Shipbucket

Nice work!

-Matt

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Okay, here's Köln completely 'pimped' in 1936. Unique was that she had a more massive crane than her sister ships, that she had two decorative eagles on each side of the stern instead of one at the back and that her bow crest was changed to two on each side.

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Splendid thread!

Remember when I said Köln had been completely 'pimped', because it's mostly downhill from here. By 1938, Köln had made some rough expirience in the stormy bay of Biscay during her Spain missions and her inner structure had to be reinforced. To compensate for the added weight, the aircraft catapult had to go and the massive crane had to go. However, another grid crane was installed a short time later, to better handle the larger boats.


After the Invasion of Norway, a degaussing cable was installed, but the larger crane was once again removed and replaced with the old, smaller version. Also, the lower searchlights and aft torpedo tubes were removed and the eagles on both sides at the stern were reduced to one on the back, like any other ship. More significantly, however, the Köln served as a helicopter testbed: from 1940-1941 she carried a wooden platform on turret >Bruno< that allowed the landing and taking off of either a Fl-265 or Fl-282.

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Actually, at the beginning of the war, the eagles on the stern of all Kriegsmarine warships were removed, put into storage, and most likely subsequently either destroyed in bombing raids or melted down for the war effort. The only two eagles that remained with their ships were those on heavy cruiser Blucher and 'pocket battleship' Admiral Graf Spee. Both vessels still had their eagles when they were lost. Blucher's was subsequently salvaged from her wreck without permission, and it's location remains unknown. Admiral Graf Spee's was also salvaged and is currently on display somewhere.

-Matt

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

^Thanks for the info, that will be corrected when I upload the updates.

In the meantime: Köln in 1942, now without helicopters, but with radar. Oh and yay, my first camo job. Probably means it is terrible, but I'll leave that to you to judge.

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I Like it DG_Alpha.
This whole thread is filled with very nice drawings, and I had always liked the look of those little cruisers.
As for the camo job, well it seems all right to me, but I'm no expert.

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Thank you Kim for the crest

"Never fear to try on something new. Remember that the Titanic was built by professionals, and the Ark by an amateur"

Beautiful! She got this camo in early 1941, as there are color photos of her entering harbor and Bismarck is in the background.

-Matt

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Emperor, if she really recieved that camo in 1941, do you think it would be appropriate to combine the 1941 (helicopter) and 1942 (Radar & Camo) versions into one 1941 version?

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Here's the Köln in her final form. With this, I consider this project complete (for now). I'll do a few minor updates and than edit the first post into a compilation post.

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My worklist
Any help and source material is always welcome.