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Author Topic: "HT" RTR 1/350 Bismarck  (Read 8404 times)

Edward Pinniger

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"HT" RTR 1/350 Bismarck
« on: July 09, 2008, 02:49:53 pm »

This is the RTR 1/350 Bismarck produced by "HT" who also make the RTR destroyer, aircraft carrier and torpedo boat often seen on eBay. I bought mine for £20 + postage from Howes on eBay.





The model scales out at exactly 1/350 (the box says "1/360", for once they've underestimated the scale), the hull is about 71.5cm long and 11cm wide amidships. As with the other HT RTR boats, it has twin-prop propulsion and steering, the boat can be steered "tank-style" by running the props in opposite directions. I haven't tested it on the water yet, but from my experience with the "Smasher" destroyer, it will need new props, a lower battery power or a proper speed control to run at a decent scale speed - the Smasher runs like a speedboat in out of the box configuration!





The entire superstructure lifts off to reveal the battery compartment (also with a removable cover) containing a 7.5v rechargeable pack. (I forgot to take a photo of this, but it's a fairly straightforward arrangement) Unlike the Smasher, there is no on/off switch, so you need to take the battery out when you've finished running. There's a blue LED on the forward deck which lights up when the battery is connected. As with the other HT boats, it has a safety feature to prevent the props rotating when out of water, this model also has a "test button" on the aft deck consisting of a couple of small electrical contacts which you touch to complete the circuit. It doesn't work on my model, but you can test the props out of the water by touching a piece of wire to each prop shaft (The "safety feature" is easy to remove anyway with a bit of re-wiring once you've taken the boat apart)




The model has a good amount of detail, presumably copied from the Tamiya 1/350 kit. The main, secondary and AA turrets are all basically accurate in shape and the superstructure is also fairly good. The main superstructure is much too high though, and not as wide amidships as it should be, and most significantly the model is disfigured by 6 huge ugly clips which hold the superstructure in place, these are almost as big as the secondary turrets! Even if you don't want to make any other modifications to the model, replacing these with small magnets or pegs will improve the appearance a lot.


The hull's deck profile is quite accurate for Bismarck, as is the "clipper" bow form and the general shape above the waterline, but the hull is significantly deeper than the real ship, and also has larger bilge keels, with fins, for added stability, along with a bulbous bow (see comparison photo no.2 below) - none of this will be visible when the model is running, though.





Fittings and smaller parts are a mixed bag, some are passable, others distinctly crude. What's really funny is that HT have re-used some of the parts from their other models, particularly the aircraft carrier (which is also 1/350 scale) so you have modern Soviet/Russian armament on a WW2 German battleship! A pair of "Sunburn" anti-ship missile launchers sit on the aircraft deck amidships, the light AA is a mixture of saluting guns and AK-130 30mm CIWS turrets, and the aft mast is taken from the 1/200 destroyer. I'm sure the real Bismarck's crew would have been grateful for these additions - those AK-130s would have made short work of the Royal Navy's Swordfish!
The AA guns are an obvious attempt at cutting costs by re-using parts, but I don't know what the manufacturers were thinking putting SSM launchers on the aircraft deck. At least they didn't put a Ka-27 helicopter there...

Finally, here are some photos comparing the model to a plastic kit. This is a Tirpitz I built several years ago, my first abortive attempt at building a 1/350 plastic kit (which taught me, the hard way, to paint the superstructure + decks before you glue the small fittings and details in place), though it's badly built, and missing some parts, it gives an idea of how the RTR model compares to an actual scale model of a Bismarck-class ship.
The RTR boat appears to have a narrower hull than the kit, but this is an illusion caused by the deeper hull, taller superstructure + the fact that the superstructure deck isn't as wide as it should be; the hulls are near-identical in size and dimensions.









