Insert Bullauge Holding the porthole with some tweezers, each porthole was snugged into the hole using a flat piece of wood dowel. Nothing to it. Now do that 188 times......... Click Once To Enlarge

Its worth mentioning here, that I left the outside edge of the portholes where they are flush with the ship, brass and not painted. On many ships, the outside edge of the porthole that is flush with the exterior, is the same colour as the ship. Close photos of the Deutschland-Klasse, however, show that the outside edge of the portholes was brass, not painted.

A Big Day! Now that the hull was repainted and the portholes were in, I was able to finally glue on the lower decks that I had made in 2007. Click Once To Enlarge

Kohlenluke Now that deck was glued on and looked perfect, it was time to drill some holes in it. The decks of all German capital ships were covered in black painted brass coal hatches called Kohlenluke. Interestingly, the coal was strategically placed in the ship to absorb impacts and acted as a form of secondary armour. The Deutschland drawings were all I had to go on, so pilot holes were drilled and then sanded out with a round sanding bit on my hobby drill until the coal hatch would sit flush with the deck. Then the holes were painted black. For the hatches, I used Peter Lienau's excellent #51 Kohlenluke, 6mm Durchmesser (see his catalogue in the references and resources section). Click Once To Enlarge

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Completing the Hull Intro / New Rudder / Fixing the Casemates / Booms / Stairs / New Sponsons / Bugzier/ Portholes / Deck Fittings / Railings / Decals / Final Product