Battle of the Atlantic - 2011

My progress up to last night...

and up to early this afternoon...

I guess I am the only one still here....

Well I was able to correct last week's mishap with the white paint. So here is how she is looking now...

Is anybody else still here? Is this GB still going?

As for me, well..... today's painting was going smoothly until... BANG..Major Snag... for some reason, the white paint (MM AcrylMarine Colors Schnellboot Weiss- did I mention that those paints bite???) which I used to paint the false bow waves cracked while drying. Now the colors that were on the hull beneath have had MONTHS to dry and cure(perhaps a year or so...), so I know that is not the cause of said snag... I will give this a fewdays to dry completely and have another crack at it next week...

so to avoid any other stress moments, any further painting was put aside so that I could complete construction of the forward and aft superstructures. I added the rainlings, reels, twin 37mm FLAK mounts, a boat crane, the aft 105mm FLAK mount, and some of the small boats.

And here are some shots of the superstructures placed on the hull, along with the bridege and stack, main gun turrets, and torpedo tubes.

Next up is touch up of the Hellgrau base color. Adding the Dunklegrau camo patterns, and then a wash. I think next week will see her nearing completion on those area.

Today's progress: A wash of Raw Umber to all wood decking areas. The wash worked great and looks better to my eyes than it does in these pics.  The overall effect is a weathered wood now...

the hull

Hull with superstructures in place

close ups of the fore and aft supperstructures

and a close up of the fantail for a better look at the effect achieved

After the wash dried madesome touch ups of the Hellgraucamo basecolor on small parts that needed it , painted the 20mm guns on the stack platform, and began the camo painting...

Stack

forward superstructure

aft rangefinder

gun directors

catapult

forward rangefinder

and after twin 105mm AA mount

Todays progress pics:

Cowl added to the Arado float plane

And a thinned coat of Tamiya Deck Tan applied over the MM Deck Tan to tone down the color on the wood area of the hull and superstructures

Graf Spee has been moved to the front of my build batting order now that I have completed most of those "near complete" builds from last year.  After watching one of the ship experten WIPs on the Trumpeter Zerstorer I formed some ideas as to how to proceed with building and finishing this beauty. Sub assemblies of building, painting and washes before being attached to the larger compnonents...

So here are some componenets such as the bridge area partially painted

the stack

And forward area of the superstructure

And I made some mods to the Arado float plane. I hollowed out the area of the float supports as that had been molded solid... Also the raised detail lines werre way to heavy so I used those a a guide, scribed in new ones, and sanded of the raised ones. I still need to attach the cowl.

and a couple of teaser shots of all sub assemblies placed on the hull. This makes me want to finish her up...

Okay, I know it has been forever since I have posted any progress, and I think we might even be past the due date!   I really want to clear some room on my bench, and this one takes up a lot of it.  I finally finished the decals.  I also reattached all the little pieces on the bottom that got knocked off.  I still have to reattach all the top pieces, airbrush some exhaust stains, flat coat, add the antennae, and hs 293's.  Getting there.  Hopefully, I will get to the exhaust stains tonight.

Cheers,

Greg

Been a while since I've been on here due to work and family commitments.  Still trying to get back into building but realised I was over-thinking it and trying to do it right/expertly rather than just jumping in and re-learning what I've forgotten.  Have now secured a workspace of sorts so am keen just to get stuck-in.

Probably wise if I retire from the GBs I'm in as I'm not sure how fast I'll get any builds done.  Might just join GBs if my current project fits.

My planned USS Buchanan as USS Quick won't be happening for this GB, sorry.

nevermind

ill do my best to do the airfix 1/72 walrus

Thanks Greg.\

Come on, get that thing done !

Cheers

Tony

Great looking U-boat Tony.

I haven't touched the Ju-290 in a while.  I have to decal the underside, and then reattach all the little pieces I broke off.  And weather it etc.  I apologize that I am dragging this thing out.  I will finish before the end date, I promise!

Cheers fellas,

Greg

Thanks very much Stikpusher.