Out of the box, this is a fun model, and would be a great starter R/C boat for kids, but (unlike the destroyer, carrier and torpedo boat) isn't a very good scale model of its subject and will look rather odd even with a repaint and the removal of the superstructure clips.
It wouldn't be too hard to rework + rebuild the superstructure and fittings to make them more accurate, but a much easier option would be to buy a Tamiya/Academy/Minihobby 1/350 Bismarck plastic kit - these can be found very cheap now that the far superior Revell kit is out - and combine the superstructure, turrets + details of this with the hull of the RTR boat. This will give you all the small details - boats, light AA, searchlights, deck fittings etc. - as well as an accurate and detailed superstructure, and will allow you to build a detailed and basically accurate 1/350 R/C Bismarck (or Tirpitz) for around £50 total. This is what I'm planning to do (using my old Tirpitz model shown above, rather than a new kit).
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tobyker

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Re: "HT" RTR 1/350 Bismarck
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2008, 05:00:55 pm »

Thanks, Edward - good review and photos.
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yewmount

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Re: "HT" RTR 1/350 Bismarck
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2008, 06:49:07 pm »

I also bought one from Howes but via Model Boats. As VFM they cannot be beat O0 However I have only 2 [minor] gripes. First, I was not aware that "Bismark" carried Tomahawk missiles qf the twin 4 missile pods abaft the funnel, and second, why did they fit speed=props >>:-( On the water she goes like a bat out of Hell, more like a Schnellboot than the Bismark. ;D
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Captain Povey

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Re: "HT" RTR 1/350 Bismarck
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2008, 08:23:08 pm »

Thanks Edward I just got the destroyer for one of my grand children and your information is very useful as there were no instructions. I am charging the battery for 6 hours as I seem to remember seeing that somewhere. I was concerned that the radio is marked as 27mhz without more definition am concerned that she will control all boats on the lake. Thanks for the tip about the safety feature too. Cheers Graham.
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Edward Pinniger

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Re: "HT" RTR 1/350 Bismarck
« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2008, 06:55:38 pm »

I was concerned that the radio is marked as 27mhz without more definition am concerned that she will control all boats on the lake.

I have several RTR boats with 27mhz transmitters, apart from the Bismarck and "Smasher" transmitters (which are identical) none of them can control each other, so presumably they are all slightly different frequencies - but you may well get some interference if there are other 27mhz boats on the lake.
It definitely seems like all the "HT" RTR warships use the same frequency, so I certainly wouldn't recommend running if another of these is nearby!

I also bought one from Howes but via Model Boats. As VFM they cannot be beat O0 However I have only 2 [minor] gripes. First, I was not aware that "Bismark" carried Tomahawk missiles qf the twin 4 missile pods abaft the funnel, and second, why did they fit speed=props >>:-( On the water she goes like a bat out of Hell, more like a Schnellboot than the Bismark. ;D
They're actually Russian "Moskit" missile pods (same as the ones on the Sovremenny destroyer, though scaled down to 1/350). I also have no idea why they used speed props for all the RTR warships... I suppose they're aimed at kids who want their model boat to go fast, regardless of whether it's exceeding the scale speed of sound in the process!
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grantl

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Re: "HT" RTR 1/350 Bismarck
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2008, 06:28:55 pm »

One thing to be wary of is running these cheaper radios when there are 'proper' ones about A very good value 40MHz speed boat (which I bought for my son, honest)worked perfectly on the jetty but went into failsafe when 8 feet away in the water as the was another 40MHz radio being used nearby. Soon as the other guy switched off I could sail back

Regards,

Grant.
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malcolmfrary

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Re: "HT" RTR 1/350 Bismarck
« Reply #6 on: September 14, 2008, 04:42:46 pm »

Quote
I was concerned that the radio is marked as 27mhz without more definition am concerned that she will control all boats on the lake
One thing you can be fairly sure of is that you will not control other boats.  Most likely they will switch yours off if they are anywhere in the band.  If you are able to control more than one of these low-end RTRs at the same time it will be because they will be using different encoding.
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: "HT" RTR 1/350 Bismarck
« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2008, 08:45:21 pm »

Half decent RTF conversion article in this months Marine Modelling magazine....

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