Trumpeter has set a new standard for ships in 1/350 scale with the release of the German heavy cruiser
Prinz Eugen: Lots of detail without a huge parts count, no glaring errors in shape or size, and almost perfect fit throughout the kit.
The box contains nearly 600 parts, including an S-100 torpedo boat and numerous photoetched-metal parts. Normal parting lines and sprue gates are easy to clean up, and overall the kit's engineering is impressive.
I immediately departed from the instructions and painted the lower hull (from my dwindling stock of AeroMaster paints). British extra dark sea gray is a pretty good match for dunkelgrau 51. I base-coated wooden decks with White Ensign IJN deck tan and washed them with Tamiya hull red as a teak stain. I replicated the Kriegsmarine gray of horizontal surfaces with White Ensign Sasebo gray. The basic superstructure I sprayed Aeromaster AeroMaster medium sea gray. Since the kit depicts the ship in 1945, the decks are streaked and worn as they would have been at the end of World War II.
The three-piece main deck forward join is at the fairweather break, and the center and stern join below an overhang on the 01 deck - and the joins are all but invisible. Fit was perfect - thank you, Trumpeter!
Assembling the deck houses, I built up from the main deck as far as I could without adding all the detail parts, building subassembies as completely as possible before adding them to the model. As I went, I did add the photoetched-metal detail. Ladders and other details are shown on the plans and generally replace existing plastic parts.
You'll need additional reference materials to place the deck railings properly. For some reason, the deck railings (supplied in four different styles) are shown only by one very vague arrow in Step 22. Luckily, the Internet has some very good images of the
Prinz Eugen - and Trumpeter's photoetched metal is heavy, plentiful, and sturdy enough to bend back into shape if you mess it up.
Basically: The No. 1 four-bar railing with diagonal brace is used on the main deck and the 01 deck above it; the No. 2 four-bar railing is used on the next several decks; the No. 3 three-bar railing is used on most decks above the upper bridge deck; and the No. 4 open double railing doesn't seem to be used anywhere at all.
I installed all the railings before adding the other plastic detail parts as I built up the various deck houses, then brush-painted them medium sea gray. As the brush dried, I used it to dry brush the decks to bring out their beautiful raised detail and add weathering. Final assembly consisted of adding various plastic details from the main deck up, and from the inside out. As each deck was finished, I added another deck and continued the process.
The two Arado aircraft are supplied in 13 clear plastic pieces. The S-100 torpedo boat is an excellent little model of its own.
Trumpeter's
Prinz Eugen supplied me with about 80 hours of quality modeling time spread over four weeks and one house move. The photoetched-metal details and the torpedo boat added several hours to the actual build time, but extra value as well. I did not find one ejector-pin mark that interfered with the fit or finish. Fit was almost perfect on every part, and the thinness of the splinter shields and bulkheads was amazing. Exemplary of the high level of detail, the 8" main guns are hollowed at their ends.
If there is any negative aspect, this is not a kit for anyone without experience fitting photoetched-metal parts. Bending the metal to match the turns, curves, and irregular cut-outs of all the decks is not for novices. For example, the railing on the hexagonal searchlight platform took me four or five tries. I finally got it close, but it was a long battle.
Nevertheless, in the right hands, Trumpeter's
Prinz Eugen makes a stunning model that's well-worth the effort.
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