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The Tom's Modelworks Design
1047 Battlecruiser
The newest release from the growing stable of kits
offered by Tom's Modelworks is a "never-was" Dutch
battlecruiser, Design 1047.
The kit is boxed in a sturdy
white flip-top box, with art work of the final design
on the lid. The contents are well packaged, with
everything secured in separate plastic bags.
This kit is a entirely made up of 3D printed
parts, mostly printed in a dark grey resin, with a two
photo-etch frets, one of which is custom designed for
the model. Inside the box you'll find a hull,
decks, over 30 print rafts of various sizes, and the
aforementioned photo-etch. There are no decals
included (but some for the aircraft would have been
useful).
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| The 3D printed parts
were designed by the following collaborators:
3D PRINTED
PARTS DESIGNED BY
ModelFun Shipyard
Hull
Forward Deck
Aft Deck
Forward 01 Level
Aft 01 Level (2 versions)
Forward Superstructure
Fore Stack and Hangar
Conning Tower
Aft Superstructure
Aft Funnel
Foremast (2 versions)
Main Battery Rangefinders
Secondary Battery Rangefinders
40mm Directors (2 versions)
40mm bases (2 versions)
Type 271 Radar
Type 271 Pedestal
11" turrets
4.7" turrets
3D PRINTED PARTS DESIGNED BY Tom's Modelworks
26' Boat
40mm quads
40mm twins
20mm guns
.50cal machine guns
Mk 51 Directors
Large oval rafts
Small oval rafts
Davits
Anchors
Anchor Chain
Saluting Guns
Paravanes
Mainmast (3 versions)
Boat booms
Flagstaff
3D PRINTED
PARTS DESIGNED BY
Northview Foundry
Fokker C11 Floatplane
Let's take a look at the
parts...
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| THE HULL |
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The hull - which is 3D printed
(just like the rest of the kit) - scales out to the
final design in length and beam. Overall, it's
well done - it almost looks injection molded.
The hull has a faired in armor belt, portholes and
recessed openings for the anchors, both fore and
aft. There is a little raised stubble along the
inside of the hull, near the bow, especially along the
starboard side, which will have to be sanded smooth
before attaching the deck. There is a also bit of
damage, just aft of amidships, on the port side, but
that could have been me removing it from the box (it
was taped to the bottom of the box). These would have
been big ships, if built. Photos below compare
it to a Tamiya Scharnhorst, which helped inspire the
design.
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| DECK |
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| The deck comes in two
pieces - fore and aft. It's really well done, with
nice planking that has butt ends, hawse pipes fore and
aft, capstans, hawser reels, bitts, chocks and boat
cradles, all printed integral to the deck. There will be
a seam to deal with there the two halves join together.
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| FORWARD 01 LEVEL |
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| This part is crisply
printed with the same nice planking as the decks. There
are also portholes and watertight doors on the
bulkheads. There are some faint print lines
visible on some of the bulkheads. Hopefully these
will disappear under a coat of paint. |
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| AFT 01 LEVEL - "1940 VERSION" |
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| There are two
versions of the aft decks provided. One is the
"1940, as designed" version. This version has the
athwartships catapult printed as part of it. Like
the forward 01 level, this has nice planking, portholes
and W/T doors. |
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| AFT 01 LEVEL - "LATE-WAR VERSION" |
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| This is the
"late-war" version of the aft 01 level deckhouse.
Same comments as above. The only difference is
that the catapult is "plated over" on this print.
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| CONNING TOWER |
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| Here you'll find
portholes and some nice vision slit, as well as support
pillars for the secondary directors. This deck was
apparently going to be steel, so there is no planking. |
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| FORWARD SUPERSTRUCTURE |
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| More vision slits -
in the director tower - portholes and watertight
doors. The continuation of the pillars to hold up
the directors are included as well. It has a
"steel" deck like the previous part. There are
some visible print lines on the sides of the bulkheads
in some spots. |
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| FORWARD STACK/HANGAR |
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| The hangar and
forward funnel are printed as one large part. The
bulkheads have some really nice vent details printed
into them. Atop the hangar are a pair of
searchlights, which are quite nice. |
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| AFT SUPERSTRUCTURE |
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| There is more of that
nice vent detail printed into this part, with port
holes, visions slits in the aft director base.
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| AFT STACK |
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| The aft stack is a
small, separate part, with a funnel grate included, as
well as a pair of platforms, each of which has a
searchlight on it., |
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| CRANES |
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| There are a pair of
aircraft handing cranes included. They have some
recessed lightening holes along the crane arm.
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WEAPONS |
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| There are six print
rafts of weapons included.
The largest has the main and
secondary turrets. The main battery, like
Scharnhorst, are three triple 11" gun turrets.
The secondary armament consists of six 4.7' twin
turrets. The detail is good - the muzzles of the
main battery are open. I did notice a few voids
on the secondary weapons, and this print raft had a
greasy substance on the print raft, under the
parts.
