by Kym Knight
1/350 DKM Admiral Graf Spee 1934 (ISW)
DKM Admiral Graf Spee (1934) cruising down the Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal(later known as the Kiel Kanal).
I've had this 1/350 Iron Shipwright kit of the Admiral Graf Spee for a number of years now but havn't been inspired to build it until I came across this photo of her on the internet. I thought this little 'freeze frame' of time would make an interesting diorama.
As the kit is designed on her Battle of the River Plate era, reference was needed for backdating. In doing so, I find out she's had more facelifts in her career than Cher and turns out that one of the best pictures I could find was the one I based the dio on.
The base is made out of 5mm MDF, strenghtened by a frame of 30 x 30mm pine. The raised embankments are wooden blocks cut through at 45 degrees and the rest, more MDF.
I had a mate machine an alloy master of the corner bridge supports and then had someone cast the 4 of them in resin. Once they were in place, I started on the bridge frame which is made out of aluminium tube. These were bent to shape after cutting out a pattern and using it to get the same shape for both sides. All the bracing is done with Evergreen rod and the roadway is plastic sheet.
The ground covering and trees are Woodland Scenics, cut and manipulated to suit 1/350 scale.
Paints are WEM Coloucoats and fencing is spare photo-etch railing.
The outside of the base has to be finished yet and a few 'onlookers' added, but that will come later.
