German aircraft carrier GRAF ZEPPELIN COBI 4826 - World War II

You know that:

• The ship was named in honour of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the designer of the airship ?
• In 1935, Adolf Hitler decided to build two aircraft carriers as part of the Plan Z program ?
• Before the hull was laid, the plans were revised several times and the ship was repeatedly enlarged ?
• At the time of construction, Germany did not have enough suitable materials for the construction, so Japan helped out ?
• Zeppelin was launched on 8 December 1936, but the ship was never completed ?
• The sister ship that was never launched was to be named Peter Strasser after a German corvette captain ?
• The Führer gradually lost interest in the carriers and construction was also slowed by disputes with Hermann Göring, who did not want to share command of the air force ?
• Unlike tanks, German industry had no experience in building aircraft carriers, so an almost insurmountable challenge for designers was, for example, the catapult ?
• By 1941 the ship was 85% complete, but Marshal Göring did everything possible to stop the work ?
• Just before completion, Hitler ran out of patience with the navy and stopped the project ?
• The weapons were dismantled from the ship after the project was halted and sent to the defence of Norway, and the hull was used as a warehouse ?
• The fate of the ship after the war is not entirely clear and there are several theories as to how the Zeppelin was disposed of ?
• The wreck was most likely used by the Red Army as a target practice and sunk near the town of Wladyslawowo ? 

Technical parameters:

• Dimensions: length 262.5 m, width 31.5 m, draught 7.6 m
• Displacement 33 550 t
• 150 000 kW steam turbine power units
• Speed 35 knots (never verified)
• Range 15 400 km
• Crew 1 720 sailors + 306 aircrew
• Armament 16 150 mm guns, 12 105 mm anti-aircraft guns, 22 37 mm anti-aircraft guns and 28 20 mm guns
• Aircraft: 10 x Messerschmitt Bf 109 + 20 x Junkers Ju 87
• Armour up to 100 mm
  40 mm deck armour

Below you'll find assembly instructions that give an idea of the difficulty (kids usually have no problem:-), or in case the original instructions included in each package get lost. It will also help if you are in doubt about what all the pack contains. This service is brought to you exclusively by COBISHOP.CZ