by Kristian Dor
1/700 DKM Prinz Eugen (Tamiya)
This is the Tamiya 1/700 Prinz Eugen. I used PE from WEM's 1/700 Bismarck, 1/700 Hipper class and Tom's Modelworks 1/700 Prinz Eugen.
She is depicted here late 1942 with the FuMo26 owl ear Radar but with blue turret markings as she had during Operation Cerberus and some extra AA for her intended place in a hypothetical Battle group scenario consisting of the Tirpitz (Trumpeter) and Graf Zeppelin (Revell + Skywave Luftwaffe aircraft). I'll add crew when the models are all finished.
I made ammunition boxes, hawsers, porthole covers, life rings and rafts, etc from plastic strip. Doors, hatches and AA from WEM PE. The rigging was from 0.05mm fishing line. Used an on-line 'tutorial' from J-Model Works to build the ships boats and oars and made the blast bags from Milliput (Used Squadron White putty last time and the barrels melted - you live and learn!)
She was airbrushed using Tamiya acrylics followed by Humbrol enamels and Games Workshop acrylic brushwork. I tried out a faint patchwork effect on the hull in an article I read about building a 1/700 Scharnhorst along with some rust as explained in Mig Jimenez FAQ AFV Painting techniques book where I also tried the 'upside down masking tape' idea to secure all the PE AA guns during painting. I painted the bow and stern swastikas using homemade decals that I painted over (as shown in Andrea Minatures FAQ Figure Painting techniques). Finished off with a light wash of black/brown enamel and some white oil paint drybrushing.
Things I learnt:
Next time I'll follow Jim Baumann's advice from the 'How to Section' and manufacture metal masts as the rigging pulled the kit ones all out of shape.
Don't try and remove acrylic paint with turps and acetone, eek - what a mess!
Used Maplin Single core Telephone wire insluation cut into tiny rings for the life belts
Used Evergreen plastic strip 0.5mm rod cut into thin rings for the portholes
Bought a magnifier 'hat' with 2.5x and 3.5x magnification to alleviate eye strain
To paint decks where there is a high chance of getting paint on other walls (such as the armoured bridge) I lick a long 00 brush so its wet and pointy then touch the tip with enamel. The spit stops the enamel drawing up the bristles of the brush so I can paint only the narrow deck between two bits of superstructure. This technique is also useful on ships boats, etc.
