1/350 German Cruiser Blücher (Combrig)

The SMS Blücher was the Imperial German Navy's last armored cruiser, and built in response to faulty intelligence regarding the plans for the Royal Navy's first battlecruiser, HMS Invincible.  By the time the German command became aware of the Invincible's heavier gun battery (eight 12-in. guns, compared to the twelve 8.3-in. guns of the German ship), it was too late to alter her construction.  Although one of the most powerful armored cruisers ever built, the Blücher was nonetheless obsolete as soon as she was completed, as the battlecruiser soon replaced the armored cruiser as a heavy scout and battle line warship in both the German and Royal Navies.  Slower than contemporary and subsequent British battlecruisers, this liability doomed her at the Battle of Dogger Bank on January 23, 1915, when opposing German and British forces clashed and the poor Blücher was left behind by her faster companions and overtaken by the British force of light cruisers and battlecruisers.  Her stout construction (typical of German post-Dreadnought capital ships) endured at least 70 heavy shell hits and at least four torpedoes before she capsized and sank, with a loss of between 750 and 800 of her crew.

 Combrig's resin kit is typical of their recent 1:350 scale releases, with a crisp, clean upper and lower hull (the submerged torpedo tube doors can be easily seen) and turrets and gun barrels (all of which, even the somewhat overscale 3.5-in. guns), have bored out muzzles.  However, on my kit, once I had aligned the upper and lower hull sections at the bow and starboard side, the lower hull was about 2 mm short at the stern and along the port side amidships, which required some putty filling and sanding.  Because the upper hull is hollow and the barbettes are low raised hollow cylinders, it was easy to engineer all six turrets so that they can rotate while being fixed in place, although installation (according to Combrig's usually frustrating and scant assembly instructions) of the raised boat supports impeded full rotation of the midships turrets.  The Blücher had pole main- and foremasts when first commissioned (1909), but by late 1914 there was a sturdy tripod foremast with a small triangular armored fighting top, and this is how the Combrig kit is configured (although, as is their habit, the masts and yardarm dimensions are given but the actual parts must be fashioned from plastic or brass rods).  As usual, I had to supply my own railings, anchor chains (Combrig's are flat) and several extra ladders.  Although the anti torpedo net supports were included with the mediocre photoetch fret, I also had to scratch-build my own net booms, and used a mesh shoelace with a circular cross-section, wound with gray thread, for the rolled up nets.  Various other minor components were scratch-built or taken from my spare parts stash. Rigging (a rather complicated diagram is included with the assembly instructions, but internet photos are very helpful) is from stretched black plastic sprue.

No painting instructions are provided by Combrig, so I chose Model Master Light Ghost Grey for the upper hull and superstructure, with Tamiya Deck Tan for the main deck, a mixture of Tamiya Hull Red and Flat Brown for the linoleum-covered bridge and searchlight platforms, and the lower hull was spray-painted with water-based Liquitex Cadmium Medium Red Hue 2.  The flag and the small emblems on either side of the upper bow were made from images downloaded from the internet and printed from my computer.
 
 

Gallery updated 2014

© ModelWarships.com