1/700 DKM Scharnhorst Dec 1943 (Flyhawk)

Flyhawk's 1943 Scharnhorst was one of those kits that was as hard to build as the box contents implied. It helped that "Battle of North Cape" Scharnhorst sported one of the more interesting and challenging to paint camouflages of the period, which kept the motivation going. The ship came alive as it was painted!

I used Antonio Bonomi's Anatomy of Ship and Leon and Assmussen German Navy Camouflages books for reference, and custom mixed Tamiya paints for airbrushing the model.

The 1943 Scharnhorst came with a dizzying amount of antennas/wires and the rigging as such was no joke, I don't know how I would have done it without full references and magnifying loupe. Some shortcuts had to be taken but willingly - I skipped the flag lines for a thicker single wire as from distance the effect is good enough.

One thing that I did differently than the kit asked for was painting the boot topping a little wider than called. This gave the most accurate look compared to the real thing.

The base is a standard plastic affair but this time I went for a floating dry dock floor with some keel blocks added from styrene rod.

I am pretty happy with the result and a weathered PE plaque from Flyhawk (that incorrectly calls Scharnhorst a Battlecruiser that I saw too late!) is added to tie it all together.

A fun build, that took a year and a half, with pauses. Hope you enjoy the result!

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