FGS Scharnhorst - Fictional model for small scale printing 3D print model

The Scharnhorst was the flagship of the Volksmarine and one of the most useful assets for the country during the war. Only one ship of the class was constructed, as a second ship was not realized.

This model includes a Statsheet which displays some data of the ship as well as two renderings of the model. The full scale image is located in the zip-archive.

Scharnhorst was laid down in 1979 and was launched in Rostock in 1983. The commission happened in 1985, adding her to the Baltic defense fleet of the Volksmarine. A few shake down cruises were completed, as well as some refits during 1986. During these shakedown cruises several flaws in the design were noticed, some of which were rectified in the refit.

Since the recently acquired Cleveland-class of West Germany posed a great threat to the national integrity of the DDR should a war arise, a program was launched to incorporate bigger units into the fleet. As neither the DDR, nor Poland had the capacity to develop their own large surface combatants, high command chose to base the new programme of warships off soviet blueprints. As a large vessel with ASW capability as well as aerial defence was needed, several classes were eliminated preliminary. However, the Kara and Kresta II class seemed promising, serving the soviet union for several years by the time the class was chosen.

Having been based on the Kresta II and Kara class cruisers of the Soviet Union, the ship was highly specialized in ASW, especially the shallow baltics where the majority of the engagements were thought to be. Due to material shortages some systems were not fitted like intended, like the towed array and second suite of AK-630s were missing, yet planned to be added in the 1990s. Being led by the elite of the Volksmarine, she received much honor and pride before the crisis of West Berlin kicked off, pulling the Warszaw Pact into the conflict. During the first few months of the war in 1989 Scharnhorst remained in harbor as a fleet in being. For a few weeks the entire commanding staff of the naval forces was onboard, their office having been struck by a misguided missile of the Soviet Union. As the VMS Blücher was sunk off Rügen due to an accident with all hands, high command was forced to send Scharnhorst out into the open ocean for the first time.

Beginning to operate along with the Soviet Battlecruiser Kronstadt, Kirov and Sverdlov as well as a small Task Force in January 1990, Scharnhorst was sent into an assault against a Task Force around USS Lexington and USS Abraham Lincoln, ending in a victory for the Soviet Forces. In that large scale engagement she scored her first kills against the frigate USS Reuben James, the support ship USS Cape May and the British frigate HMS Brazen. The battle nearly sank the Abraham Lincoln as well as disabled several other ships in the formation, causing the NATO forces to retreat. During a later engagement against USS Enterprise, an unfortunate missile hit disabled the forwards missile launcher, damaging the bow. High command sent all units back to shore, as Kirov had been hit heavily as well. Scharnhorst was promptly drydocked in Rostock in March of 1990, supply shortages prolonging her stay out of active combat. She was still drydocked as the final days of the war closed in, which was a lucky circumstance. Due to a miracle the ship wasn't hit directly, though some damage was detected right after the first strikes.

As the war had ended abruptly, the two halves of Germany were reunited under NATO jurisdiction, causing Scharnhorst to be redesignated as a battlecruiser of the Federal Republic of Germany. The first few forces of the US Army under support of Danish troops secured the dockyard and ship in August, at that point of time the ship had degraded so heavily that it was not seaworthy anymore.

After the bombs fell and most crucial facilities were destroyed, it was chosen to dismantle Scharnhorst in dock and use the different systems elsewhere. The main cannons and torpedo launchers were installed on a land battery on Rügen, the emergency generators were taken to Wismar where they powered a hospital. The keel and main machine remained in the drydock, the rest of the ship was taken apart. Around the hulk a building was created, now being a power plant bearing the same name as the ship, supplying Rostock and neighboring districts with power. The power plant went into service in 1995, providing energy for the entire region. In the 2010s, it was chosen to replace the aging boilers with newer Diesel fuelled ones as the old Mazut driven ones were worn out without replacements in sight. In 2020 the government announced that a new ship with the name of Scharnhorst will be built, based on the new F126 class. It will be the third ship bearing the name and is planned to stay in service up to 2060.

Note: This model is recommended to be used in the 1/1000 scale. The models itself isnt scaled, the scale table is down below.

1/4000: 4,25cm or 1,67in

1/3000: 5,26m or 2.07in

1/2000: 8,5cm or 3.34in

1/1000: 17cm or 6.69in

1/720: 23,6cm or 9.29in

1/600: 28,3cm or 11.14in

For self calculation: The Scharnhorst was roughly 170m or 557ft long.

The model is intended to be used with little supports as possible, yet some are recommended below all overhangs, especially at a large scale. The missile launchers, barrels of the main gun and shafts are mandatory to support, otherwise they wont print. Be carefull when removing the support structures, as some details can be quite fragile. I recommend using a resin printer for this. Up and Downsclaling might be possible, yet I dont know to what extend. My test print with a Prusa i3 Mk3S on 1/720 scale worked, but some detail had to be omitted or changed.

Note: This ship is fictional and was never built, nor planned. It is completely made up and solely served as an experiment for me. As reference I used a drawing from shipbucket, done by Gollevainen, Noblesse311 and Spirz.

If you face issues with the model, have questions or want to propose some changes, please reach out to me, I am always happy to help. I am also open for suggetions for new ships which I havent done yet, as I am looking to expand my catalogue of ships.