1/400 Schwerer Kreuzer Lützow (Heller)
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by Stein Gildberg |
1/400 Schwerer Kreuzer Lützow (Heller)
“Panzerschiff Deutschland” was the first of the so-called Pocket Battleships,
laid down in 1929.
In 1940 the ship was re-classified and renamed “Schwerer Kreuzer Lützow”.
The model of the ship is manufactured by Heller in 1:400-scale. I wanted to depict the ship as she appeared in late 1942 during Unternehmen (Operation) Regenbogen. Operation Regenbogen was a sortie in 1942 into the Arctic Ocean by warships of the Kriegsmarine. This operation culminated in the Battle of the Barents Sea, the attack on the Murmansk convoy JW 51B. The German superior force consisting of Admiral Hipper, Lützow and destroyers, were driven off by a weaker British defending force. Admiral Hipper suffered serious damage. Hitler in his rage wanted to scrap all his large ships, which led to the resign of Grand Admiral Räder.
I originally built this model in 1978 (!). A complete tear-down and
rebuild was carried out in 2005.
Detail of the kit is not up to today’s standard, so a lot of changes
had to be made to correct most of the errors, including the shape of the
bow, shape of the funnel cap, size of the tubular mast and platforms, AA-guns
1942 as well as all mast arms (made from brass tubing as originals are
far too thick) to mention some.
Paint is WEM and Revell. PE is WEM. Tubular mast is made from an early
Porsche 911 Drive Shaft Bolt! The heraldic shield was not present in 1942.
Boot topping is too narrow (correct size is about the double width). The
so-called Husar camo pattern of the port side is not too far off, while
the pattern on the starboard side shows a pattern used before Regenbogen.
