16 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/33 (8 × 2), 16 × 3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30 (8 × 2), 12 × 2 cm (0.79 in) FlaK 30 (12 × 1)
Armour: Belt: 320 mm (12.6 in), Turrets: 360 mm (14.2 in), Main deck: 100–120 mm (3.9–4.7 in)
Aircraft carried: 4 × Arado Ar 196 floatplanes
Aviation facilities: 1 double-ended catapult
THE KIT:
Tamiya is an old prolific model company based in Japan. They manufacture all manner of model subjects in the popular scales.
This kit comes in a tray and lid type box that was taped shut and then shrink-wrapped in clear plastic sheet. The 2 bands of wide scotch tape scored the box when they were removed.
The box art shows the Bismarck underway at sea. It is overall medium-gray with black and white vertical bands on its sides.
One side-panel of the box says BISMARCK, followed by a color side-view illustration of the ship in the box art scheme. Followed by a paragraph all in Japanese and Tamiya’s address in Japan,
Tamiya is an old prolific model company based in Japan. They manufacture all manner of model subjects in the popular scales.
This kit comes in a tray and lid type box that was taped shut and then shrink-wrapped in clear plastic sheet. The 2 bands of wide scotch tape scored the box when they were removed.
The box art shows the Bismarck underway at sea. It is overall medium-gray with black and white vertical bands on its sides.
One side-panel of the box says BISMARCK, followed by a color side-view illustration of the ship in the box art scheme. Followed by a paragraph all in Japanese and Tamiya’s address in Japan,
The other side-panel of the box shows BISMARCK again, followed by a color top-view illustration of the ship. It has medium-gray superstructure and tan decks. There is a gray band across the bow with a white circle with a black swastika on it. Followed by another paragraph all in Japanese and a repeat of Tamiya’s address in Japan.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX:
The kit holds 9 medium-gray trees, a medium-gray deck and hull bottom part, a black tree, printed Kriegsmarine flags with no swastikas on them to cut out with scissors, a spool of clear plastic wire, in 6 stapled-shut cello bags.
I have added a black steel chain in a blister pack, an Oryon brand metal replica award badge in blister pack that I paid $19.95 for, a Gold Medal Model brand brass PE set and a tiny cloth Kriegsmarine flag with the swastika on it.
The kit holds 9 medium-gray trees, a medium-gray deck and hull bottom part, a black tree, printed Kriegsmarine flags with no swastikas on them to cut out with scissors, a spool of clear plastic wire, in 6 stapled-shut cello bags.
I have added a black steel chain in a blister pack, an Oryon brand metal replica award badge in blister pack that I paid $19.95 for, a Gold Medal Model brand brass PE set and a tiny cloth Kriegsmarine flag with the swastika on it.
The instructions consist of a staple-bound booklet of 12 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
Page 1 begins with Bismarck's specifications, over a black and white side-view illustration of it in the box art scheme and a black and white repeat of the box art.
Page 2 has the history of the Bismarck, over a black and white photo of the ship at sea.
Page 3 through to page 9 gives a grand total of 25 assembly steps.
Pages 10 & 11 are painting and marking guides.
Page 10 shows a 2-view, side and top, of the Bismarck in the box art scheme.
Page 11 shows a side view of it without the vertical black and white stripes.
Page 12 is the parts trees illustrations. They include illustrations of motorization parts that are in the motorized version kit of the Bismark that Tamiya markets. This kit, however, is the static one and does not include these parts.
Part trees are alphabetized.
There are 2 identical black letter A trees. They hold display stand parts. (3 parts ea.)
Page 1 begins with Bismarck's specifications, over a black and white side-view illustration of it in the box art scheme and a black and white repeat of the box art.
Page 2 has the history of the Bismarck, over a black and white photo of the ship at sea.
Page 3 through to page 9 gives a grand total of 25 assembly steps.
Pages 10 & 11 are painting and marking guides.
Page 10 shows a 2-view, side and top, of the Bismarck in the box art scheme.
Page 11 shows a side view of it without the vertical black and white stripes.
Page 12 is the parts trees illustrations. They include illustrations of motorization parts that are in the motorized version kit of the Bismark that Tamiya markets. This kit, however, is the static one and does not include these parts.
Part trees are alphabetized.
There are 2 identical black letter A trees. They hold display stand parts. (3 parts ea.)
Medium-gray letter B tree holds: masts with balconies, cabin walls and roof etc. (25 parts)
Medium-gray letter C tree holds smoke stacks etc. (26 parts)
Medium-gray letter D tree holds: another cabin, wheels, anchor, another mast etc. (24 parts)
Medium-gray letter E tree holds: turrets, propeller etc. (23 parts)
There are 2 identical letter F trees. They hold 3 small turrets, another large turret, gun barrels, machine guns etc. (73 parts ea.)
There are 2 identical medium-gray letter G trees. They hold: the Arado floatplane, whale boats, more gun barrels, display stand name plate, another propeller etc. (53 parts ea.)
Next is the one piece hull.
The final parts of the kit are the decks for the bow and stern and a deck for the superstructure.
I have a spool of wire to use for the ships rigging.
There are no crew figures. Detailing is excellent.
Very highly recommended.
Very highly recommended.