In May 24, 1941 the German
Battleship Bismarck struck a mighty blow to the Royal Navy and the British
people with the destruction of the HMS Hood.
With minor damage from the battle, the Bismarck sailed towards the safety of a
French port undetected having slipped away from her pursuers.
On May 26, in an amazing bit of luck, a Royal Navy PBY Catalina flying boat
found the Bismarck. The PBY fell under intense anti-aircraft fire but returned
safely. On board the PBY serving as co-pilot was 26-year old American, Ensign
Leonard B. “Tuck” Smith. Although the U.S. Congress permitted the lending of
materials and aircraft to the British, Ensign Smith’s contribution was a
wartime secret.
With the Bismarck’s position now known, the HMS Ark Royal launched Swordfish
torpedo planes which crippled the Bismarck and led to her destruction by British
warships.
The Model:
I’ve been fascinated with the Bismarck story and have built scale and 3D
models of the ships and aircraft involved. I picked up a Revell 1:72 PBY-5 with
markings for the Catalina that found the Bismarck.
The kit was pretty basic but a fun build. It was hard to find a good reference
as to how the PBY was camouflaged. The resource I based my PBY was a profile
found in the PBY Walkaround book from Squadron Signal publications.
I painted the upper surfaces Dark Green and Intermediate Blue. I painted the
lower surfaces Camouflage Grey.
I haven’t had any luck finding Future Floor Polish. It does wonders preventing
decals from silvering. I was bummed about the decals silvering on this model.
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images below to see larger images
I weathered the model with
pastels and finished it with dulcote.
In my library, I have signed
copy of Robert Ballard’s fascinating book about the discovery of the
wreck of the Bismarck. The book includes a painting of the Ensign
Smith’s PBY spotting the Bismarck. I sought to replicate this scene
using my Tamiya 1:350 Bismarck and some Photoshop.
I also created the scene in 3D
using my 3D PBY and 3D Bismarck models. I already had a posed PBY from my
3D “Enemy Carriers!” image at the Battle of Midway. I changed the
texture map on the 3D PBY to match camo of the PBY that found the
Bismarck. I call this Virtual Airbrushing (smile).
For more images of my scale and 3D models from
the Bismarck story see http://www.shortfuse3d.com
or you can e-mail me.
Konley Kelley
Click on
images below to see larger images
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