by Francisco P. de Nanclares
1/350 Building the SMS Kronprinz (ICM)
I decided to build the ICM 1/350 König as SMS Kronprinz after realising it was the only option of building this kit both with torpedo nets and tube mast in lieu of the standard pole mast, since both fittings did not coincided on the other three ships of the class.
Reaching this decision was made easy by the ready help of Jim Baumann, who provided me with a very interesting and informative article on this kit plus some very helpful tips of his own regarding the torpedo nets.
First off I drilled two holes on the hull bottom and reinforced the inside with a couple of metal plates also drilled and glued to the hull with two nuts also glued. Then I painted the underside hull with my usual choice of Humbrol 73. When dry, I fixed the hull to a robot clamper (not sure about the word) with two screws. This way I could swing, tilt or move the model around while applying my brutish hands as less as possible . I then masked the hull with Scotch Magic Tape (A very good tip I learnt from Luis Crespo and one I recommend for masking because of its right stickiness, and very good definition and its easiness to cut with your fingers). Then I airbrushed the hull with the colour I picked to paint it and superstructures (Tamiya J.N. Grey). At this time, I sprayed a coat over all parts and PE fret, thus saving time of tedious process of cleaning the airbrush. In this regard, be cautious if doing so, because there are some PE parts that would be better left the original brass. For example, I reckon in that day and age, accommodation ladders were most probably wood and bronze, so it is better to leave the original brass finish and paint the wood parts.
Portholes on hull and superstructures were painted black by means of a ballpoint .
While I decided on the deck colour, I built the main and secondary gun mounts. Main mounts were straight from the box with no problems whatsoever. Barrels were hollowed out and I used the decals on the kit to make the white circles on top of B and D mounts applying a dull coat over it. The barbettes are indeed a bit to small to fit on the deck base, so it is necessary to sand them some on the inside to fit in place.
The deck I decided to paint on an almost white fashion, considering wood decks bear a lot of scrubbing with abrasives and turn a nearly white with a bit of tan. It is not as spectacular as a teak-coloured deck, but closer to the real thing in my opinion. So, I picked up Tamiya Flat White and mixed a few drops of Tamiya Deck Tan, airbrushing both the main and battery decks with it, then applying Jim Baumann´s technique of dragging a pencil lead over the deck so highlighting the planking lines. It is maybe a bit too white, but I am happy with the result nonetheless.
Then the main deck came in place with no problems at all. Very good fitting, with no gaps or spare material. Battery deck was another story. I was aware of the difficulty of the fitting thanks again to Jim Baumann, and of the need of doing a lot of dry fitting before glueing. Even so, and after some testing, I began glueing the bulkheads housing the casemates from the forward end backwards (the forward end fitting, though being good, will need filling and sanding as it is a complex curved shape), but then I realised the aft ends needed trimming to adjust to turret D and to the battery deck up, besides, when fitting the battery deck, it will not go exactly in place relative to the casemates bulkheads. You can see what I mean in this picture of the aft area not glued yet. The bow end will need some trimming taking into account that the hawse holes are pretty close to the deck edge. Be careful on this. This is a view of this area before trimming.
The best solution is probably to dry fit from turret D, checking first for a good fit between bulkheads and deck, sanding the area to fit the turret and then move towards the bow. This way the deck will fall in place with the bulkheads and the bow will need less sanding.
I did not notice at this time, but both bulkheads have the boat booms molded on, and I think it is better to sand them off before fitting and rig a new ones afterwards.
Next came the main mounts which I glued in place only to realise that the barrels of turret E get in the way of some of the skylights on the main deck. These I wanted to paint wood and black, but the barrels will be a hindrance, so it will be decided later.
I moved on to the next area: the forward superstructure. I had decided to paint linoleum decks the same hull red, coated when dry with Tamiya X3 Smoke. This way, I gave them a darker shade and a semigloss finish. I painted it very carefully so as to leave a clean, nice line between decks and gunwales on each searchlight platform only to realise when finished that those gunwales had to be stripped off in order to fit the PE railing!. The only course of action was to strip those, sand and repaint, which I painfully did after some rude words to myself.
Well, finished with my mistake, I could move forward with the build. I have noticed that, while complex parts are very nicely built and have a very good fitting so far, simple parts with sharp and straight edges have a quite “brutish” fitting, as can be seen on the rear bridge housing. Quite odd. Anyways, part J31 fits bulkheads and turret B barbette nicely needing just very little adjustment mainly where parts K11 and K12 join the barbette. Parts J43 and J44 are indeed short and need filling and sanding. These I simply plated over and painted.
