It’s been, almost a decade since I picked up an X-Acto Knife and built a styrene model. This weekend changed all that.

The reasons are many, some I can’t even go into. The ship was picked for 2 reasons. Price (about $10) and it had below waterline detail. That’s all I was looking for and this fit the bill. What turned out to be serendipitous fortune simply makes the project that much more poignant.

The Blücher was a German Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser. The Kriegsmarine’s newest ship at the outbreak of World War II, having been in commission for just over six months, she was sunk by Norwegian shore defenses at the Battle of Drøbak Sound on April 9, 1940, the first day of the invasion of Norway (Operation Weserübung).

It took approximately 4 hours to formulate the plan for the build, and the first plastic was cut on Saturday night.

12 hours later, the final result. And I’m quite pleased with it. Moving some of the parts did not require much skill at all, but moving the starboard side screw was, well, a several hour effort. In the end, a fair bit of plastic welding was done, and body filler applied to completely conceal the original location. I hope you can see the final result in the side shot.

I wish I could say more about it. 🙂