I recently bought one of the German-issued De Agostini models of the Graf Spee to cut off the lower hull and make it a waterline model.

Easier said than done!

I removed the deck and upperworks without too much trouble, but cutting off the lower hull was far more difficult. One of the reasons for this was the size of the casting and the step down at the stern. The difficulty was holding/clamping it down firmly to enable me to get my mini angle grinder in a worthwhile position.

After some time I separated the lower hull but left a few scars on the sides of the upper hull. These were easily filled but it was irritating to have scarred the upper hull.

The model comes painted an unusual dark grey. I feared that getting a 'rattle can' shade to match was going to be a problem. However, to my surprise I found one that was an almost perfect colour match in my stash of rattle cans.

I'm pleased with the outcome, but would be more pleased if had managed to retain the nicely printed scuttle details of the original!