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SMS Lutzow and her sister ships Derfflinger and Hindenburg were generally regarded as the finest of the WW1 era German battlecruisers. Excellent sea boats, their four 12" turrets were located in fore and aft superfiring pairs along the center line. In profile Lutzow had a decidedly more modern look than Seydlitz. Her flush deck, long forecastle and lack of midship main armament resulted in sleeker, more visually appealing lines than Seydlitz. At Jutland Lutzow was hammered by 24 heavy shells (4-15", 12-13.5", and 8-12"), but her own gunnery blew up HMS Invincible and possibly Defence. But the many Royal Navy shell hits took their toll. Thousands of tons of water poured into her breached hull. When the water line reached the top of Lutzow's B barbette, the situation was hopeless and the Germans finished her off with a destroyer-launched torpedo. She was the largest and most important of the German ships lost at Jutland.
The WSW (formerly Doc Modell) SMS Lutzow is a gem. This producer has solved the mysteries of resin casting. The Lutzow's detail laden hull is glass-smooth and its edges razor sharp. The more one examines this casting, the more impressive it gets. Little details like the fore and aft anchors are exquisite. No etched brass two-dimensional anchors on this battlecruiser. The horizontal deck vents, a prominent feature on German capital ships, are in-scale and cutting-edge sharp, unmarred by air bubbles or warpage. Even the torpedo net shelving and nets have been cast integral with the hull and are most convincing.
SMS Lutzow is yet another excellent release from one of the world's best producers of 1/700 resin kits. I find Jutland era ships particularly appealing and was delighted with this fine kit, both by the subject matter and WSW's beautiful and accurate 1/700 scale depiction. I highly recommend the Lutzow. See the WSW/B-Resina product page for availability.
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Smaller parts are cast into
paper thin resin wafers. Parts removal and preparation was easy. The 12" barrels are
cast integral with the four gun turrets. Besides being ramrod straight, eliminates
alignment headaches and is a nice touch. The command bridge and wheel house are
especially noteworthy. They are multi-part affairs engineered so that the interior is
visible through the window frames. No solid representations here, so the hard core among
you will have some fun detailing interiors. Engineering of all above deck structures
is uniformly excellent. Everything goes together with minimal fitting and sanding. German
battlecruisers eschewed deck clutter. Combine this purposeful design approach with WSW's
well engineered parts and you have a rather easy buildup - for a capital ship. Pole masts,
open boats, cranes, searchlights and 8.8cm guns are white metal. Casting quality is good,
though not up to the remarkable standards of Japanese producers like Waveline and Hi-Mold.
I generally dislike white metal masts. They bend too easily and tend to look heavy and out
of scale. But the Lutzow's masts are quite acceptable and I may not fabricate brass
replacements after all.
Shortcomings? No
etched brass railing included. This won't matter to the majority of modelers who don't
bother with PE. And there is so much cast-in detail that its absence doesn't detract from
the kit's excellence. The model more than stands on its own. Nevertheless I couldn't
leave well enough alone. I affixed Tom's Modelworks 4-bar railing to my buildup
(in-progress photos are part of this review). I like the look of railing, especially on a
ship with the broad deck expanses of Lutzow. And the struts holding up the three prominent
searchlight platforms abutting the two funnels look better in brass or stretched sprue.
Note that the two forward platforms are supported by etched brass (actually scraps cut
from unused 350 scale brass frets). The aft platform is supported by the kit provided
resin part. It's acceptable but brass and/or stretched sprue looks more in-scale. It
should also be noted that instructions are minimal, but adequate to the task. They include
an exploded view and a numbered parts list. I had no problem identifying parts or
placement on my Lutzow. You won't either, but don't expect any handholding or explanations
from these instructions. There is none.
