Battleship Bismarck and more...

[DarthTwoShedsJackson]

After watching James Cameron's documentary on the underwater expedition to the wreck of the battleship Bismarck and a few other documentaries on World War 2 naval warfare, I wanted to build some of the warships of that period with Lego. I decided to build these models in scale to each other and in a size resembling common model kits of such ships - small enough to be a challenge to build with Legos, yet large enough to allow for detail and characteristic shapes and features.

Since I never built ships with Legos, I searched the net for examples of World War 2 warships built with Legos at the size I had in mind. My first build, the Bismarck, was at first a reverse-engineered build based completely on the MOC Operation Rheinübung by Locutus 666, which you can find here:

http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/377978

I especially liked the accuracy of the complex superstructure, which was fun to re-create and taught me a few neat building-techniques for achieving lots of detail at this 'small' scale. When I was done, however, further research into the short but dramatic history of this battleship led me to improve quite a few things. First of all, I wasn't very pleased with the hull, and built a completely new one using SNOT and stacked plates and tiles to achieve a correct shape, size, and the characteristic wooden planks on the armoured main deck. I also changed some details on and added a few more to the superstructure to make it more accurate. For instance, the funnel is much more accurate now.

The changes I made which are readily apparent deal with the colouring. I chose to build the model according to the paint job the battleship actually wore during Operation Rheinübung. The Swastika inside the red banner on the bow and stern sections of the main deck have been painted over with grey, as were the black and white stripes on the side of the hull. The Bismarck only retained its white fake waves on the sides of the bow. The masts and radar installations had been painted a very dark grey which almost appeared black. Also, the funnel top was silver throughout the Bismarck's lifetime. The dark red parts resembling the boats are a bit of an artistic choice. The real boats had dark red-brownish elements, yet were mostly a light grey, but in order to make them stand out and not have them look like some other part of the superstructure, I chose to use dark red pieces for them.

Here's how my model looks:

Since building this model was fun and I'm very pleased with the result, I decided to have a go at another ship, this time of another type and with its construction stopped after the Bismarck was destroyed. It's the german aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, the first ship of this type in the german Kriegsmarine. The most notable feature of this ship were it's two steam-powered catapults, at the time said to be by far the strongest to be found on any aircraft carrier. Since the real thing was never finished and we will therefore never know how the superstructure and armament would have finally looked, I chose to base my model on detailed drawings by the U.S. naval intelligence from that period.

Note that the armoured flight deck would most likely have been covered with wooden planks, but I went for a grey finish with a few markings to indicate the two lifts, the catapults and the rear edge of the flight deck. Here's the model:

Last, but not least, I built a smaller support vehicle, namely a 1936B-Type Destroyer. Here it is:

What better way to end this post than with a photograph of the whole tiny flotilla? Here it is. As for scale, the Bismarck is almost 46 cm long, and the Graf Zeppelin is 47 cm long.

It's quite possible that I will build more ships from that period, maybe the german pocket battleship Graf Spee, or one of the fast battlecruiser of the Scharnhorst-class. The Mighty Hood (HMS Hood) is a great candidate to be turned into a model as well.

Wheteher you like or dislike what you see, have suggestions, ideas, or something interesting to add, please comment!

Edited September 20, 2015 by DarthTwoShedsJackson

[Graham Gidman]

Noice.

[Tomik]

I like your warships, especially amount of details in such a small scale. Those tiny aircrafts on Graf Zeppelin are so cute.

[rollermonkey]

Very cool. That's a challenging scale to work at!

[flipxmen71]

Very nice ships, the detail on that small of a scale is very creative. Are you planning on any decals?

[DarthTwoShedsJackson]

First of all, thanks for the nice comments. I'm glad you like these ships. As for decals: I'm a purist and only rarely use stickers even with the official sets, so - no.

I'm currently pondering which ship to build next - there are so many interestimg options. Also, I need to order a lot more parts in bley, especially tiles in all shapes and sizes, plus jumper plates and modified SNOT bricks...

Edited September 22, 2015 by DarthTwoShedsJackson

[rollermonkey]

Why not Prinz Eugen?

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Excellent creations - that will make it easier to assemble a large fleet!

[Captain Dee]

These models are all really nice, and the scale is great for keeping costs down and playability. Is it just me, or does this thread have most of the really famous German warship names from that time? Bismarck, Graf Spee, Prinz Eugen - brings back memories of reading those old stories. And of course HMS Hood would be cool; wasn't Prince of Wales involved in the chase of one of the Germans or am I imagining things? Nice work.