Reviewed by Timothy Dike |
| Not as well known as her more famous sister ship. The Tirpitz
was an improved Bismarck class battleship. Similar to the Bismark, the
primary differences between these two ships was the location of the aircraft
cranes amidships and addition of torpedo tubes. The Tirpitz also had a
slightly modified bridge, additional anti aircraft guns and protective
domes over the fire control directors. |
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| The hull is molded with the bow and stern open right behind the #2
and #3 turrets. My one complaint with this is that the seam will be harder
to hide. A full hull and a waterline flat bottom are also provided molded
in red. The deck planking is well molded and there is even diamond plate
molded onto the deck where appropriate. |
Click images
to enlarge
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| The bow and stern inserts have pretty good surface detail and the other
parts on the spue are very thin and fine in detailing. |
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| The main superstructure sprue includes some really nice detail. The
parts are molded with separate sides that even have the portholes molded
open. Plumbing detail can be found on most of the walls. |
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| The walls for the lower superstructure are well molded again with open
portholes and plenty of surface detail. I even noticed rain gutter detailing
over some windows. |
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| Weapons are well molded with nice turret detailing, both on the main
and secondary guns. The gun barrels are thin and crisply molded with blast
bags on the big guns. The small weapons are very fine for this scale. |
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| The ships boats and float planes are well done, thankfully in gray
plastic not clear. The boats are molded in two parts a hull bottom and
deck that fits onto it. |
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| A ships stand is included for full hull display. |
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| A decal sheet is included with flags and camo markings. The flags are
done in the politically correct style of not showing the swastika. But
the parts are all there if you assemble them. Personally I don't see the
harm in showing historical flags. |
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| Instructions are 12 pages of step by step views. The drawings
are well done and leave nothing to the imagination.
A nice full 11" x 17" color painting guide is included showing port and
starboard markings as well as deck markings. |
Conclusions:
Thanks to Hobby Link
Japan for the review sample. They carry both this kit and the rival
Dragon
version as well as a complete line of ships from the best manufactures
in the business. |
