1/72 Type IXC U-Boat Build Log

IMO, drilling out the flood holes may be tedious and a PITA, but adds tons of detail to the build.  At this scale it's relatively simple as compared to my 1/144 scale which I drilled out all the flood holes and even the central drainage area where I made ribs as added detail

You can use a simple cardboard tube sprayed black as the inner hull to kill the hollow look thru the flood holes. I used this method on my 1/144 Type VII/C and it works really well and cheap.

Why not attaching the bow assembly and then paint it?  

Hmm. Maybe I'll do the cardboard tube thing. Doesn't sound that difficult.

The reason I ask about priming and painting the bow assembly before installing is because if I install it first, it seems like there will be areas that can be seen but that I will have a hard time priming once it's in the hull. For example, through the top flood holes, one might be able to glimpse the PE brass part. (Though now that I think about it, I'll be priming the inside of the hull as well and so I'll probably hit the spot i'm thinking of).

I guess it points to the larger question I have which is: is it ever a good idea to paint parts before assembling them? I'll keep the conning tower as a sub assembly and paint that separately.

Thoughts?

Señormodeler - This is great and thank u in advance for doing a photo log. It helps soo many of us noobs I can't tell you I have this kit to build (and lottsa others that I was going to build first).

plasticjunkie - Thanks to you too. I did read your u-boat log and will refer to it as well when I get to this. I have the VII and VII/C41 in 1/72, and several in 1/144 as well. Thoughts on which to do first? And I do recall your cardboard tube idea. What kind of tube did you buy or make? (Paper towel??) And  should I do same on 1/144 if drilled out?

I'm 64 so I better get to it if I don't want survivors to bury me in a u-boat box!  :)

I won't be able to help much, but I will certainly be following as I want to add this to the stash.

By the way, which periscope and propeller set have you got. I know there are ones for the VII, but haven't come across any for the IX, or have you used the same ones.

I found them on Glenn Cauley's blog:

www.travel-net.com/.../U505

These are the items...

Schatton-Modellbau:

Type IX periscopes (72168)

Tehnoart:

U9 Fittings Set 1

IMO, I really don't see why put all that effort into building a pressure hull that will be barely visible. All you need is something to block out the hollow look you get when looking closely thru the flood holes.  I used a paper towel cardboard tube, cut it to size and modified it to fit inside the small hull, then I sprayed everything black. Unfortunately all the actual build pictures are in my old computer that's in the garage in storage. I submitted this particular build to FSM a while back for publication. I have to eventually retrieve info and pictures I have in that old computer before it's trashed. I took a couple of pictures so you can see the flood hole details of my Type VII.

The dremel is such a great tool. I used the engraver accessory to thin out the plastic behind the flood holes.

Then I put a small drill bit in it and carved away most of the plastic in each hole. 

After that I carefully carved away as much excess as possible with a #11.

Now I'm using a file to smooth all the rough surfaces. There's plastic shavings everywhere. The dustbuster has been brought into the equation.

After a few hours of work I'm almost done with the port side flood holes. Tomorrow I'll attack the other side.

Started work on the tower. I opted not to get the complete brass deck that is now available or the wooden deck from nautilus. Just gonna work with the Eduard PE and the kit. Part of me wants to go all in and get the wooden deck but  since I've only just gotten back into modeling, I don't want to go overboard. 

I'd love to see those pics of how you used a cardboard tube. If you come across them please post!

Thanks for that info Senor, I have some Schatton items for the Type VII, I hadn't come across their type IX stuff. Some nice work there.

PJ, I think I have heard that idea before, seems more sensible than spending £30 on something your not going to be able to make out. How far below the level of the flood holes did you put the tube.

This morning I worked on the PE items that go into the tower area. Small!

I have a question for you guys. I'm trying to figure out how far to take the construction of the conning tower before priming it and painting the details. Any suggestions or experience you can share with me would be really helpful.

Thanks!

Bish

I ran my cardboard tube about even level with the top flood holes then used a simple flat piece hot glued to the tube under the conning tower area to show as if it extended up to it.

Senor

with my tower, I did all the pe and details then painted it separate from the sub body so I could work on the deck paint and washes. It was then attached after all final painting was completed.

Great. I'll proceed along those lines then. Thx!

I started working not the AA guns using the aftermarket barrels.

Neat! I'm gonna spend some time tomorrow ordering aftermarket parts for this boat - and other U-Boats I've got to build.

Thanks PJ, that sounds simple enough.

As to the conning tower, that's how I was thinking of approaching it, do the hull and tower as two separate pieces and bring them together after painting.

Nice work there Senor, great detail work.

I just received an mail from FreeTime that my Nautilus replacement deck was shipped today.

Is that for the Type IX.

Yeah, I saw that it became available. I decided not to replace the kit deck mainly because I'm just getting back into this hobby and I thought I might be biting off more than I could chew. The kit looks great as it is. But I'm sure that either the brass deck or the wooden deck will add an enormous amount of detail.

I have the 1/48 scale Elco on pre order with Freetime. That looks like an awesome kit too.

Okay, I've got a little problem. I've been working on the tower and it's going great. Except for the railing on the upper deck. It's missing a section.

Here's the whole thing:

And here's a closeup of the section of railing that's missing:

I'm not sure what happened. I double checked the sprue and I didn't leave any pieces behind. Maybe it was molded wrong, or broke off somewhere. 

In any case I need to mirror the railing on the other side. I know there are a lot of scratch builders on this site who could knock this out in a heartbeat but I'm kinda lost. I thought maybe I could get some sprue and sand it down into the various pieces, and then glue them together. 

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

In the absence of some styrene rod, I think some sprue would be the way to go. It should not take that long to shape a piece. Looks odd as it doesn't appear to be broken. The right hand section, I think I would cut that back to the upright and fit the new piece right across.

But maybe someone has another idea.

I'm looking at my sprue and everything is there. It looks like it broke off since an attachment point is on that part. Something tells me it's luring somewhere in the box. I know you said you looked , but it's a tiny thin part and it could be hiding in a crease in a corner or even in the bag mistaken for scrap.  That has happened to with other kits. If in fact you cannot find it, then stretch out some sprue to fill the dimensions you need. This is a very easy fix. I'm hoping someone will come out with a brass replacement one in the meantime.

I stretched some sprue and was able to make up the missing part. About halfway done with the fix. If they do come out with a brass replacement, I'll lop off the whole thing and replace it.

Do none of the Eduard sets have replacement PE for the railings.

No. There's just some wire mesh to put on the power have of the railings.

Yep, nothing yet about brass railings. I'm sitting back and patiently waiting for one to be released.

That's probably the smart thing to do, Plastic. Im it's so into this model and want to build it. Got the aftermarket stuff that's already out but I'm def gonna miss out on some good stuff.