1/700 H-39 WOWS Battleship

[Madhatter]

hey guys

I am currently on a WW2 Battleship kick of late - mostly thanks to World Of Warships Legends. As such, I joined a GB on another forum but will share here too. I'm almost finished the Bismark in colours you won't be expecting and I'll post pics of that in due course. In the mean time, I have started this one - the H-39. In game, it is called the Grosser Kurfurst (Großer Kurfürst). Whilst that is technically an H-44, there are no kits of that around - just the H-39 which is not that much different. The main differences are the aircraft launching system and the guns and a slight size reduction from the 44. TBH, in 700th scale, you'd not really notice. The bridge is also slightly different but there is nothing I can do about that

My biggest question was what scheme to paint it in. In game it looks like this:

But that's kinds boring in some ways. So, I am going to paint it in the Black scheme. It does not exist in game but it will be a variant of this type of Tirpitz camo:

I've already designed the scheme and I think it'll be quite something. It's very likely I won't have a black deck as I have a nice detail set for the kit which would be a waste if I didn't use it. Given the ship never existed to start with, I am free to paint it however I like

As for the kit itself, it is the Veryfire kit and the only plastic kit available of this type of ship. Previous to this, there was only a resin version that is long OOP

Here's what you get inside:

and here is the detail set - which stupidly cost more than the kit

I forgot to add in the resin blast bags and the windlass etc that you get as well into the picture. I also have some 3D printed triple barrel turrets coming in from Shapeways to go with it to make it more GK in appearance

I started the kit last night and built up the secondaries and they are ready for paint.  I lost one of the 105mm Blast bags somehow, so I substituted one turret with the kit supplied bags and added the metal barrels to them. They still look the part though which is good

So, that's all for now but will update very soon.

cheers

Si

Edited August 23, 2021 by Madhatter

[David G.]

I'm on board for this one (sorry), it looks to be an interesting project.

Do you plan to super detail this like your Star Destroyer?

David G.

[Madhatter]

hey David

Goodness me no - I'm just using the upgrade set which is plenty. I needed a break from ultra detailing as it was burning me out big time, so this is meant to be a relaxer build

It's moving along nicely too which is good

[Madhatter]

Speaking of progress, here's some for you now

The front Superstructure has had most of the PE added and almost ready for paint. The PE grid work will go on after I have base painted it as it'll be easier to keep clean that way

 

The resin search lights are quite nice

I have built up the secondaries and the tiny little quad guns but I lost one of the bases for the quads after it pinged straight out of the tweezers

 

I've been making up a lot of the smaller sub-assemblies like the funnels etc and will start adding the PE to those shortly

[David G.]

Wow, that's still a lot of detail Si, quite impressive.

I built one naval vessel with PE and it really tested my skills. It probably had less PE in total than what you've already placed on your current project.

It was the vessel that my brother served on in the US Navy.

A bummer about the lost part though. Some of these kits provide some redundancy for just such an occasion, no luck here?

Or maybe haunt a couple of the military builder sites to see if you can latch onto a replacement.

Regards,

David G.

[Madhatter]

hey David

That's a very cool looking ship! Your Brother would've really loved the sentiment. Sadly, no such luck with additional parts. I know what will happen, I'll find it once the kit is done and by then it'll be too late

Got some more PE work done - most of it really. There is still a fair amount more to do but I'm getting there. Very fiddly stuff

 

 

 

 

That's me done for now

[David G.]

Thanks for the compliment Si. He was indeed quite touched.

I'm still impressed with your work on the PE parts. Folding those davits must have been quite a bit of work on its own.

David G.

[Madhatter]

thanks so much David.

Well, she has some colour on her now and hopefully, she'll be finished by the weekend - or there abouts

The new turrets also arrived today so that'll be good to get them on

 

 

 

 

It's clearly evident the quality of some of my work is less than Ideal with superglue stains, missing and rough paint (remind myself never to brush paint again and just mask off the areas and spray them) and the not straight PE railings which I will have to try fix and hope to God I don't break them in the process. I need to stick to sci-fi me thinks

Anyways, this has been fun and it continues to be fun, but I also think its time to go back to my Star Destroyer and try do more work on that once this is finished

As always, thanks for looking

Si

 

[David G.]

I can see some of the bits you're talking about but overall, the balance looks good. Besides, it's probably better to exorcise those demons here than on the Star Destroyer.

The color combination is much more striking than the traditional Haze Gray. Beware of the ship that wants to be seen.

David G.