Admiral Graf Spee

The goal! 

Day 1. PE doors 

More PE doors 

Hatches 

Day 2. Don't know the proper English term: these are guides for the ropes beneath the railings 

Search light fronts 

Day 3. Winches, winches all day. 

And stairs. So many stairs 

Day 4. The catapult 

The radar. Managed to break it during folding. Glued/repaired with CA. 

Davits for the boats. 

Deck houses and some sort of basket 

Deck mounted on the citadel 

Deck for the rear housing 

Part of the floatplane cradle 

Part of the floatplane cradle 

 

The locator pins and pens are too big for their holes, small surgery needed. 

Pens are too big. 

Drilled out the portholes. Looks way better! 

Bow and stern glued and closed. There's a nice gap along the hull 

Closed the hull from the stern and bow to the middle. There was quite some force necessary 

Nearly forgot to drill the holes for the stand 

Reinforced the hull with the plates for the waterline option 

Drilled out the portholes on the superstructure as well. Any ideas for the square windows are welcome 

Marked the to be removed parts black 

Replaced one door. Really like the pe doors 

Day 6. Doors, doors and more doors. German welders couldn’t weld them straight 😉 

All this detail will be removed for the wooden deck 

Day 7. Spent almost 2 hours in cutting, sanding, glueing and some more sanding on the turrets. Spot the difference, I say! 

Day 8. First day of the new year. Finished the second main turret. Started on the secondary guns.  

Day 9. Replaced secondary barrels.  

Day 9. Replaced secondary barrels.  

Part of the superstructure  

Front range finding station 

Needs some sanding  

Started the pagoda like battle tower  

2 tender cranes and 1 supply crane 

The bridge wings need some persuasion to get in the right place. But how will I paint them? 

Day 10. Removed the tape. There's still some gap in the lower hull. Filled with CA. 

Dry fit mock up. Begins to look like a ship. 

Day 11. Nice ejector marks. Nearly impossible to fix.  

Battle tower nearly done.  

Rear superstructure started.  

Day 12. Front deck deplanked. 

Day 13. Started deplanking rear deck 

Couldn’t get the keel as smooth as I wanted, so I took out my old tube of Revell Plasto. Anxious for the result.  

Day 14. Took a lot of time to de-detail the decks 

First attempt not totally successful. Attempt no 2! 

Day 15. This will have to do.  

To have no gaps on the more visible places i have some filling to do.  

More holes 

This was filled with Vallejo plastic putty 

Shafts are in place, as is the rudder.  

Parts dry fitted. Put in the cabinet for a feel of final size  

Slow progress gets you there nonetheless.  

Day 16. On each side of each turret there’s a small opening visible. Going to close it.  

Openings closed. Glued with ca as instant filler.  

Small opening between deck and hull.  

 

Attempt to get some closure on the hull.  

Secondary guns done.  

The plastic barrels on the tertiary guns will go as well.  

Metal barrels are way better.  

Tertiary guns finished.  

Drilled out the torpedo tubes.  

Torpedo launchers ready.  

I need more space! 

The garden after a severe storm 

Day 17 (couple of months later) Glued the thingy on the bow 

Start 

Halfway 

End 

Glued the deck and some more doors 

Glued deck en base for seaplane launcher 

Day 18 started assembly of deck houses 

 

Day 19. Superstructures primed 

Main guns, torpedo launchers primed.  

Secondary and tertiary guns primed 

Visible pieces on deck primed.  

 

This becometh a plane? 

Mind the gap! 

Gap filled 

Some pe for the floats awaits 

Started the grey on the superstructure  

Day 20. Painted the superstructures again, as some red was peeping through. Also did the hull grey! 

Day 21. Masking for the fake waves 

Didn't want a pure white, but a more flaky view 

Starboard looks okay 

Posrtside as well 

Oh, oh, danger ahead 

Masked with Kerry Cox’ infamous Parafilm 

Ditto 

Here she is. Resting after a long operation to get multiple coats of hull red on her bottom 

Day 22. Sunflower? 

Masked the funnel cap 

The Parafilm wouldn't grab on the lower hull. Tamiya tape it is! 

Sprayed the demarcation line black 

The red will need a touch up 

Apparently there was a hole in the parafilm and some red seeped through 

Day 23. Damn you Kerry Cox. Now I have to fill this line..... 

Took almost 45 minutes to mast 1 turret. 

The second one went faster. 

Secondary guns masked 

Drawing some lines for camo 

Masking 

Turret on the left freehand, too blurry. Turret on the right with maskol, too sharp? 

Looking nice? 

Day 24. Painted the dark grey using Vallejo liquid mask. Sharp edges and some drawbacks.... 

When removing the mask, I pulled off the mask, the paint and the primer 

Retouched the light grey by hand 

Quite satisfied with the save! 

Blue filter applied on the right turret 

And on the superstructure. I like the blotchy effect