The optional AA fit includes four
40mm quad and eight 40mm twins (on two print
rafts). These are very nice, especially the quad
mounts. The barrels on the twin mounts look a
little bent.
Other options include shielded
20mm mounts and .50cal machine guns. The 20mm
are particularly well done.
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| There are two types
of bases for the 40mm quad mounts included:
shielded and unshielded. |
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| DIRECTORS/RADAR |
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| The kit comes with
two main battery directors, two secondary battery
directors, two different types of 40mm directors - with
or without a stand - and a Type 271 radar lantern.
Detail is good - the "lantern" on the radar is well
done. Though there are some visible print lines
showing on the top of the Type 271. |
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| BOATS/RAFTS |
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There are five rafts containing
boats & rafts. Included are a raft with
large oval rafts, with a smaller raft nested inside of
it, a raft with small oval rafts, a raft with two
motor launches, a raft with two "cutters", and a raft
with two 26' whaleboats. The latter raft also
includes the anchors, davits and Mk51 directors.
Again, the parts look good.
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| MISCELLANEOUS PARTS |
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| Among the other parts
included in the kits are two types of foremast and three
types of mainmasts, depending on which "fit" you are
building your never-built Design 1047. The foremasts
include an "as designed" and "late-war, cut-down"
versions. There are also boat booms and a
flagstaff on the raft with the trio of optional
mainmasts. These thinner parts are very delicate - I'd
be worried about breakage or warpage.
Finally, there are three runs of
anchor chain included. These are terrific! Very
delicate and moveable links.
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| AIRCRAFT |
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| Included are a pair
of Fokker C11 floatplanes. There is fabric ribbing
on the upper surfaces of both wings. |
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| PHOTO ETCH PARTS |
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The kit comes with two photo-etch
frets. The large fret is designed for this
kit. Included are railings - specific for
different levels of the ship - ladders, a large hangar
door, catapult, aircraft trolley & cart,
flagstaffs & jackstaffs, platforms, boarding
ladders, inclined ladders and splinter
shielding. Also included are parts for radars,
for a speculative "what-if/what-if" late war
version. Everything is really nicely etch, with
some fine relief etching, especially on the hangar
doors. A second, smaller fret - originally for
US battleships - has some anchor chain and what appear
to be davits.
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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The instructions - which are
printed in color - cover 12 pages. There is a
parts manifest that shows the parts broken out by
which collaborating partner designed them, and then a
guide to the photo-etch. The rest of the
instructions provide clear step-by-step details on how
to assemble your Design 1047 battlecruiser, along with
suggestions on how to use the options parts that are
included. The last page has some photos and data
about similar ships to the 1047 which actually DID get
built, including her inspiration - Scharnhorst - as
well as Dunkerque and Alaska. Since the ships were
never built, there is no color profile, just a
reference to the "light greenish-grey color" found on
other Dutch warships operating in the East
Indies.
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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Battle-cruiser [bad(ɘ)l,kro͞ozər]
(Noun) A large warship of a
type built in the early 20th century, carrying a
similar armament to a battleship but faster and more
lightly armored.
Many many years ago, while in a
bookstore with my parents, I came across a book called
"Warships and Sea Battles of the First World War" (BPC
Publishing, 1973). Inside the book was this
wonderful looking ship called a "battlecruiser". There
was even a chapter dedicate to "Dogger Bank: Clash of
the Battlecruisers". i was immediately taken by
these beautiful ships, and insisted my parents buy me
the book (they did). Ever since then, I've been
fascinated with the battlecruiser concept, and most
everything to do with it. So, when Rich Harden
offered me the chance to review this kit, I jumped at
the opportunity.
With the explosion of 3D printed
kits, there has been an uptick in the release models
of ships - built and never-built - that we would have
never seen produced, even in traditional cast resin.
This kit falls into that category - if it weren't for
3D printing, it's most likely there wouldn't be a kit
of it.
Overall, this is a really nice
kit. The design is solid and the print is very
good, even if there are some visible print lines. The
hull is well done and I think the main deck is
terrific - one of the best 3D printed decks I've
seen. Other parts that I really liked were the
40mm guns, the 20mm guns, the ships boats, the rafts
and the seaplanes. The main battery is very nice
too. Included in the box is just about
everything you'll need to make this model. About
the only thing missing are markings for the
aircraft. All you'll need to bring is your
imagination, as the additional of numerous optional
parts allow you to dream up whatever iteration of this
ship you'd like. If you stay with the "1940 design"
version, you'll have some really nice parts for the
spares box. I know "never-built" ships aren't
everyone's thing. But if you like that sort of
thing, or, if you are looking for something different
to round our your scale model fleet, or, your just a
weirdo who loves battlecruisers, you'll really like
this kit. Highly recommended.
This is Tom's Modelworks’s 1/700
Netherlands Design 1047, kit number 700-28. The model
lists for $75.99 and is available directly from Tom's
Modelworks, who I'd like to thank for this
review sample.
This is an in-box review
only. Your mileage may vary once you commence
constructions.
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