German Battleship Bismark – Wooden Model Ship Kit by Amati Model

Launched in 1939, the battleship Bismark was Germany’s latest weapon in its war against the Allies. The ship was armed with a main battery of eith 15-inch guns mounted in pairs in four turrets. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 5.9-inch guns, sixteen 4.1-inch guns, sixteen 1.5-inch guns, and twelve 20mm anti-aircraft guns. The ship carried a crew of 2000 men, displaced over 50,000 tons fully loaded, and measured over 800 feet long, overall. She and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power.

From Wikipedia:
The two Bismarck-class battleships were designed in the mid-1930s by the German Kriegsmarine as a counter to French naval expansion, specifically the two Richelieu-class battleships France had started in 1935. Laid down after the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935, Bismarck and her sister Tirpitz were nominally within the 35,000-long-ton (36,000 t) limit imposed by the Washington regime that governed battleship construction in the interwar period. The ships secretly exceeded the figure by a wide margin, though before either vessel was completed, the international treaty system had fallen apart following Japan’s withdrawal in 1937, allowing signatories to invoke an “escalator clause” that permitted displacements as high as 45,000 long tons (46,000 t).

Bismarck displaced 41,700 t (41,000 long tons) as built and 50,300 t (49,500 long tons) fully loaded, with an overall length of 251 m (823 ft 6 in), a beam of 36 m (118 ft 1 in) and a maximum draft of 9.9 m (32 ft 6 in). The battleship was Germany’s largest warship, and displaced more than any other European battleship, with the exception of HMS Vanguard, commissioned after the end of the war.

Bismarck was armed with eight 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 guns arranged in four twin gun turrets: two super-firing turrets forward—”Anton” and “Bruno”—and two aft—”Caesar” and “Dora”. Secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) L/55 guns, sixteen 10.5 cm (4.1 in) L/65 and sixteen 3.7 cm (1.5 in) L/83, and twelve 2 cm (0.79 in) anti-aircraft guns. Bismarck also carried four Arado Ar 196 reconnaissance floatplanes, with a single large hangar and a double-ended catapult. The ship’s main belt was 320 mm (12.6 in) thick and was covered by a pair of upper and main armoured decks that were 50 mm (2.0 in) and 100 to 120 mm (3.9 to 4.7 in) thick, respectively. The 38 cm (15 in) turrets were protected by 360 mm (14.2 in) thick faces and 220 mm (8.7 in) thick sides.

Read More here: Bismark on Wikipedia

The Model

Battleship Bismark is latest kit from Amati, just released for Summer ’21. At 1:200 scale, this is a BIG model, over 4 feet long! The kit features a single-planked wooden hull of plank-on-bulkhead construction, with laser cut parts for the keel and bulkheads, as well as for the deck structures.

Being a wooden model kit, the deck is, of course, real wood, just like the real ship. This is a massive kit, not just in size, but in the quantity of materials. 16 laser-cut plywood sheets, plus more than 2200 photo-etched brass parts! This a kit that will test your skills. Complete this challenge, and you’ll have one of the most amazing models on display anywhere.

Scale 1:200
Length 50 inch (1270mm)
Height 11.5 inch (292mm)
Width 7.2 inch (182mm)

Prefer making an RC Capable version of this ship? We carry a kit from Aero-naut for just that purpose!