I recommend the working plan for the superstructure as follows: part J1 has two apertures for the ladders to fit in. Those are too narrow for the WEM ladders and need to be trimmed. With decks and platforms painted, fit the aft bridge, parts J18,19 and 20 and glue platform part J1 to it, then sliding the funnel in place and attaching it to the bridge deck. Do not glue platform to funnel, since you need to flex it a little in order to attach both ladders and the six pillars supporting it. Now you have the funnel ready to work on with a nice handle to manage more easily. Master Baumann set again his usual high standards, which pressed me on again. He showed me the way of making the funnel handrails, but since I didn’t have the material needed nor the chance to get it easily, I opted for a more direct, quite unsophisticated approach. I drilled holes (well, not holes but marks) on the funnel along the railing grooves, then glued wire pieces later cut to length I also added some piping and then the PE ladders on both sides. I attached the handrails to the pieces of wire and ladders and airbrushed the whole thing. If you are going to make something like this, I recommend you not to fit the funnel cap and grill until you have airbrushed, since it is easier masking just the bridge deck and platform. After this, I attached the searchlights platforms. While the assembly was drying, I noticed the louvers on both sides of the funnel at the battery deck level were quite thick and I did not like the aspect, so I made new ones from a piece of the photoetch frame. The slits on the bridge casemate are made from a. black stripe decal from surplus box. I then attached the searchlights and rods (I don´t know the correct word). Then came the railing. Being my first experience with top class PE, I have learned the hard way that the best way of fitting this is beginning from one end and attach it in small lengths shaping as you go. When I was finished with the PE I attached the mast. It should be noted that it needed some trimming on the aft part to fit the aft bridge and stay vertical.
Part K48 is supposed to fit between aft side of forward superstructure and turret C, as marked on the last drawing of the instruction sheets, so when you are going to glue it in place you will notice it is already too late, because there is no room left between both. Be careful on this.
Then I started rigging the main mast and also started the aft superstructure, so having two sections on the works at the same time allowing me to jump from one to another, since rigging can be really tedious at times. As I had no data on the correct rigging, I relied on the box art and started the rigging with my usual choice of fishing line, which I paint black for antennae and cables and Tamiya Deck Tan for halyards. This time however, the topmast and yardarms were so soft I was unable to tighten the stays running from the mast top to the yardarm ends, so I switched to stretched sprue for these four lines. I usually leave halyards with quite some slack. Though not an accurate rendition, I like the effect and if enhances the difference between a halyard and a cable or antenna.
I built the aft superstructure base and funnel, painting the deck with the formerly used Humbrol 73 and Tamiya Smoke. I glued in place the air intakes and stripped the gunwales on the searchlights platforms and painted them applying more Smoke as I went up. Also, the holes for the pillars to go through have to be drilled since they are just marked. Good fit between parts so far except for the two pillars K44 supporting the platforms, because the holes where they fit on the deck are misaligned with those on the first platform K41 through which they have to go. I suggest to fill both holes, sand flat the lower end of the pillars and glue them straight to the deck, aligned with the holes on the platform K41.
Finished with the rigging on the forward mast I started readying the aft funnel to fit handrails following the same procedure I had on the forward one. Once finished, I glued the ladders going from the deck to the platforms and the railings of these. The mast was built separately. The guns, with the extraordinary PE breeches came next and fitting the range finder I found that parts fit clumsily and needed a good session of sanding, but I had already glued the base to the superstructure deck. My recommendation to build the assembly in good order is this: build the base and fill and sand the holes for the pillars supporting the platforms. Build the funnel and glue it to the base, fitted with ladder and handrails. Build the platforms with the pillars and searchlights and railing. Build the rangefinder assy so you can fill and sand easily. Build the mast and the guns. Then glue the platforms to the deck, fitting the ladders and then the air intakes. Glue the mast, the range finder and guns.
The crane pillars do not fit well since the holes on the deck are too small and have to be worked some, watching, prior to having them glued, the correct fit with the small platform K2 between them. Besides, the recesses to fit the small platforms G36 should, according to the instructions sheet, look outward as do the ones on the top to fit parts G37 and G35. However, fitting the pillars this way will force to glue the platforms G36 facing outboard too, not leaving room to fit the ladders G24 (or PE counterparts) onto the platform K2. My advice is to rotate the pillars 90 degrees and glue them with the recesses looking forward so the platforms will go in the same direction and the ladders can be fitted as they should go, looking to the centreline, so leaving room to fit the railing on the lower platform. Notwithstanding this, on the plan view, instruction sheet no 6, you can see the ladders at about 30 degrees, just the way I was forced to glue them in order to fit on the platform K2 below.
Glueing the superstructure assembly to the deck is not straightforward, since the pins on the deck have been set marking a slightly wider pattern than the superstructure itself, so I had to rip them off and glue the assembly to the deck, but since it has marked the shape of the superstructure, it is no big deal. I then glued the starboard crane (derrick?) with PE parts and rigged it with black-painted fishing line and the portholes deadlights from the PE fret, which I glued in pairs to simulate the return blocks.
The hawse holes need some trimming in order to allow the anchors to fit in place. The stern one is opened just on the deck but not on the hull. I reasoned this one need an opening too, so the anchor falls into place as it should. I drilled the hull and added a small length of stretched sprue to rim it .
I then glued the capstans on the forecastle, the anchors and chains. The capstan handwheels are the PE ones although those from the kit are quite finely molded.
