Köln, German Light Cruiser, WW2 Recognition Style Model, 3D printed in 1/500 Scale – Completed

Aug. 10, 2025

Above are a few pictures of my completed WW2 German light cruiser Köln. Like the other members of my USN German naval recognition style set in 1/500 scale she was printed using an Elegoo Saturn resin printer and Creality Ender 3 Pro FDM printer. Pictures of the printed parts are below.

Koln was a simple build and the last major unit of the set, I’ve only the Destroyer Maass, Torpedo boat Jaguar and two small subs to go. Oh and the hardest part of all – The Case.

Nuremberg, German WW2 Light Cruiser, Recognition Style Model 3D printed in 1/500 Scale – Completed

July 28, 2025

Almost everything about my Nuremberg (Nürnberg) model was easy and fast, which was extremely fortunate as it was the first model I’d printed all summer! Hard to believe the last project I’d finished was the Arizona 1917 conversion just over a year ago… time flies. Nuremberg fits into my growing collection of German WW2 recognition style ships perfectly. I’ve quite the grouping now and am having fun kicking around ideas for a display box. No doubt I’ll end up going with the standard grey exterior, light blue interior, wooden box with removable shelves to mimic the original recognition sets but it’s fun to dream.

Below are pictures of the printed parts and the initial assembly.

You may notice 3 float planes were printed. This was due to the extremely fine/weak struts that attach the pontoons to the plane’s fuselage. I figured I might need more than one chance at removing the plane from its supports in one piece. The Ender 3 Pro banged out the FDM hull parts perfectly in one go. The Elegoo Saturn however had an odd print failure on the large superstructure piece. The failure happened in a similar way to the many fails I’d had with the replacement deck part for the Revell Arizona 1917 conversion project. Even more incriminating, Nuremberg’s superstructure piece was sitting at the same spot on the build plate where the Arizona’s failures happened. As nothing appeared to be stuck to the vat film, on a hunch, I just shuffled the parts around in Chitubox, avoiding about a 1″x1″ area in the middle of the plate, re-sliced and reprinted, Success! Next time I drain the vat I’ll check the LCD screen and vat film for issues but after not using my printers for over a year I feel I got off easy. I didn’t even need to re-level anything!

American WWII Light Cruiser USS Helena CL 50, LD-002r and Ender 3 Pro 3D printed in 1/450 Scale

8/30/2020 I’ve added a new project page for my latest creation using my LD-002r and Ender 3 Pro 3D printers, the USS Helena CL 50.