I wanted to have this ship in my collection for years now, and now ,I finally have it, this is the KM Bismarck, maybe the most famous battleship in history.

Backround: Under the terms of the treaty of versailles, Germany wasnt allowed any new battleships. Almost the entire germanfleet was scuttled in scape flow, and only a handful of german warships remained with the germans, like the old ship of the line schleswig Holstein. When Hitler raised to power, he knew that in order to expand the third reich, he would need a potent navy. However, with negotiations between germany and Britain which resulted in the Anglo german naval agreement, Germany was finally allowed to construct battleships, battlecruisers and even aircraft carriers again, although only a small percentage f what the British navy had. While Hitler was pleased with that result, the  admirals of the german navy werent that much.  With that agreement, the german navy had the opportunity to expand their fleet to 3 times its then size. The first ships the germans constrcuted were pretty much in terms of the Anglo german naval agreement. Ships like the Deutschland class heavy cruiser combined excelent firepower with long range and comparatively heavy armor , while still weighing around 10000 tons(without full load however).  A new line of Battleships were also constructed, the Scharnhorst class, two very fast battleships with realtively light armament fr battleships(28cm guns) in response to the french dunkerque class battleships which themselves were built as response to the deutschland class heavy cruisers. These new fast battleships were well engineered, but Hitler and the navy under command of Großadmiral Erich Raeder, knew they needed ssth larger to compete with the latest of French and British battleships. The French Richeliue(designed to counter the Italian Littoria class) was seen as the biggest threat, weighing in at 35000 tons and armed with 8 380mm guns, the new German ship was to feature the same calibre of guns but be overall better. Thus, the Bismarck class was born, itself relatively small ships, compared to the ships that were planned to follow: The H class super battleship.  Bismarck was the first of the two ships of here class, beeing laid down in 1936  and comissioned into the fleet in 1940. At 50000 tons, she was a lot heavier than it was actually allowed, the German ministry threfore officially said she was  35000 tons heavy. Bismarck was an astonishing 251 metres long, her battery of eight 380mm guns were positioned in twin turrets, two aft, and two to the bow. Her secondary armament was also very impressive and of heavy calibre: 12 15cm guns in twin turrets were mounted on the side of the ship, 10,5 cm dual purpose guns functioned as long range anti aircraft guns and as artillery guns,  a wide array of 20mm and 37mm guns protected the ship from aircraft.  She was powered by 3 geared turbines, driving 3 screws,  a design which wasnt often used since 4 screws offered more maneuverability at los speeds and indeed the Bismarck class were comparatively  heavy to steer at those kinds of speeds. She could travel at a maximum speed of 30 knots. Bismarck spent her first month after comissioning with training operation and tests on the ships functionality. Here Captain was Ernst Lindeman. Hitler wanted Bismarck to  venture into the atlantic ocean and wreak havoc on britsh merchant shipping, she was not supposed to face off against battleships(although she could do that quite easily). This operation, named Rheinübung was to take place in 1941. It was hoped that Bismarcks sister, Tirpitz, which was 2000 tons heavier following modifications learned from Bismarcks construction and tests, was completed and joined the action but work on tirpitz was delyed and she wasnt ready when Rheinübung took place. Instead, Bismarck was escorted by the heavy cruiser Prinz eugen, a modern Admiral Hipper class cruiser , and an escort fleet of several destroyers and icebrakers. Admiral Günther Lütjens wanted to wait with the operation until the other heavy cruisers and at least Tirpitz or  Gneisenau and Scharnhorst(the two scharnhorst class battleships) were finsihed/repaired, to strengthen the german task force. However the OKM scheduled  the operation to take place as soon as possible and therefore Prinz Eugen and Bismarck were the only two ships that would sortie into the atlantic. T reach their target, the ships were supposed to venture through the dennmark strait, then proceed into the open atlantic to kill allied merchant shiping. Before the operation, Bismarck also had extensive changing of her colour scheme, one for her baltics operations and for the operationin the atlantic. Starting from Gotenhafen, Prinze eugen began the journey while in the early morning hours of the next day, Bismarck followed, both sips beeing escorted by destroyers and minesweeepers. The two ships ventured though the Kattegat where they were spotted by Swedish ships. This message eventually found its way to the britsh admiralty. Both ships made a short  rest at a Norwegian fjord where they were painted over. when the ships left the fjord, the 3 escoritng destroyers were dispatched. Prinz Eugen had refueled while Bismarck hadnt, sth that would come to bite her in the arse later.  Prematurely, a group of submarines were ordered to scout for the surface raiders.  Heading through Denmark strait, the two ships were shadowed by  britsh cruiser suffolk . Engaging their FuMo radars and hydrophones, the Gedrmans quickly detected the cruiser and managed to decrypt the code sent bback to britain which informed the britsh about the ships location Lütjens ordered Prinz Eugen to open fire at the brish cruiser. However, Suffolk disenaged before the heavy cruiser could hit its britsh counterpart. A short time later, the ehavy cruiser Norfolk joined suffolk, but came too close to the german task force. Both ships opened fire on Norfol, Bismarck fired 5 salvoes which straddle Norfolk. She qucikly disengaged while laying a smokescreen. During the engagement, Bismarck guns  recoil knocked out her Fumo radar, forcing Prinz eugen to take the lead in the formation.  The britsh had already installed a wide array of ships to engage the germans. On several stations battleships were ready, including the new King George V class battleships, Rodney,Hood and several other older battleships. Norfolk and suffolk  continued shadowing the ships. The next morning, the germans heard the sound of turbine engines through their hydrophones, two ships were approaching and smoke was soon seen at the horizon. The Brits had dispatched the  brandnew KGV class battleships Prince of Whales and the huge battlecruiser Hood to intercept the germans raiders. Hood was a huge ships, even longer than Bismarck and she to ahd 380mm guns. However, Hood was  abattlecruiser, not a battleship, her armor was much thinner than bismarcks. The British had hped to cross teh germans "T" to bring their full broadside to bear on them, however the brits underestimated the Germans ships speed ,which combined with foggy weather ,resulted in that the german ships were now crossing the British ships "T". Hood lead the attack while Prince of whales followed behind her. Hood opened fire at 5:52 , her shells hitting the water in front of Prinz Eugen. The Britsh were unaware that the two ships had changed their place in the formation and both british ships initially targeted Prinz Eugen with no hits recorded on the cruiser. However they soon noticed their mistake and both ships targeted Bismarck instead of the heavy cruiser. Norfolk and suffolk were ordered to engage as well btu they were out of range and slower than Bismarck and Prinz eugen.  Hoods Captain, lancelot Holland, tried to close the range to avoid plunging fire from Bismarck, since Hoods deck was poorly armoured . This however also meant that the germans could target the ships more easily. prince of whales hit her target first, one of her shells struck Bismarck. However, the Germans didnt fire back until 5:55. Lütjens had been ordered to sunk commercial vessels not to duke it out with battlecruisers and battleships. he therefore didnt open fire. However, Ernst Lindeman,, commander on Bismarck was not as reluctant. After the gunnery officers repeatedly asked for fire permission and after Prince of Whales´hit on Bismarck, an angered Lindeman said: "Ich lass mir doch mein schiff nicht unterm Arsch wegschießen, Feuer frei!" (I will not have my ship get shot out from under my arse, open fire!). Bismarck then opened fire at Hood, while Prinz eugen was to duke it out with Prince of whales. The  first german shells narrowly missed their intended target but the german gunnery officers didnt take long to adjust their rangefinders correctly.  Prinz Eugen hit Hood first, setting 4 inch ready to use ammunition on fire and starting a fire that cut down a lot of men on the deck. However , the fire was quickly extinguished( there is also the possibility that this hit came from Bismarck). 4 minutes into the battle, Bismarck  obliterated Hood with a single hit of her main battery. A huge gush of flames erupted from Hood admitships and blew her in two pieces, her aft 2 gun turrets were blown out of their barbettes and thrown into the water. The ship broke in two with the stern sinkin immediately, the bow rose up and began sinking, with her forward A turret firing a single last shot before she slipped beneath the waves.  Bismarck shell had penetrated Hoods deck and exploded her aft magazines reslting in the huge explosion.  Hood sank with all but 3 of her crew. Prince of whales had to face both german war ships at onece. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen btoh scored multiple hits on Prinz of whales. Prince of Whales had major malfunctions with her new quad gun turrets, diminishing her firepower by a lot . She was forced to abort the fight and retreated under a smokescreen. Prince of Whales had managed to hit Bismarck 3 times, blowing a hole in her oil bunker. Bismarck had to retreat back to france and was leakin oil , making it easier for the brits to track her. Loss of the hood soon reached the UK and they were shocked that she was sunk. The britsh navy then set out basically every ship available to hunt and sink the Bismarck. Bismarck had seperated With Prinz Eugen, she was to continue hunting for commerce ships, while bismarck would return to france for repairs. However , Swordfish torpedo bombers from Ark royal managed to score a critical hit on Bismarck hitting the  only unarmoured parts f the ships and knocking out her rudder which rendered the ship unable to steer. A huge force of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers then tracked down Bismarck and shelled her until she was basically a floating wreck. However Bismarck refused to sink , and  her crew fianlly scuttled   her after she had taken dozens of shell and torpedo hits. Bismarck sunk with a large protion of her crew. Her loss had severe consequences on the germans urface force since Hitler had lost a lot of faith into his capital ships and the loss of scharnhorst two years later basically banished the reaminign surcafe ships to secondary roles . Her sister Tirpitz survived until 1944 when she was sunk in her fjord by bombers. Bismarck adn Tirpitz were the largest european warships of the second world war, only the postwar finsihed HMS Vanguard was heavier but only by a margin.
In terms of their design, these ships were pretty damn good, their gun layout meant that if one turret was knocked out, they only lost quarter of theri main firepower while for example the king George class battleships lost  almst half of their firepower. The 380mm guns were also superior to their british counterpart, firing faster and with a greater range .  They were also surpringly fast, at 30kn, the Bismarck class was faster than for example the KGV class that only managed 28 kn. 

The kit: This is the revell 1/350 sclae Bismarck. The kit is from 2007 and it costs around80€

Detail : 

The kit is well detailed overall. The superstructures are well represented , the boats look good and also the deck strcutres are well represented. The Arado floatplanes also look good, they even have a very very basic interior and have clear canopy parts. They certainly look 100 times better than the ones in the Tamyia Tirpitz kit I owned. Even the railings are included, although they are way too thick  .  Detail is ok when OOB , however Revell offers an aftermarket kit for the Bismarck with PE railings, antennas and radar masts. What I really like is the sea plane hangar  which is nicely represented.
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fitting: Fitting was mostly good but certainly not perfect. I had some issues with the hull , the deck fitted well except the bow. I like that the deck is single piece which makes construction much more easily.  Guns and superstructures fitted well to perfectly
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Quality: Quality wasnt really that good. The kit is now 8 years old but stil, revells Horten kit for example is "in service" for a much longer period and that one doesnt have that much flash or quaity issues. I didnt encounter that many sinkmarks, but there are a lot of Ejector markson the kit that need to be sanded down. These could have been easily placed to ther places are the inside so that they cannot be seen when the kit is finsihed. I encountered a little bit of flash on the thin masts but overall there wasnt that much flash.
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Decals: I like that the camo pattern on the hull is available as decals and also the waterline is availabe as decal but the waterline decals is very difficult to apply because its in multiple pieces. I therefore decided to paint the waterline on the kit as well as the camo pattern.  Flagd and signs all look nice and are well printed
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Extrapoints: Bismarck is my favoruite warship ever. There is just sth about her that makes her special, especially the looks. She doesnt really look like other battlehsips, she´s much more lean, much more elegant,while still looking powerful and dangerous. Take for example the nelson class, which are imo the ugliest battleships ever designed, i mean they just look ridiculous. Bismarkc has that  modern look to it, she also doesnt appear as winde in the middle and at the stern as say for example a yamato or Iowa class battleship, Bismarck has that unique look to it.  The kit is not perfect but it is pretty damn god and worth its price. Its definetely better than the tamyia equivalent which costs around the same and doesnt have the same amount of detal than the revell one, except the stand which looks awesome on the Tamyia tirpitz.  I also like all the functions on the kit like the movable screws, the guns can be elevated individually and  can rotate which is nice. I als like the clear parts for the boats and the arado 196 seaplanes
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Result: This is a really nice kit and definetely worth its price. Its also surprisingly easy to assemble for a model of its size, the assembling is pretty straight forward I have to say.  I can definetely recommend this kit, its a fine kit for its scale and worth its prize. Its not the best Bismarck kit on the amrket, that award goes to the massive 1/200 Trumpeter Bismarck  but again, that 1/200 not 1/350. If youre lookin for sth in that scale, this kit is certainly worth consideration. I am really glad I have it in my collection now
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At some point I will get a new 1/350 scale tirpitz and i am also planning to buy a narvik class desteoyer from dragon in that scale.