A U-boat's progress

looks Great

you said you are going to put it in the bath room

the  temp. and humidity extremes may ( or not) present problems

just a thought

Beautiful Job! Since you're working this hard to get it right, please tell me you're going to do something about those oversized Revell rivets and hand rails.

Truly Awesome ! I'm caught between the idea of creating a museum quality model by using CMK interior detail sets, wood decks, pressure hull and brass fittings and the nuisance born from the the idea of cutting holes to that jewel quality ship's hull. that's a real torment  

Looks fantastic. Don't forget the air intake piping that extends up under the wintergarten deck or the sky periscope housing that extended into the pressure hull.

It's ashame we won't see a lot of the detail of the the hull. It's good that you used the kit's deck, although the slots are out of scale, you'll probably see the hull better through them versus the modelbrass.

I'm not sure about the deck gun mount being extended like that though. I'm pretty sure that those slats fit right up against the deck. However, it's really the kit's fault due to the fact that its not a perfect cirlcle like the real pressure hull was. The kit is too flat.

Keep up the great work and keep us posted, please.

Take Care,

Jess

colagero wrote:

Looks fantastic. Don't forget the air intake piping that extends up under the wintergarten deck or the sky periscope housing that extended into the pressure hull. It's ashame we won't see a lot of the detail of the the hull. It's good that you used the kit's deck, although the slots are out of scale, you'll probably see the hull better through them versus the modelbrass. I'm not sure about the deck gun mount being extended like that though. I'm pretty sure that those slats fit right up against the deck. However, it's really the kit's fault due to the fact that its not a perfect cirlcle like the real pressure hull was. The kit is too flat. Keep up the great work and keep us posted, please. Take Care, Jess

I have to agree with Jess about the brass deck.  Modelbrass' deck is very nice; however, with all the flood vent openings I did in my boat, it's still very difficult to see the Yankee Modelworks casting through the openings in the deck.  I still prefer the brass to the kit original for the reason stated; it's more scale like openings and thickness.

 

Yes, the Modelbrass is very nice. I definitely prefer it over all other decks, especially with Eduard's stern and bow sections.

Take Care,

Jess

chukw

Great job! That is one hell of a task to clean out the deck slots. I have built several of these boats and have only drilled out the hull flood holes and that was a task by itself. It would be nice to add all the CMK inner compartment details, leaving one side of the hull with see thru sections, while leaving the opposite side solid. Unfortunately, each compartment section is coming out to over $30 and will add up at the end. Another thought would be to model one at waterline level with a bridge and a gun crew in action. A lot of the lower hull detail will be lost if modeled in this fashion. Please post more pictures as your build continues.

There's actually a guy on the Armorama website that is building one with the compartments. Very cool. I think he's also going to fit the upper pressure hull kit atop of them ( with a lot of sanding and grinding, of course).

Check it out:
http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=67768&page=2

Take Care,

Jess

Don't worry, DURR!  I'm a modelbuilder- I don't bathe! 

Leftie- I doubt I'll rebuild all the railings- I'm happy to think of this as a model, rather than a super-replica.  I could go crazy just trying to understand this beast from the scant reference I have... 

kapudan_emir_effendi :  I feel your pain- and have decided on the level of detail- and money- I want to expend on this model... ;)

colagero:  I think you'll be  able to see enough through the openings to be intrigued- I'm a U-Boat novice, and had no idea of how these things worked.  The structure is fascinating, and the end result will hopefully get the point of a whole semi-hidden portion of the boat across.  As for the gun mount- check the diagram in Squadron's U-boats In Action, as well as others- it was definitely extended, although by a post and big, fat gussets.  I may have to build up some big, fat gussets now, too!

samreichart: That PE would have saved a lot of heartache and mess, and given more visibility, for sure- and thanks for the link!

plastikjunky :  Yeah, you could spend the dog's inheritance tricking this kit out!  :)

So which holes do you clean out. I have this kit and I've seen where people talk about doing this. Do you need to if you don't plan on putting it in contests. Does it look good if you don't? Any info will be appreciated.

Hi, Bilbirk-  I opened all those drain and vent hulls in the hull along the deck line, at the lower front and rear areas, as well as a long slot above the saddle tank bulges- these had styrene dividers inserted at teach line if rivets. There are round holes and squaresh ones- seems like there are hundreds!   I also routed the deck out from beneath, as it was slotted-  (seems like millions of slots!)  all these openings were necessary for the ship to dive and surface quickly.   I opened 'em up because I'm some kind of nut.  I may or may never enter this thing in a contest- we'll see.  I have seen some examples of the kit built right out of the box that look really great with all the little recesses left just as they are, just painted black.  Simple!  

bilbirk wrote:

So which holes do you clean out. I have this kit and I've seen where people talk about doing this. Do you need to if you don't plan on putting it in contests. Does it look good if you don't? Any info will be appreciated.

It just looks better if you drill out the flood holes. It adds relism and detail to the boat.

I am currently building the 7c with the three CMK inserts, the YMW prussure hull insert and pe sets, the WEM torp. loading kit and the Nautilus wood decking. I stained the wood deck using drawing ink (50-50 mixture of white and black) top and bottom and it nearly matches the Model Master Greu color used on the metal bow section holding the net cutter. I did much milling of the underside of the bow pressure hull to allow it to sit atop the CMK torp. room insert. The stern pressure hull will sit atop the CMK engine room insert with similar milling and fileing. You will not need part 12 from the Uboat kit as the torp. room insert covers this area with the insert having groves that fit the ones in the keel that hold part 12 in place. You will need part 13 to support the stern end of the center pressure hull section, the front of the center pressure hull will rest on the stern of the torp. section. I drilled out the mounting for the 88mm gun on the pressure hull, glued brass tubing to the base of the kit gun mount and placed the brass tube into the pressure hull mount with the kit mount sitting on the wood deck. The torp. loading kit required the removal of a rectangle of the middle pressure hull to allow the brass box under the wood deck to sit in proper position. I cut off the torp. loading hatch and tube from the CKM torp. insert and the center pressure hull replacing it with evergreen tubing. The loading hatch from the pressure hull will be retained and combined with the WEM torp. pe set hatch details and placed back on the model. I plan to replace the kit parascope tubes with aluminum tubing thru the control room to the keel thus supporting the kit sail so that it can be removed along with the decking to show the pressure hull. So far the CMK inserts, pressure hull inserts, Natilus decking the kit hull halves have gone together very well and not required unexpected milling and fileing. A nice feature of the CMK insert kits is the inclusion of a saw the thickness and size of a double edge razor blade that makes cutting the holes in the kit hull and the resin parts much easier as the blade is very thin and flexable.

gsharris wrote:

I am currently building the 7c with the three CMK inserts, the YMW prussure hull insert and pe sets, the WEM torp. loading kit and the Nautilus wood decking..

 

got any pics?????