Nice U-Boat Tony! I really like the weathered appearance

On the 3rd September 1939, The U-30, a Type VIIa U Boat, infamously torpedoed and sank the SS Athenia, a British passenger steamer carrying over 1100 passengers. Whilst most passengers were saved, this act, is considered to be the start of the Battle of The Atlantic.

This is my model of the U-30.

Cheers

Tony

I think I'll have to buy another one, just to get the decal I need.

In the meantime, here's a WIP photo of the good side, with the U30 decal. I've started weathering, but the next step will be with some powders, so I don't want to commence that until the decals are on.

The kit photoetch is quite nice, but really fragile. This is an area I need to improve on, they are far more fragile than the larger scale photo etched that I usually contend with.

Hope you like it.

Cheers

Tony

I've finally got back to this, after completing another build. There are only four decals to apply, the U-numbers to each side of the conning tower and one to each side of the forward hull.

I've completely butchered one of the U-numbers for the conning towers...

I'll go back to thinking about it for a while.

Cheers

Tony

Greg and Tony, looking forwed to seeing how both these builds turn out

HURRY UP

LOL, Andrew

I got some clear down, and now the arduous task of decaling this beast!  There are a lot of little "nicht this or nicht that" stencils.  I managed to get most of one wing done. 

Cheers,

Greg

HiGreg,

I must admit that it's an aircraft that I'm not too familiar with, but you look to be doing a good job on it. It will be good to see some close ups when it's completed. You've piqued my curiosity, I'm off to check my refs now to see if I have anything on it.
Cheers

Tony

Added some spots to her!  Next will be clear, and decals.  It was my first Luft mottle job.  I learned a bit by doing it. 

Cheers,

Greg

Looking good Tony!

Cheers,

Greg

Hi Aurora,

Thanks for the heads up. This time I'm going to do a pre-war scheme with the boat number on the tower, so I probably won't need one this time. I figure this will probably be the only chance I get to do a pre-war U-boat

I've sprayed the deck, I've chosen tyre black to differentiate it from the grey of the lower hull. It's looking a bit too clean, I think I'll be weathering her soon.

Cheers

Tony

Sorry for the long absence. It turned out to be a heck of a year for me in the non-modeling world. I'm just now getting time to attempt it again.

I'm gearing up to start on my Spikenard again at the beginning of December. I'll keep this thread running into 2011 because I know I could be working on it into spring.

I'm very pleased to others carrying on the build! 

Konigwolf, your Swordfish is a beauty!

Greagbear, glad to see the 290 coming along.

taxtp, your more than welcome here. Just out of curiosity I did a quick check on the web for U-30 and I found 3 possibilities for coning tower emblems:

http://www.uboat.net/special/emblems/u30.html

Thanks Andrew.

Tonight I've masked in preparation for painting the deck. It's a bit late now to commence painting so that can wait until next time.

Cheers

Tony

Liking it

Andrew

Hi Everyone,

Here it is with the masking tape removed.

The next job will be to mask and spray the deck. As I understand it, U-Boat decks were timber lined, and painted black that weathered quite quickly.

I'm thinking a very dark grey as a base colour for it.

Cheers

Tony

Hi all,

When I take the time travel option to check out U-boat schemes, remind me to pick a nice, safe port early in the war.  I think 80% of these were sunk during the war.

I've gone for a nice, easy, Hellgrau 50 upper hull and conning tower, with Schiffsbodenfarbe 111 Grau for the lower hull. This translates to Humbrol 127 upper hull and  Humbrol 123 lower hull, according to the references I have.

If you take a look at the last photo I posted above, I think U-30 is in this scheme.

I've sprayed the upper hull, and just masked and sprayed the lower hull. Here's a photo just before I sprayed the lower hull.

BTW, I've just found a photo with these ships with grey hulls and white conning towers...I wish I'd noticed it earlier, that would have been a good one.

Cheers

Tony

Regardless Tony, that is a really interesting paint scheme.  I haven't seen it anywhere else before.  I think that if they ever make time travel posssible, it will be us modelers who stampede to do it.  Just so we can have accurate color detail shots!

Stik, your pocket battleship is looking good.  You are a master at masking.

Cheers,

Greg