The boats are little models in themselves. Fine and detailed, they showed a very good fitting though it was hard to get them right, mainly because after painted and glued I started adding PE, and once finished, and while having another look at Jim Baumann´s König, I noticed the extraordinary touch he had given to his boats by adding railing and some other details, so I added the railing after some suffering and cursing. This I made by taking a piece of vertical ladder from the PE fret and cutting it in half along the centre line. The cradles have the PE parts and came with no problems. I skipped the two boats hanging from the davits on both sides since Kronprinz was not supposed to carry them.
Well. At this point I chose to fit the net shelf on the starboard side before proceeding with the port fittings (just itching to know how it was going to look, you know). The PE instructions make it clear that the shelf is to be glued flush with the main deck, but I had studied the hull and knew it was not that clear. The reason is the hull shows a groove on both sides slightly below main deck level. From this groove to the main deck the hull is very clearly slanted. In this situation, glueing the shelf flush would place it somewhat to the inside of the hull, leaving not enough room to fit the supports (brackets) below it (besides, the groove seemed to yell at me: “yes, you fool! It´s me!”) and to top this, the shelf itself has a slightly wider part on both ends that follow the hull´s contour along the groove so I ended up glueing the shelf to the groove. Not as easy at it may seem, since the curve on the shelf does not exactly match that of the hull itself, but taking some care at glueing time, it should not present any problem. Then I glued the supports (brackets) below and the small davits along the deck edge. Some fifty-six and forty-four of each just for the starboard side, so patience is the key here, the more so since both parts seem to have a life for themselves and a gusto for jumping from the tweezers and becoming krill for the carpet monster and even the workbench.
Then came the port side and after this, I fitted the booms and rigging, again with the help of Jim Baumann, who showed me how the net rigging was arranged. Regarding the booms, I knew (JB again) that they should take some five degrees upwards when deployed and by the pictures he provided me with, that the outer ends were very close to the water in that position, so strangely enough the inner ends did not fit on the small dots marked on the hull side and besides they were way up the side to leave the booms so close to the water. So, I fitted the booms to the shelf and lower on the hull (about 3 feet over the boot stripe on scale) and the dots on the side served as reference points to fit the cables and the deadlights from the PE fret as blocks for them.
The nets themselves. Well, I had found braided shoelaces as per JB directions and tried to drybrush them gray. However, as they are not synthetic, they absorbed too much paint and the finish was not good at all, so I decided to cover the laces with a net wire I had collected from a former build, thus giving them a “real” wire net aspect. The process was somewhat hard for the fingers since the wire is quite stiff and not very easy to wrap around the laces without getting stung frequently. I painted the assembly with a darker shade of gray than that used for the ship and enhanced the end result by knotting black-painted line along the net. Installed the nets on the shelves but failed to realise that they should be rusted better before fitted, because in the weathering process I spoiled some of the small davits already in place. All in all a pretty good result though a bit oversized, I am afraid.
After this, I decided to paint the skylights of a wooden color, glass in black and, once perfectly dry, brushed everything with Tamiya Smoke to provide a varnished look.
Then came both accommodation ladders, which I painted following the same process used on the skylights and leaving some parts unpainted to simulate bronze. My fears came true when attaching them as the nets were indeed a bit oversized and did not leave enough room for the ladder to rest on the deck. Be aware of this if you are imprudent enough to follow this review while building this kit. The davits I took from the ship sprues in lieu of the PE ones, since they looked quite fine to me and were tridimensional. Besides, they had more overhang than the photoetched and, as I have already highlighted, I needed the length. Better than their PE counterparts to my liking.
Since MW mates advised me not to fit an awning over the afterdeck, the last step was to fit anchor chain restrain cables, made from a twisted wire, a piece of line painted black and half a link from the anchor chain.
Hope this helps those of you building this kit.
The diorama depicting the ship moored to a buoy will come next.
I bought an acrylic sheet onto which I drew the hull. It comes with some kind of water drops built in and I got this one precisely to check how this pattern would turn out. After cutting the hull shape and refining it, I glued the sides and began painting. The next picture shows the three steps I took: First one coat of Tamiya Clear Blue, then another one of Tamiya Clear Green, and finally a coat of Clear Blue again, all applied on the inside. I was looking for the greenish colour of inner waters where a mooring buoy is found and was pleased with the end shade. However, I made the biggest mistake of the whole project here, since I sprayed the three coats over the sides too, and these, and mostly the fact that they were sprayed and not brushed, have left them with almost no transparency, so when I fitted the ship and buoy, I realised the underwater parts could not be seen. At all. Well, that was it, since fixing this would mean to unglue the sides, buy another set, glue again and repaint them and I was not ready for it. So be it.
I then scratchbuilt (if you can call scratchbuild to this very simple fitting) the buoy by cutting a cylindrical piece of plastic the right measure, painting it, attaching the chain and wood fender, stretched sprue, rusting the whole thing and fitting it into the drill I made on the sheet. I carved the boat shape by the starboard accommodation ladder and glued everything to the sheet. Since the hull cut on the sheet would not match exactly that of the kit, I finished the joint with some silicone.
Diorama Images start on Page 3.
