QUOTE: Originally posted by Poniatowski
Hi All,
Anyhoo, are the color schemes depicted in the instructions accurate? I'm not a U-Boat expert, but am wondering about the type VII's I've seen painted with red below the water line. Was that also common to a certain type? (It looks like the tops of the saddle tanks above the water line were painted dark gray?
Ron
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Ron-
This debate always comes up on the SubCommittee webpage as well. Some folks argue that there has never been a red lower hull type VII, while others say that during the war, someone somewhere probably left the docks with primer only.
Part of the debate is caused by Squadron's "U-Boats in Action" book, which has a color plate of one of the Type VIIs with a red lower hull. Also, the Amati kit showed this as well, which might lead to this assumption.
Generally, it is considered standard for a type VII to have a medium to dark gray lower hull on teh vertical surfaces, a dark gray almost black horizontal deck surface, and light gray above the waterline on the vertical surfaces. It is believed that the black boot topping seen painted on some models at the waterline is incorrect as well.
Part two of the problem is that there are very few "true" color (not hand-colored) photos of U-Boats. Aditionally, some boats carried camouflage, depending on where they were deployed. (the Med, North Atlantic, even boats that operated close to the Arctic may have had white conning towers...)
Some of the guys in the SubCommittee have their Type VIIs with lower red hulls- it's very striking, and breaks up what could be a pretty monotonous color scheme. My first Type VII (1/32 scale), which I finished in 1990 was red lower hull, and a camo upper hull. I couldn't pin that to a particular boat, but it looked great.
My current 1/32 scale Type VII will actually be modeled after a specific boat, and will carry authentic camo. with a gray lower hull. (I have some photos...) My Revell model will probably be decked out in a similar fashion.
Bottom line, as some have said elsewhere here on these boards is if you like how it looks, do it. After all, it's your model. And, it will be very difficult to prove you wrong.
Sorry for the long winded post....that's my
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur :)