Well time to move on to the next compartment. This is what the instructions label the Front Soldier’s Living Room. It is a lot of wood and many very tiny fiddly bits and pieces. The roof again has the wooden covers over the beams so we can skip that as it is the same as the last compartment. Each bulkhead is pretty simple this time. The smaller one does have a sink a some plumbing for the head.
Next the back piece which has the lockers for the crewman in there. Also, the toilet is attached to this wall but is in its own separate room.
Next one of the two piles for the batteries is below the floor. Not much here except some grey squares all glued together.
Now there are some of the very small bits. Here are two stools, one of the desk sections, a flod-down table, and a section of the bunks. I did these in grey with a black wash this time. Thanks to Timmy for his suggestion. Also on the desk here is a PE headset that has been folded and painted. I matched is to a crew figure and it looks like it is in excellent scale.
Now this is where planning the assembly is critical. With all the pieces that have to fit together in a very tight space, you have to make sure you stay in sequence. The instructions are accurate but not always the clearest as the best way to fit everything together. After a lot of dry fitting and trying to play it all out, I was ready to begin. First I attached the “closet” and the lower bunk section to the floor. It is a shame that one of the bigger storage units will be hidden behind that door.
Next I placed the cross sections into the main bunk. The Captain’s area is to the far left.
Here is a better picture of it. I assume that is a radio on the top shelf. He has his own little desk as well.
Now at the opposite end is the space for the head and the toilet. Yes, that is a toilet paper roll
Next are the railings for each of the bunks.
Here is where the planning starts to be important. You need the working space from the backside to attach the railings properly. Here is a good view.
Next, you slide in the upper bunks.
Here is shot of the Captain’s area from the backside. The wire is attached to the small LED I will be using to light it up. There was supposed to be just a plastic light fixture glued to that section of the wall. I am still not 100% certain how best to get that wire “outside” the compartment.
Now I slid in the back wall. The toilet piping was VERY tight to its wall section. I then realized that the one long curved piece that was glued to the floor has to go in after the back wall is in place. The instructions do seem to show that once you have it figured out.
After the wall was in, I glued that piece back in place. If you look closely you can see that it fits behind the one black pipe section.
Now time to dry fit the bulkheads again to make sure things are lining up. Here is the large bulkhead. That wire is again for my lighting.
Here is the smaller bulkhead. You can see how the sink fits into the head.
Here is a better angle showing the sink and the toilet.
The fit seems to be very good, so I will next dry fit the roof section to make another check.
Still seems good, but I have some cleanup painting on those back beams to do. Now lastly, to fit the two front rooms to the floor. Here are two pictures of them attached from different angles. The folding table is also attached to the floor.
Here is a top down shot. I have no idea how I am going to get any actual figure in there…
I realized that I need to stop putting the compartments completely together until I get the figures planned out. There is no instruction on where they go. There are some photos on the side of the box, and the figures on the painting sheet also say what compartment they go into, but not where you place them. I need to spend some time figuring that out before I continue. I only have two compartments left to go!
So after all of this, what are my thoughts?
Pros:
This kit is a lot of fun, but along the way I have stopped thinking of it as a U-Boat model and it is more of a series of small dioramas that will come together.
The amount of time this one is taking is huge. So even though this is a very expensive kit, the hourly cost is no worse than a large AFV or 1/32 modern fighter jet.
The fits are very good and the couple of issues that I have had are actually of my own making. So, like everything, the second time around would be much easier. Will there be another one; no.
Cons:
This is a BIG kit, so if you don’t have the space to place it I would not recommend you spend the time and money on it. It deserves to be prominently displayed somewhere.
The hourly cost is not any more than other modern kits, but it will still take a long time and it can get very tedious. I am finding myself taking more and more breaks from it. You can’t rush this one.
This kit has LOTS of very fiddly parts and you must be very careful and thorough or you can get in trouble.
Well that is all for now. I am going to step back and do another small kit so I don’t get too burned out from this guy. There are 48 figures to do and I am not a good figure painter, so that will be challenging. Thanks for taking the time to read and follow along. Happy New Years to all.
John