1/700 Tamiya. The Scharnhorst. A ship with an interesting but (spoilers) tragic history.

1/700 Tamiya. The Scharnhorst. Shakespearian tragedy.

More spoilers... It turned into a big guns group build...What can you do..?

Just a quick recap.

Herbert Erperderp group build. Even bigger guns.

As long as weapons have existed, people have felt the need to have better weapons. Bows to Crossbows, Crossbows to Cannons, so on. An easy way to make your weapon "better" was to make it bigger. Bigger is always better, after all!

And this lead to some ridiculous weapons, massive constructs made entirely to hurl the biggest amount of hurt towards the enemy. This Group Build is about those weapons.

Welcome to the "**EVEN BIGGER GUNS!**" Group Build!

In this build, we look at ways to throw a big projectile at your enemy from far away.

The main rule is simple: The caliber of the gun/projectile/whatever applies has to be at least 100mm.

It does not matter what it fires or how it does so. A trebuchet would need to fling a projectile of at least 100mm in diameter, while a tank cannon needs to be at least 100mm in caliber. As long as this fairly simple rule is followed, your entry is good to go!

So...

These box art images are so good. I wish I could paint like that.

Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. She was the lead ship of her class, which included her sister ship Gneisenau. Built at the Kriegsmarinewerft dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; she was laid down on 15 June 1935 and launched a year and four months later on 3 October 1936. Completed in January 1939.

The ship was armed with a main battery of nine 28 cm (11 in) C/34 guns in three triple turrets. Plans to replace these weapons with six 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 guns in twin turrets were never carried out.

Thank you Wiki...

Commanding officers.

At her commissioning, Scharnhorst was commanded by Kapitän zur See (KzS) Otto Ciliax. His tenure as the ship's commander was brief; in September 1939, an illness forced him to go on sick leave, and he was replaced by KzS Kurt-Caesar Hoffmann. Hoffmann served as the ship's captain until 1942. On 1 April 1942, Hoffmann, who had been promoted to Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) and awarded the Knight's Cross, transferred command of the ship to KzS Friedrich Hüffmeier. In October 1943, shortly before Scharnhorst's last mission, Hüffmeier was replaced by KzS Fritz Hintze, who was killed during the ship's final battle.

Teasers on the long side...

Scharnhorst and Gneisenau operated together for much of the early portion of World War II, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping. During her first operation, Scharnhorst sank the armed merchant cruiser HMS Rawalpindi in a short engagement (November 1939).

Scharnhorst and Gneisenau participated in Operation Weserübung (April–June 1940), the German invasion of Norway. During operations off Norway, the two ships engaged the battlecruiser HMS Renown and sank the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious as well as her escort destroyers Acasta and Ardent. In that engagement Scharnhorst achieved one of the longest-range naval gunfire hits in history. Ooh get you...

For a gooder introduction try the boatman... Drachinifel.

Click the linkypoos... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD6pgMf1TTM

Bit of info on this side too.

The usual info on the end panels. Do you want one?

A grey ship on a foggy grey sea.

Let's check out what's in the box.

A goodly amount of plastic...

Hull and deck onesie...

Scharnhorst displaced 32,100 long tons (32,600 t) at standard displacement and 38,100 long tons (38,700 t) at full load. She was 234.9 m (770 ft 8 in) long overall and had a beam of 30 m (98 ft 5 in) and a maximum draft of 9.9 m (32 ft 6 in). She was powered by three Brown, Boveri & Cie geared steam turbines, which developed a total of 159,551 shp; 118,977 kW and yielded a maximum speed of 31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph) on speed trials.[3] Her standard crew numbered 56 officers and 1,613 enlisted men, augmented during the war to 60 officers and 1,780 men. While serving as a squadron flagship, Scharnhorst carried an additional 10 officers and 61 enlisted men.

Wait for it...

The long ~~wait~~ weight....

Bits and stuff....

Other bits...

even more bits...

Let's build a kit.

I'll keep the guns off for now. I paint by hand remember?

Scharnhorst had an armour belt that was 350 mm (13.8 in) thick in the central portion, where it protected the ship's ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces. The ship had an armoured deck that was 20 to 40 mm (0.79 to 1.57 in) thick on the flat portion, increasing to 105 mm (4.1 in) on downward-sloping sides that connected to the bottom of the belt. Her main battery turrets had 360 mm (14 in) of armour on their faces and 200 mm (7.9 in) on their sides. The conning tower was protected with 350 mm on the sides.

Speaking of painting.

Using lot's of shades of cream to brown to give a sense of a wooden deck.

That will do nicely.

Now that the painting is up to date, I'll add the secondary guns.

Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) L/55 guns, eight of which were placed in two-gun turrets and the remaining four were carried in individual turrets.

It is the four singles I'm adding now.

The funnel and the larger 105mm AA guns around the funnel are next.

Adding more secondaries... and painting as I go.

Building detail around the funnel.

Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) L/55 guns, eight of which were placed in two-gun turrets and the remaining four were carried in individual turrets. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of fourteen 10.5 cm L/65 and sixteen 3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30 L/83, and initially ten 2 cm (0.79 in) C/30 anti-aircraft guns. The number of 2 cm guns was eventually increased to thirty-eight. Six 53.3 cm (21 in) above-water torpedo tubes, taken from the light cruisers Nürnberg and Leipzig, were installed in 1942.

Front and back.

She was armed with a main battery of nine 28 cm (11.1 in) L/54.5 guns arranged in three triple gun turrets: two turrets were placed forward in a super firing arrangement (Anton and Bruno), and one aft (Caesar). The design also enabled the ship to be up-gunned with six 15-inch guns, which never took place.

Using a bit of putty to make the gun covers

Bit of a clean up and guns added.

Looking down the deck.

Masts to finish...

Completing the superstructure with all those bits....

Look. The Scharnhorst.

Operation Cerberus

Main article: Channel Dash

On 12 January 1942, the German Naval Command, in a conference with Hitler, made the decision to return Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen to Germany. The intention was to deploy the vessels to Norway to interdict Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. The so-called "Channel Dash", codenamed Operation Cerberus, would avoid the increasingly effective Allied radar and patrol aircraft in the Atlantic. Vice Admiral Otto Ciliax, Scharnhorst's first commander, was given command of the operation.

In early February, minesweepers swept a route through the English Channel undetected by the British...

What do you say Drachinifel? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNE0CkSsfJc

Deployment to Norway

In early August 1942, Scharnhorst conducted exercises in cooperation with several U-boats. During the maneuvers, she collided with the German submarine U-523, which caused damage that necessitated dry-docking for repairs. Work was completed by September, and the ship conducted further training in the Baltic. Scharnhorst steamed to Gotenhafen in late October for a new rudder, the design of which was based on the lessons learned from the torpedoing of Prinz Eugen and Lützow earlier in the year. Boiler and turbine troubles kept the ship in Germany for the remainder of 1942. By December, only two of the three shafts were operational and a complete overhaul of the propulsion system was required. In early January 1943, the ship was back in service, and after trials, left Germany on 7 January in company with Prinz Eugen and five destroyers. Reports of heavy activity in British airfields near the coast prompted the force to return to port, however.[77] Another attempt to reach Norway was canceled under similar circumstances. On 8 March, however, poor weather grounded the British bombers, and so Scharnhorst and four destroyers were able to make the journey to Norway. A severe storm off Bergen forced the destroyers to seek shelter but Scharnhorst was able to continue on at the reduced speed of 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). At 16:00 on 14 March, Scharnhorst dropped anchor in Bogen Bay outside Narvik.[78] There she met Lützow and the battleship Tirpitz.[79] The reinforcement of the German fleet in Norway with the arrival of the Scharnhorst forced the British to suspend the Arctic convoys during the summer of 1943.[80]

On 22 March, Scharnhorst, Tirpitz, and Lützow steamed to Altafjord for repairs to damage incurred in heavy storms. In early April, Scharnhorst , Tirpitz, and nine destroyers conducted a training mission to Bear Island in the Arctic Ocean. On the 8th, a serious internal explosion occurred in the aft auxiliary machinery space above the armor deck. The explosion killed or injured 34 men and prompted the crew to flood the magazines for turret Caesar as a precaution against a magazine explosion. A repair ship completed work on the vessel in two weeks. Fuel shortages prevented major operations for the next six months, during which Scharnhorst was able to conduct only short training maneuvers.

Scharnhorst, Tirpitz, and nine destroyers embarked from Altafjord on an offensive on 6 September known as Operation Zitronella; the ships were tasked with bombarding the island of Spitzbergen.[79] During the operation, Scharnhorst destroyed a battery of two 76 mm (3.0 in) guns and shelled fuel tanks, coal mines, harbor facilities, and military installations.[81] Of particular importance was the weather station that was transmitting weather information to the Allies, which was used to schedule convoys to the Soviet Union.[82] The destroyers landed some 1,000 troops, which pushed the Norwegian garrison into the mountains, completing the mission without major loss.[83] On 22 September, the British executed Operation Source, an attack by six X-craft midget submarines on the German fleet in Norway at their moorings. The X-craft were to drop ground mines below the hull of the German ships. Of the two X-craft that were assigned to attack Scharnhorst, one was lost on its way to Norway and the other suffered mechanical problems and had to abort the attack. But even if the X-craft had managed to reach the moorings of Scharnhorst, the attack would have failed since Scharnhorst had left for a training cruise.[84] Other X-craft attacked and seriously damaged Tirpitz.[85] This reduced the Arctic Task Force to Scharnhorst and her five escorting destroyers,[79] since Lützow left for Germany with five destroyers on 23 September.

On 25 November 1943 Scharnhorst carried out a two-hour full-power trial achieving 29.6 knots (54.8 km/h; 34.1 mph) and it was noted that her draught had increased by over 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) from her 1940 trials where she had attained 31.14 knots (57.67 km/h; 35.84 mph).

Battle of the North Cape

With the rapidly deteriorating military situation for the German Army on the Eastern Front, it became increasingly important to interrupt the flow of supplies from the Western Allies to the Soviet Union...

Drachinifel. The man with the in depth insights...