Revell's 1/72 U-Boot VII C "Wolf Pack"

[White_Wolf]

I have always wanted to do this one. Few reasons why ... when I was at Uni (Shipbuilding of all things), we had a German submarine engine in the building, fully functional, with the MAN label on it reading MAN AUGSBURG 1939. Loved it. I have some printouts of photos I took, will scan them and post them along the way.

The other reason is that I have always loved the engineering behind ships in general, war ships in particular and submarines, German ones, in particular-particular if I may say so.

The kit is a monster that is almost 1,000 mm long. 1 meter long.

Start -up pic

Other photos showing the box and contents:

I bought some aftermarket stuff to replace the periscopes, the 75 mm gun, the AA gun and few other bits and pieces. Photos below

The build so far ...

So far so good, although there was some work in getting it all aligned and fitted properly.

Thanks for watching, more to come soon I hope.


Laurence

 

[Sherman 18]

So COOL! :drool

 

[moon puppy]

Nice! I would be scared of all those things pokin' out of the tower, I'd poke my eye out!

 

[helios]

That thing is going to be a beast! hmy:

 

[ausf]

Well you know I'm following this one. B)

I'm in the middle of converting one to RC, I'll have to live through your build while I sort out all the ballast stuff with mine.

I'm glad to see you opened all the limbers, looking forward to your detailing.

 

[jknaus]

Cool
James

 

[lupanzer]

So great!...

Luiz

 

[JSteinman]

I have this kit in the stash - never was brave enough to build it - it's kinda too big for the paint booth

 

[White_Wolf]

Nice! I would be scared of all those things pokin' out of the tower, I'd poke my eye out!

I am too MP, trust me. The attack periscope is made of metal and is so thin at the top that it scares me only looking at it. The other scope is resin, very careful there too :S

 

[White_Wolf]

Well you know I'm following this one. B)

I'm in the middle of converting one to RC, I'll have to live through your build while I sort out all the ballast stuff with mine.

I'm glad to see you opened all the limbers, looking forward to your detailing.

Other than the added extras, there won't be much detailing as such. The intention is to make a vignette, well, a diorama, so there will be a lot of water there, still working out the fine details ...

 

[White_Wolf]

I have this kit in the stash - never was brave enough to build it - it's kinda too big for the paint booth

This is way too big for anything ... need a massive photo booth, massive paint booth and handling the whole thing is a challenge. Makes it fun though, or, at least, I'm loving it.

Luiz and James, thank you


Laurence

 

[White_Wolf]

Right ... update time

Hull is primed and port side is masked for the lower hull grey. The 75 mm gun stand is painted and given a wash of raw umber. Conning tower pieces (2 of them) are painted.

There is a massive thing about the correct colors. I found a PDF file by Dougie Martindale, which is absolutely a MUST for anyone who tries the German sub, any sub.

Every single component is described in detail, including tips for weathering, the whole lot. Amazing job.

Here come the photos:

More to come as soon as I possible can.

Laurence

 

[moon puppy]

Looking forward to the weathering, this should get interesting.

 

[lupanzer]

Very nice details!...

Luiz.

 

[Jeeves]

Very nice Laurence-- the detail on the gun is impressive!

 

[Piet]

 

[White_Wolf]

Thank you Gentlemen

More on the colors saga ... went for a different shade of grey for the upper hull and conning tower. In the article I am using as a reference, RAL 7000 for lower hull and 7001 for upper hull are presented for the war time subs (pre WW2 apparently the scheme was different). The Hellgrau 50 - RAL 7001 for U-69 is mentioned, and the closest to that is the Tamiya XF 53 Neutral Grey. There is an option there in terms of what Hellgrau 50 really looked like, the second option is RAL 7038, for which Tamiya XF 20 Neutral Grey is the closest match.

Initially I went for the XF-20, but it had a more beige tint to it, while the XF 53 has a more bluish tint. Finally opted for the latter - photos attached.

The horse shoe life belt was not normally attached whilst on a mission, but it appears on the box art and it adds a nice splash of color to the whole thing.

The dark grey band on the side can be seen on WW2 photos of U-69 (and other subs as well). Apparently it was placed there to hide the damaged caused to the side of the conning tower by crew going up and down. Either way, it's there.

The vertical black slats in the tower - this is another story. Those were wooden slats placed around the interior because they would not collect a lot of ice during cold weather or Arctic patrols. An icy, freezing cold metal surface would make you lose a couple of layers of skin if you touched it and it would stick to the clothes something horrible. There is a bit of a debate on the color, but the German regulations specify very clearly that all wooden elements (deck included) were to be protected with a layer of Teerfirnis Tf 99 - a black wood preservative. To be weathered later on, it won't be jet black anymore as it is now. Those are styrene strips painted black and glued to the sides.

Anyway, this is the latest update, hope you enjoy.

Thanks for watching,


Laurence

 

[moon puppy]

:captain

 

[White_Wolf]

I do have some Kriegsmarine figures, but they are not even close to be painted yet.


B)

 

[White_Wolf]

As promised, photos of the MAN engine at the Shipbuilding Faculty where I studied


That engine is still working and is mounted in a lab, see the desks - spent a bit of time there, sweet memories

MAN - Augsburg - 1939

KRUPP - Germaniawerft

Thanks for looking, hope you like these photos


Laurence