I am starting the Revell 1/72 Type IXC U-boat. It will be displayed out of the water, which is odd, for those who know me.
The kit was purchased a few years back by my daughter on Father's Day and I received the PE Big Ed set last Christmas. The removal of the box from the stash sure leaves a huge hole 
I need to fill the void.
Well here it is. I'm sure most everyone is familiar with the kit, built one yourself or watched a few WIP builds. The hull comes in 4 pieces and is going to require some surgery to open the limber holes and flood hatches. I will also build a representation of the pressure hull which can be seen through the limber holes.
After some serious research, mainly using Douglas Martindale’s writings on the 505 on the Accurate Model Parts site, and looking up other papers, I decided to go with the 515.
It seems that the 507, 527 and 557 which were my original choices, would have had the Turm-II (tower (a single 20 on the upper platform and a single 20 on the Wintergarden) as the Turm-IV (two single 20 on either side of the tower on the upper platform) would have come around after the start of 1943. The 507 was sunk in Jan 43, 527 was sunk in May 43, so it may have had the Turm-IV, no telling. But the 527 would have surly had the quad 20 Vierling on the Wintergarden as the single auto 37, in the kit, wasn’t available in numbers yet. The 557 was sunk Dec 41 so there’s no way it has the Turm-IV. The Turm-IV wasn’t even conceived of yet.
So where did that leave me? Searching for another subject to reproduce.
Enter the 515. More searching reviled a survivor’s report after it’s sinking in Apr 44 by rockets and DC’s. After interviewing the survivor’s, it was reviled that the 515 had 2 single 20s, an auto 37 and was missing the 10.5 cm deck gun, which was removed after its first 3 patrols, just like the Revell kit.
From the survivor’s interrogation report
New bridge including Platform II fitted August 1943 at Lorient. Armor plate around forward part of bridge about 16-mm. thick. New structure incorporated so-called “air raid shelter”.
(a) On first 3 patrols: One 105-mm. gun forward of conning tower; One single 20-mm. cannon on Platform I; One 37-mm. gun on after deck.
(b) On 4th patrol: One 37-mm. gun forward of bridge; Two single 20-mm cannons on Platform I; One quadruple 20-mm. mount on Platform II.
(c) On fifth patrol: One 37-mm. gun forward of bridge; Two twin 20-mm. cannons on Platform I; One twin 20-mm. cannon on Platform II.
(d) On 6th and last patrol: Two twin 20-mm. cannons on Platform I; One new automatic 37-mm. gun on Platform II.
Platform II appears to be the Wintergarden.
The 515 had a pretty illustrious career, sinking 25 ships and damaging 2. It was apparently one of the top scoring boats of the 10th Flotilla. The emblems she wore, from the little info I can find, were a hammer on either side of the tower and the 10th Flotilla emblem on the front. This is all just speculation as finding a closeup of the tower though Google images is impossable. But U-Boats.net does indicate the use of the hammer and further digging indicated the use of the flotilla emblem as well.
A picture of the 515 during patrol 4 or 5.
So there you have it, join me if you want to watch yet another 1/72 U-boat build.
Steve