Weathering a steel ship below the waterline???

Super pictures, Bob.

I know it's not a u-boat - but it is a vessel built in Germany before WWII.  USCGC EAGLE in the CG Yard in 2014.  Part of the hull has been pressure washed, so most of the marine has been cleaned off.

 

Many were painted red below the waterline prewar, but I don't think the major IXC kits portray a prewar fit type 9...

I agree on the "plague" of overweathered U-boat models... I admit they look cool but the heavily oil-canned rustbucket U-boats that are so popular these days are far from realistic, unless you are doing a wreck model.

Still (unless we are building a museum piece or builder's model) isn't the main point of a model to be cool and interesting to look at? Guess that's why I can't blame the U-boat guys for that particular look.

 

 

U-boats were never ever painted red below the waterline. Dark grey all the way down to the keel.

U-boat pens had drydocks and their system featured a remarkably long 4-week turnaround between patrols. Plenty of time to give their boats loving care (at least as long as the war was going well for them). You might find paint chipping from wave buffeting on the fronts of conning towers, water staining, and dark stains around the diesel exhausts, but that's about it, and this stuff would be removed at the end of the patrol. Many modelers go way overboard in giving their builds a dramatic look by using an absurd amount of weathering and rust.

Thanks for the replies all. I now have a better idea on how to represent a vessel below waterline.

DJ

Most weathering on ships occurs as a result of oxygen and salt. Add dings and bingles caused by poor ship handeling and storms and that about covers it.
When the protective coating applied by the builder/owner/dockyard is breached then our old friend O2 comes into play and oxidises the metal(rust if iron or steel)
Since most of this action happens about or above the waterline there is not much rust etc blelow. Algae and other marine growths tend to affect the hull only when it is not moving ie in port. So an iron/steel ship permanently at sea in a cold er area would not have much weathering.
Hope this helps
Dai

DJ:
I would go lightly with the weathering. The lower hull would show the usual bits of rust on seams and so forth where paint had chipped or worn away, but unless the vessel spent long times at the dock or in tropical climates there would not be an overabundance of growths on the hull. Some algae build-up would be normal and this may account for the black stains in your photos.
BTW, the 'rusticles' on Titanic are discharges from bacteria that are eating the iron.
Hope this helps and regards.