1/72 Type IXC U-Boat Build Log

Would normal PE railing be to thin for this, I imagine brass wire would be better. What did you use on the Type VII PJ.

I used the Griffon super detail set which brought even the barrels and periscopes, a ton of details over all. Sort of an Eduard Big Ed set on steroids. For some reason, Griffon has complete sets for both the 1/444 C and C/41 but not in 1/72 scale. I'm hoping the lights up and they make it in the larger scale.

Ye, I have the Griffon 72nd set for the S-100, they really do pack a lot in. I already have all the other bits for the 72nd Type VII, so I might even try making my own. Need to practice soldering a bit first.

More progress. I fixed the missing section of upper railing:

Added the tubing that runs along the midsection. It's way too big for this scale according to the pictures of the actual u-505, but my scope in how detailed I get with this project is limited.

Nice fix, looking good.

Easy and excellent fix on the railing. Looks great.

Thanks!

I primed the tower. I'm leaving the radar assembly and the periscope assembly and the AA guns as separatesub-assemblys. I'll prime and paint them separately and then put them together.

I don't  have an airbrush yet, so I continue building the rest of the ship and the guns before I take the tower any further.

My question now is about something weird that i noticed.  There's a piece that goes in the tower, but I'm not sure what it's called. There's a brass aftermarket replacement for the piece, but there's a piece of brass jutting out of it that I'm not sure is supposed to be there. Here's a photo:

Is the aftermarket piece more correct? I don't have any reference images that shows this part of the tower. I looked online but didn't find anything.

Thoughts?

That looks like the UZO or torpedo sighting device but have no clue as to the part sticking out. Go here and scroll down to see some really great pictures

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=179694&page=225

Well, I just took the plunge and ordered mine off e-bay. Should be here by the middle of the week. Its going to be some time before I get round to building it, but will be nice to know I have it. So will be following even more closely now.

Cool!

Plastic, I looked through those pics. Super cool stuff. But yeah I think my UZO from Technoart might be incorrect. I sent them an email and the photo.

Senor

Please let us know what they say about the part.

Bish

I have mine too and I'm just waiting to see what comes up in aftermarket things. I hate it once I start building something and along comes pe or resin stuff to make it better. You mentioned you have the Griffon set for the S Boat. I have both the Revell and Airfix boats and plan on getting that Griffon set for the Revell. I haven't seen anything for the earlier Airfix offering. Have you?

I will let you guys know what they say.

In the meantime I'm trying to decide on the paints I want to buy. I thought I would just follow Glenn Cauleys lead and use white ensign model's Schlickgrau 58 for the Tower & upper hull, and Schiffsbodenfarbe III Grau I for the Lower hull.

This will be my first time doing any kind of airbrushing so ill definitely get some practice first. It in terms of these colors, what do you guys think?

My plan is to preshade the kit with Tamiya black. Then use the WEM colourcoats. Then put some kind of gloss protective layer. Then do some weathering. Still researching this subject so any input you have would be very helpful.

Ye, I know the feeling PJ. Though to be honest, I don't have the space for anything that size at the moment. And I would like to do the Type VII first and before that, I plan on doing the 125th U-99 to practice painting and weathering, so I reckon a good couple of years yet. Plenty of time to see what comes out and pick up some pointers.

Senor, I have the WEM paints for the Type VII and S-100. I have not used them yet, but I have seen a couple of sources recommend them for ship builds.

As for weathering, I have been looking at some AK products for weathering ships. But again, this is a new area for me, so I will be interested to see what others think.

I have only heard great feed back on the WEM paints. I think they are the same as Humbrol? I know that the Humbrol paints have excellent qualities. I used MM enamels on my TypeVII and not freaking out on a "correct" shade for this or that. Too many variables to alter paint shades so I settled on approximating the color and go from there. I used artists oils and MMP powders for all my weathering. Keep in mind that the deck was teak but was covered with a protectant black paint that would fade out on heavily traveled areas, revealing a brownish hue. I did this using brown oil washes to provide a subtle wear pattern.

