Trumpeter 1/700 Tirpitz
|
 |
History
Launched in 1939 and commissioned in 1941, the Tirpitz only ever fired
her guns in action against the island Spitzbergan in 1943. She took part
in a few unsuccesful sorties against various convoys. Her main role became
that of a "fleet in being" and by doing so tied up a lot of
Allied resources in containing her. After many attacks with varying successes,
she was finally sunk by Lancasters of 617 Squadron RAF using Tallboys
in November 1944.
The Kit
 Trumpeter's latest small scale ship provides all you need to build
a decent model of the Tirpitz. The kit comes molded in a light gray plastic,
with red pieces for the two hull options (full hull or waterline). The
decal sheet is comprehensive, and you even get a pair of Arado floatplanes
for the catapults.
 Following the instructions, the assembly of this kit is about what
you would expect. The main upper hull piece has separate fore and aft
deck pieces, and all of the superstructure sides are molded separately.
This is one way to ensure crisp molding of the details and could possibly
even aid in pre-painting assemblies. All of the turrets, of which there
are many, have separate guns, with the main turrets adding even more
extra detailing. The completed weaponry should look quite nice.
 Building up from the deck, the bridge is a fairly complicated affair,
with separate sides provided, similar to the lower superstructure. The
people at Trumpeter seem to have taken into consideration the complex
paint scheme worn by the Tirpitz, as all of these subassemblies look
to be pre-paintable, making the final finishing much easier. The aft
superstructure follows a similar vein, and the main funnel is beautifully
done. All of the lifeboats and such are well detailed, leaving little
for the PE folks.
 Final construction includes adding the cranes and various antennae.
Also, for those who want to do a full-hull version, do not forget the
propellers and rudders. A stand is provided for the full hull option,
allowing you to display the finished model easily.
Painting. This is no overall gray ship, which is part of its charm.
Be prepared for a lot of masking with this ship, but with the well-engineered
assembly, much of this can be done before final assembly. Be sure to
test fit, though, to make sure all the angles of the pattern line up.
The decals provide the red bands on the fore and aft decks, as well as
the white circles with the swastika centered. The middle of the swastikas
has been removed (from all but  the ones used on the Ar 196s, which instead
have a peculiar box arrangement), so some final assembly is required
here. Most challenging will be filling in the centers of the swastikas
on the decal flags. The decals are printed by Cartograf and should pose
no problems in application.
Conclusion
This is a nice little model of the famous Tirpitz battleship and it
should build up quite nicely into a decent replica. The challenging paint
scheme is offset by the somewhat simple assembly, so if you are looking
for a colorful but straightforward ship kit to build, check this one
out. My thanks to Stevens International for the review sample.
|
|
