Damn! You guys are Freakin' awesome madmen!!! Some beautiful speed builds going on here! I really love the Sea Fury! One of my favorite prop birds!
OK, I'm in! well here is my kit choice, Bronco's 1/350 Type IX C U-Boat, to be built as U-505. I am modifying the kit to show her as she was on her last war patrol. So off we go.
the kit and my start time, 1500 hrs, Pacific Standard Time, 12/4/14
kit parts in their sealed bags....
out of their bags...
as you can see, a low parts count... but there are PE railings.... grrr....
so anyways, to modify the kit to depict U-505 as on her last war patrol, one has to fill the hole for her forward deck gun mount. She did not carry one in Spring 1944.
so I sanded a styrene rod to fit
glued it in place... nipped off the excess
then sanded it flush
I deviated a bit from the instructions to speed up the build and finishing process... since I had learned some lessons on this on my Bronco Schnellboot that I built this Spring...
The hull is divided into upper and lower halves... I glued the screws, rudders and after dive planes in place... and some oval shaped fixture to the fore of the keel
and later the bow dive planes as well
Then I built the stand, since it will assist me in later steps for how to keep the kit somewhere during this project
then I added the few parts that I would to the upper hull and conning tower (an oops there learned a bit later)... support structures to the fantail (that broke during sprue removal and took a bit of time to fix and place)
and a screen type assembly to the conning tower (I know the U-boats did not have a radar, so I presume this is some sort of RDF antenna screen)
this left these parts for painting on the sprues and attachment later (while I Later decided to add the bow diving planes)
Up to this point took me a bit over an hour... perfect for Weekend Madness... Then came the part... adding the PE railings... many and almost another 90 minutes later I had them on...
along the way I decided to yank out the kit RDF antenna out and replace it with a bit of wire and mesh...
and then there was the easy bit of kit PE, the 37mm gun shield...
and after 3 hours, and 1 1/2 Whiskey on the Rocks to unwind, this is where it stands, all ready for primer and paint in the morning...
More to come tomorrow...