Admiral Graf Spee (Papercraft

Creative Projects > Papercraft > Admiral Graf Spee

The first of Suyukaz's papercraft ships to be built in the scale 1/1800. This is the third Graf Spee made by Suyukaz, with a digitally-made template meaning that the model is the most accurate compared to the past 2 Graf Spee's.

The Graf Spee's template was printed on 20th June 2021, and the ship was completed in August. It was likely that in June, Suyukaz built most of the ship, especially the hull, however the armament was left unbuilt until July. A photo from 30th July showed the first main gun (gun A) being constructed, indicating construction has continued. The ship was painted on 8th August.

Graf Spee symbolizes well of Suyukaz's love for historical references, even on simplified ship models like this one. Below are photos of Graf Spee with her dummy twin main guns (Forward the main tower and behind the fore main gun) and (not very well made) dummy funnel (behind aft rangefinder and forward of aft main gun).

Graf Spee actually used this configuration while carrying out her first and only raiding mission in 1939. This disguise makes other ships- especially merchant ships- mistook Spee for a different ship.

Sometime before November (possibly October), another detail was added to the Graf Spee: the forward searchlight platform (though the searchlight itself was not added).

Historical Information

Admiral Graf Spee was the third Deutschland-class cruiser to be built. She served during the Spanish Civil War, performing non-intervention patrols. On her way to return to Germany, she stopped at Spithead to participate in the Coronation Review for King George VI. She would then serve World War II, carrying out merchant shipping raids in the South Atlantic before engaging British cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate. She would then be scuttled off the coast of Montevideo.

Wiki: Admiral Graf Spee
Wikipedia: German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee