Hi Pete, the model was originaly bought as hull, deck and plan. After that at birthdays and Christmas family and friends bought me parts (guns,float plane etc). The rest I built myself except for the ships boats which I bought because I was short of time due to work.
I think that in some cases if I had bought some parts they may have come out better but I wouldn’t have had the fun of turning odd bits and bobs into Bismarck parts. The thing that always brings a smile is the fact that the "ball" rangefinders started life as anti pespirant roll on balls!