Scharnhorst, 1943, Dragon Smart Kit
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This submission is a mid-build evaluation of Dragon's 1/350 Scharnhorst 1943 [Smart Kit]. Many others have submitted comprehensive and helpful reviews on this kit and its predecessor, Scharnhorst 1940. This is a nit-picky submission, and meant to compliment the others. By way of a little sarcasm, I have no idea what a 'Smart Kit' might be. It's a kit. It is of superb quality, and may be the best kit I have yet worked on, but smart: I have no clue what this might mean.
If you are familiar with Dragon's kit, you may have read that the instructions are awful, or difficult, or too much in too little space, and so forth. I like puzzles, so I'm enjoying the challenge of discerning the subtleties of the instructions. I find they are quite good overall, and have yet to encounter any complexity to justify these past comments. The instructions are complicated! The instructions need to be studied, but what model doesn't have to be studied? The kit I'm using is a reissue, so perhaps Dragon has addressed previous short falls. I do not know [pic 3]
Each piece comes off the sprue easily and I've had none break due to stress, as I have experienced with other kits. The pieces clean easily, and even the extremely small have internal integrity- or I'm getting better at seeing the best way to cut each free. The pieces fit superbly well
The hull and main deck went together easily and without issue. This is the same with most all assemblies. I have only encountered one piece thus far that needs serious attention to clean it.
The doors, both plastic and PE, are poor in detail. quality.
My coping strategy with options in the instructions [There is A and B options] is to mask or cross off the unwanted version.
I find it frustrating to keep searching for the lesser assemblies. They are scattered throughout with no apparent rational for location. Plus, if I were to build all the smaller assemblies early, ie the smaller guns, it would be difficult to identify these later for proper placement. It is easier to build them, and mount them, as needed.
Another grip for me is the missing identification of what the parts are. Titles would be helpful. ie: XX caliber AA gun, or the boat deck etc. This adds a quality to the build and should be easily added by the designers, as I assume they know what they are casting or moulding.
If you like ships, the Scharnhorst is a great built. This ship was destroyed in the last battleship on battleship gun dual in late 1943 in the Battle of North Cape. Very few men were saved from the frigid Artic water.
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That's a great submission, Robert! Looks wonderful!
Thanks for the kit info.
Welcome aboard!
Hi Robert, welcome to iModeler, and thanks for your review, not nit picky at all, I found it easy to read, I’m sure it will be useful to anyone considering building this kit.
By the way, I think you need to edit your article and remove the spaces between the “pic” and the numbers, then your photographs should appear where you wanted them.
Welcome aboard iModeler, Robert @robertmcdowell
Thanks for sharing this information.
Nice ring of light you have over your workbench by the way.
Thank you John- the work table has LEDs stuck to old irrigation pipes- no shadows this way. Not my idea- I got it from another modeller-this is just my adaptation.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
@robertmcdowell, thanks for sharing, Robert. So if I understand correctly, you created those 'loops' yourself. Might be an upcoming project for my bench this winter.
Looks like you’re doing great on this ship ! large warships are very complex. I’ve built two 1/350 Japanese destroyers and really enjoyed those, I’ve got one more waiting.
I like your lighting system... I’m going to try building something similar, my model building area is too dim.
The lighting is LED strip lighting. I used an old piece of irrigation because the whole table was repurposed stuff. The lighting was the only thing I purchased. If you are building from scratch, may I suggest a flexible strip of flat material instead of a round pipe. The strip lighting was a little bit of a challenge to get gripped to the round surface. I would also think about adding a little shielding or install it with a twist, as it can be bright to the eye. That's not a major issue for me, but it might be for others. I really like it as there are no shadows. Good luck. Another point of assistance is to join the Scale Modelling Work Shops group. Nice ideas come through that site to make modelling easier, but mostly it is fun seeing how others are set up.
Nice warship model Robert. And another tragic story.
The Germans were, like the Japanese , not allowed to act outside of strict orders. Other wise we would all be singing a different tune !
Your lighting idea is wonderful . I’ll make same . Repurposing material is like you say, the best use of stuff otherwise discarded. Kind of like scratch building. Get creative !
Welcome to this supportive site.