Mk21 Elektro Boat, Late War - RC SUBS 3D printed model kit.
1/72 1945 Mk21 U- 2540
This will be my 21st build for this series, with the model on a simple stand with some figures on the CT for scale.
The photo above shows a different Type XXI (U-3514) but displays all the same features present on U-2540. One detail that did vary amongst the Type XXI boats was the drainage hole patterns on the sides of the large CT. Some of these model boats had little or no drainage holes, however U-2540 had a large number like the boat above.
THE BACKGROUND
The 2 photo's directly above show images of a Type XXI on the surface (just after the end of the war, in French service) . The second photo shows U-2540 as it was raised from the sea near the Flensburg lightship in 1957. It was scuttled there on 4 May 1945.
U-2540 was ordered as early as the 6th Nov 1943 but was not completed and launched until the 13th Jan 1945, after which it was commissioned in Feb and sent to a training flotilla in the Baltic. It carried out no combat patrols. It has now been fully restored and is open to the public.
This was not unusual for the majority of these late model subs as they were totally new technology which required more training than usual, even when manned by Mk7 and Mk9 crews. Added to this many of the boats had to return to the shipyards for constaint repairs due to rushed production, installation and sabotage. The final blow being the increased bombing of the shipyards by the Allies beginning in early 1945.
The Type XXI U-Boats recieved all of the advanced technology that had been developed throughout the war, utilised on Mk 7's and Mk9's, driven by years of combat experience and survival techniques in theatres where they had to face Allied air superiority. These boats could have had quite an impact on the war at sea but ultimately came into use too late and with too many production issues to reach combat in effective numbers. There were 131 ships launched with the very first of this type on the 19 April 1944.
The first Type XXI to acheive operational readiness was U-2511, which went on its first patrol on the 17th April 1945.
THE MODEL
Above is a photo of my model with the sections taped together for display purposes, with my 1/35 Panther in the foreground and my 1/35 Karl Gerat behind it.
I will be using this new 3D printing pen to help join and seal each section with PLA filament.
U-2540 was a Mk XXI with the following late war features
- Large reconfigured Conning Tower (CT) with remote 20mm gun turrets at front and back
- all of the final technical systems that were developed over the war for aircraft and ship detection
- no deck railings or deck guns at all, as these subs were designed to spend most of their time underwater
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