1/128 DKM Bismarck 38cm SK C/34 Barrels x8

1/128 Scale DKM Bismarck 38cm (14.96") SK C/34 Barrels Only x8. This set ONLY contains the barrels. These are to be used in conjunction with Micro Master Bismarck and Tirpitz Turrets and can be ordered here: http://shpws.me/R4Zp

Contains:

• 8x Accurately sized Barrels using data from Anatomy of the Ship

Historical Data:
Used on the famous Bismarck class battleships, this weapon is usually - but incorrectly - referred to as being 47 calibers long, but it was actually 51.66 calibers in length. It is also sometimes mistakenly described as being a carry over from the 38 cm L/45 guns used on the World War I-era Bayern class battleships. In reality, these guns were built to a completely new design having little in common with the older guns other than their caliber.

A modified version of these guns known as Siegfried was widely used as coastal artillery. The best-known of these was Battery Todt, named after Armaments Minister Dr. Fritz Todt who had been killed in a plane crash. This battery consisted of four guns located near Haringzelles about 3 km (1.8 miles) east of Cap Gris-Nez and which often fired across the Straits of Dover. Four more guns were used at Oxsby (Denmark), four at Hanstead (Denmark) and three at Kristiansand (Norway).

Besides the Bismarck and Tirpitz, it had been planned to rearm the small battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau with these weapons. No serious work ever started for Scharnhorst, but three turrets were under construction during the early 1940s to rearm Gneisenau. When Gneisenau was badly damaged in 1943, these three turrets plus an additional one originally intended for the Soviet Union were reallocated for use as coastal artillery. It was originally planned to install two of these at Cap de la Hague and the other two at Paimpol in France, but this plan was never implemented. Work on putting two of these turrets at Oxsby in Denmark was well advanced but incomplete by the end of the war.

The Soviet Union placed an order for sixteen of these guns which were intended for the battlecruisers Sevastopol and Kronstadt (Project 69), but no guns were ever delivered.

Constructed of loose liner, A tube with four rings shrunk over it for about two-thirds of the length from the breech, a jacket shrunk over about two-thirds of the ring layer and a breech end-piece, breech block supporting piece and a horizontal sliding breech block. Later guns had a loose liner that was removed from the breech end, but these were not universally interchangeable.

Cleaning Information
Some part cleanup will be necessary. The 3D printing process uses a waxy substance to support certain part features during the printing process. Although the parts are cleaned by Shapeways, some waxy residue may remain.  It can be safely removed with water and a mild aqueous detergent like "Simple Green" using an old, soft toothbrush, Q-tips or pipe cleaners. During the printing process, liquid resin is cured by ultraviolet light.  Microscopic bits of resin may remain uncured.

Let your parts sit in direct sunlight for a few hours to fully cure the resin.  

Water-based acrylic paints meant for plastics is strongly recommended.
Other paints, especially enamels, may not cure on Frosted Detail 3D-printed plastics.

Use dedicated model sprue cutters to remove parts to minimise the risk of damage to parts.
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