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Contrary to common belief the ship was not laid down as "Hindenburg" in 1912. The name was assigned to the ship only in 1917. The earliest mentioning of that name can be found in NDL´s annual journal 1916/17 (published in 1917). Before that no name was attached and the accounts only refer to the ship as "35,000 tonner". That makes sense historically as Fieldmarshall Hindenburg´s victory in East Prussia only happened in August 1914 and February 1915 and he became the hero as the "saviour of East-Prussia". Only then his name became famous and his rise in the ranks of the Gerrmany military began. Why should the Lloyd name one of his principal new liners after an unknown, retired military before August 1914? That makes absolutely no sense. Furtermore, Anglo-american authors simplify the transfer of the hull to Lloyd after the treaty of Trier in 1919. I will refer to that point later and clarify it historically correct.
Coming back to the model: it´s a kit by Walter Otten from Worpswede/ Germany. The kits offered by Otten are hand-drawn with their own, warm charme. But: they are not very accurate and need considerable re-construction. First, there is the problem of building stages with SS Columbus. As far as my research has shown there are the following stages:
a) completion in 1924
b) changes in promenade deck aft / cargo configuaration probably in 1927
c) after conversion to turbines in 1929
d) addition of pool and dancing platform, major changes aft in 1937
The general arrangement plans from Werft-Reederei-Hafen, of course, show version a). Only during my construction I realized that Otten´s model shows version b). The problem with the models shown in the museums in Bremerhaven is that none is accurate. So far there are enough problems to deter any model maker from building the kit. I dare it nonetheless.
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