1/144, XXI, U-2540 submarine with interior

Given the location, those are probably related to the hydraulics involved with raising & lowering the snorkle mast, and/or periscopes.

Also, I've a vague rememory (I'm surface, not a bubblehead ) that you want a place to dump any water the snorkle digests.  Might also be a holding tank for water to cool the exhaust side of the snorkle, too.

But, bet number one is that at least one is either a trim tank or similar balast tank.

The tower looks good.  The XX1s are rather plain, if not to the nearly-devoid-of-surface-features level of nuke boats.  Just close.

Jumped straight to the conning tower. Now I wish I was not so impatient. I did not do anything wrong as per instructions, but made it more difficult for me to add/alter the interior. For instance, the side walls are bare and look out of place in its setting. Will try to improve on it in situ.

So far:

Discovered that exterior ladder steps are solid plates, but by painting the edges black they can appear to look like bars.

Have not finished painting the exterior. Needs touch-up work.

CapnMac82

[sinister voice]Welcome to the dark side[/voice]

You will probably fit in well here.

Unlike most other model genres, ship modeling has rather a bad habit of kitting the equivalent of a Spitfire, then putting in a new box and calling it a Hurricane.  Some of the kit makers have unabashedly also boxed that Spit as a Typhoon.

So, research is a common companion.  Which can be frustrating.  After-market stuff is a distinct mix of kit-specific, and generic; quite a lot is actually aimed at scratch builders.

One of our 'regulars,' Raiderhall, scratch builds entire carriers to get the vessels he wishes to model.  His posts are photo-strong, too.

Our buddy, Tanker-builder does a lot of stuff with card models.

It's really an amazing bunch of talented people.

 

[sinister voice]Welcome to the dark side[/voice]

You will probably fit in well here.

Unlike most other model genres, ship modeling has rather a bad habit of kitting the equivalent of a Spitfire, then putting in a new box and calling it a Hurricane.  Some of the kit makers have unabashedly also boxed that Spit as a Typhoon.

So, research is a common companion.  Which can be frustrating.  After-market stuff is a distinct mix of kit-specific, and generic; quite a lot is actually aimed at scratch builders.

One of our 'regulars,' Raiderhall, scratch builds entire carriers to get the vessels he wishes to model.  His posts are photo-strong, too.

Our buddy, Tanker-builder does a lot of stuff with card models.

It's really an amazing bunch of talented people.