Where all do you guys order PE parts from?

Freetime Hobbies has all the current Eduard PE for this one but I'm holding out for Griffon, hopefully they will do one.

I just got my kit this morning, and boy it look really nice. Having looked at the deck, I am wondering if the wooden one will be needed. But I will decide that after doing the Type VII.

Sorry to go off track a bit. The box is marked U-505 Late. I assume this means that alterations were made to the Type IX at some point, I am guessing in the AA defences. I haven't looked into it yet, but do you guys know what these are. I would like to build U-156 so hopefully some more markings options will be released. Going to look into that further.

But its a great looking kit.

Edit, theres no deck gun on the later version. And the rear flak gun appears to be a Flakvilling 38 on the early versions, so a bit of modifications will be needed for a 1942 boat. Have I got that right.

How did you determine the AA difference and lack of gun?

Also, I see 2 emblems for 156 here: www.uboat.net/.../u156.htm

Ye, I saw that. The 2. Flotilla emblem comes with the kit, but according to that site, U 505 didn't carry it.

As far as the armament goes, I was going of the image at the top of this page.

www.uboat.net/.../ixc.htm

I did also find something else on the site which said deck guns were removed in 43. Though the image of U-156 further down that page I can't make out if there's a gun or not. I need to look into it further, I have a few U-Boat books to check, so I might well be wrong on the armament layout.

Google image search shows gun in some of the few pics found.

Ye, I came across a couple, including one of when it was sunk. Also shows a smaller winter garden behind the conning tower. They must have been extended when the deck gun was remove, so U-156 will need a bit of work.

Sorry for going off track so much Senor.

Bish

This is the best source for any U Boat information:

http://amp.rokket.biz/

Ye, I used that site a lot for the Type VII, I got their waterline decals and flags and I also got their U-Brass set through WEM. I have also been reading through the build log there. I have noticed they now have the decals for the 505. A lot of great info on their, i'll be watching their site for anything else. I'l defiantly be getting the waterline markings. I need to read through the Wolf Pack collection of article properly, I have only skimmed through it so far.

No problem, Bish.

This is the article to learn all about the modifications that U-505 went through:

amp.rokket.biz/.../u505_modifications_colours_insignia.pdf

I worked on the lower platform gun today. Eduard has a lot of tiny PE pieces that go onto it. I'm alternately frustrated at their size and excited by the detail. I'm not a pro at this and have made some mistakes along the way.

Speaking of mistakes, one of my major ones was to glue the flood hole PE panels on, and THEN deciding to drill them out. Dumb. I'm doing my best to drill them out through the PE without damaging the PE. Did a little damage but I'm going to just tell people that the damage is due to depth charges out on patrol. Sound good?

No way I"m going to do the kind of work that Daniel Moscatelli is doing over on Model Shipwrights. He's amazing.

Thanks Senor, I hadn't seen that. I have saved it \long with the other of his article. Lots of reading to do.

Look forward to seeing more pics.

Senor

Just use a hand held pin vise and carefully drill and clean them out. If you are having a hard time with 1/72, imagine working with the 144 scale  Griffon Super Detail Set for the Type VII like I did. I think that's when I began to go bald! LOL.

I gave Freetime Hobbies a call to find out the status of my 1/48 Elco and asked about any future goodies for the Type IX. He says there are a bunch of items slotted to be released to super detail this boat. Nothing on a brass railing set because of the scale will not have a scale thickness so looks like either keep the included rails or scratch them out which I'm not looking forward to.

Thanks for the info PJ. I would have been surprised to here of an AM railings set as it would have to be wire rather than PE, and I have not heard of anything like that for any kit. I was thinking about trying to make my own on the 125th kit and see how that goes before moving onto the bigger ones.

Plastic, did Freetime hobbies say when those goodies were slated to be released? Or give any hint as to what those goodies might be?

I was just checking their site and found this.

www.freetimehobbies.com/1-72-tehnoart-models-type-ixc-u-boat-submarine-upgrade-kit-for-revell

I've not heard of these guys before, any opinions on this set.