Graf Spee Pocket Battleship

This is a review of the Graf Spee Pocket Battleship, Academy Plastics, 1/350 (ACY14103). The model was rated on a scale from 1 -10 with one being very bad and ten being excellent. I will rate three areas; detail, instructions and the provided Paint and Marking guide. I liked the model and it was fun to put together but there were issues that made assembly frustrating at times.I would rate the model a seven (7) based on the scale mentioned above. My comments: Detail: The overall detail was good. The decking was done well as were the hatches and doors that could be easily seen and painted. The two cranes had enough detail to make them look pretty good once string was attached to simulate cable. The supplied railings were the standard plastic type and replacing them with medal etched parts would have taken the model up a couple of levels. However, the supplied railings were well made and there was zero flash attached to any of them. Speaking of flash there was almost none at all on any part used. There was one area that needs work and I did not notice until later. Parts A18/A19 forms the top and bottom of the two main gun turrets. When glued together there are two fairly large holes on either side of the turrets. This detracts from the overall look of the turrets and when building the holes should be patched and sanded before painting. On my scale I would rate the models detail an eight (8). Instructions: Over all the instructions were easy to read and understand but there are several parts and pieces that do not come together well. First, step six (6) (c) and parts D21/D22. This step is very clear about where to place these parts but doing so will interfere with the placement of the railing (G22) later in constructions. You will either have to modify the railing to fit or move D21/D22 inboard some to allow the placement of the railing. Step seven (7) attaching parts E18/E19 and E22-E25 was more of a challenge than I would have liked and once attached did not look realistic. If I understood the instructions there should be no gap between the bridge tower and each front facing wings' wall. However, I was unable to get that to happen without modifying the parts adding construction time and there was no way to tell if the end result would have been worth the effort and there was a possibly of damaging parts. Parts D2/D3 are shown being attached to parts E1/E2. The instructions do not clearly show the bottom of part D2/D3 and its’ small extension that fits into the hole in the top of E1/E2. It appears that this assembled part should not be glued into the top of E1/E2 which would allow D2/D3 to rotate. If that was the intent then it should have been indicated and clearly shown. I ended up gluing this part to the top of E1/E2 due to a very loose fit. Step seven (7) shows illustrations of the bridge and a mast directly behind and attached to the bridge. This caused some confusion as the construction of the mast and its’ attachment to the bridge are not actually done until step eight (8). Step eight (8) (b) illustrates the assembly of the twin 88’s that are attached to the bridge assembly (h) completed in step seven (7). Unfortunately the bottom of B20 does not fit onto the deck as indicted because both the bottom of B20 and the indicated spot on the deck are both round circles of the same size. This made the placing of the guns difficult adding unnecessary time to construction. On my scale I would rate the models detail a six (6). Paint and Marking Guide: Academy provided a good paint and marking guide which included a list of twelve colors and different manufactures including manufacturers corresponding product color code. The guide itself was in black and white and did not provide much help as to which colors go where, but in their instructions if a color other than gray was appropriate it was indicated. There was one problem however; they indicate that the hull should be painted Hull Red nine (9) and Flat Black six (6) on their guide. Since the guide is printed in black and white there is no way to determine what is expected to be painted black. The instructions were of no help and the box which had many pictures of the finished model did not show any black on the hull. I made an assumption that a black stripe could be pained around the hull of the ship between the upper and lower hull but pictures on the box did not show this stripe. On my scale I would rate the models detail an eight (8).

I thought this was a great model to build, as you may have read my other reviews... this is not a great model, just a good one. Although, it does look great finished. The problems involved were actually in the instructions stated in a previous review. The camouflage colors are kind of hard to find as well. This kit has a few instruction problems, but they're not that hard to overcome. So overall, i enjoyed this kit, it was nice to build and it looks great finished. Oh, one more thought... you can make the main turrets and main AA guns movable, though the AA guns are just up and down, they need to be glued in otherwise unless you know the model wont be touched when its done.

Bought this model a few months ago and enjoyed every minute working on it! I love anything german navy related, and the pocket battleships of ww2 are some of my favorite vessels. There are not too many parts to this kit, but for its price it is highly detailed!