Calling all Kriegsmarine U-boat Type VII fans

[Angeliccypher]

Thank you Maarten. So the anti-fouling and the wood deck are the same color right?

[Cliffy B]

Read this PDF for all you ever wanted to know about U-Boat paint schemes.

http://www.artitec.nl/downloads/instruc ... olours.pdf

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

Thanks, Cliffy! That is indeed the comprehensive background info.

Gabriel wrote: So the anti-fouling and the wood deck are the same color right?

Actually, no: the wooden deck was actually painted with "Teerfirnis Tf 99", this is better known under the commercial name Carbolineum. It is a very dark brown, almost black wood preservative. When freshly applied it's almost black with only a brownish sheen, but after a couple of weeks at sea the stuff tends to lighten up end the brown/greyish color of the wood starts to come through again.

The original steel decks that were used at the start of the war were Grau nr I, in colour similar to that Schiffsbodenfarbe III Grau, but without the anti-fouling additives.

Maarten

[newshipmodeler]

It's time to ask those that know!
My goal was to have an angled top of a 1/72 conning tower sticking out of the water as if a sub was almost fully submerged. It would go with a Flower class ship display. Spent last night looking at everything 1/72 U-boat. I bought the CMK parts thinking I got a resin tower and details. After all, it was $42. Later that night I realized I bought $42 of details...but no tower. The Tower was from their full kit. Been looking at various WIP looking for aftermarket conversions but the only one I saw was Nautilus OOP conversion. Saw a great Andreas tower...1/35th only! It appears the revell kit had two options...but I can't tell if they share the upper fwd part.
I don't really want to spend 100 dollars on a new sub model and only use the tower. The Flowers kit with GLS aftermarket parts is huge money. I saw the modelbrass P/E set and even thought about sculpting the upper tower section but thats not the easy way! It's not that simple of a tower. So before I spend more hours and money looking for something, is there any advice from those that know the subject well?
thanks!

[newshipmodeler]

Re thinking this out ...with the release of the IX at pre-order prices and the grand appearance of it's tower, I think I'll just wait till it gets released. The ship will take months to do, so time is not an issue. The detail alone will allow it to be posed with the Flowers class ship.

[J. Aguilar]

hello gents

Could someone tell me, if you know that wearing colors main magnetic compass housing of Kretschmer U 99, the colors of the flag of the Weimar Republic or the German flag of the First World War?
The white color may be yellow?

[/URL]

best regards



JAM

[Sauerteig]

I have a nearly complete 1:72 VII U-boat sitting at about 95 complete--hull built, primed and painted, but packed away for several years. The sticking point has been replacing the plastic Wintergarten and railings in the kit.
I tried a couple of times to scratch build the Wintergarten for the Turm of my 1:72 U-boat kit. I buillt a crude three dimension jig, with the idea of fixing the vertical stalnchions with blue-tape. It just does not work (at least for me).
I am gearing up to give this another go, and have two different ideas.
One is to fabricate a Wintergarten completely from metal wire of different widths, soldering the stanchions with another jig.
Another idea I have is to carefully cut of the railing from the top railing, then drill holes where the vertical stanchions are to be placed. I will use brass rod for the vertical stanchions and solder the middle horizontal railings.

[Charlestonguy]

I have the 1/72 Revell Type VIIC kit and ordered the Eduard PE. I intend to drill out the deck, like others here, but was wondering if I should build a pressure hull under the deck or if anyone has this in a resin kit?
Next question is about the wood deck, is this a replacement for the kit part or laminate like the wood decks for BBs?
Thanks

[krgf15]

blue ridge has the pressure hull and its really nice. I also have the nautilus wood deck and it is also very nice and is a complete replacement.

[Red Devil Squadron]

Charlestonguy,

I added a basic scratch built pressure hull to my very long time WIP of U-45, a Type VIIB combining the 1/72 scale Revell VIIC and Amati U-47 kits. Even under direct sun with light coming through the brass deck and opened flood vents, it is very difficult to see any detail of the pressure hull. Something is needed inside to break up a direct view through the flood vents, but it may be a waste of time and effort on a detailed pressure hull. If the various deck or torpedo loading hatches are opened, then a detailed pressure hull makes more sense. You can see my effort here:

http://models.rokket.biz/index.php?topic=162.0

Cheers,

Bill

[Charlestonguy]

Thanks Bill, I found a resin kit at Freetime but unsure if I want to go that way. Your build log was extremely informative and beneficial!

Any one here used one of the wood decks yet?

[Charlestonguy]

blue ridge has the pressure hull and its really nice. I also have the nautilus wood deck and it is also very nice and is a complete replacement.

Have you installed the deck? I'm curious if you replace the plastic with it or glue it to the kit part?

[krgf15]

I have it fitted I havent finished yet. It completely replaces the deck.

[krgf15]

Also I have to agree with the above post that it will be very hard to see the pressure hull unless the deck is open somewhere.

[Charlestonguy]

I have it fitted I havent finished yet. It completely replaces the deck.

Thanks for responding, I think I will follow your lead on this and just order the wood deck. Thanks again to Bill for his input and build thread, if you have not seen it take some time and look it over. He has a lot of good info there.

[krgf15]

This brings up a question I have. in 1/72 scale do you guys stain the wood deck, spray, or brush it?

[Charlestonguy]

I contacted nautilus direct and he still has decks. I think I'll stain mine but always open to other ideas.
The last one I did for a fishing boat came out okay. I used acrylic paint thinned and sprayed, then a flat sealer coat after.

[krgf15]

So im wondering who has the scale wrong?

The top is AFV Type VII Bfollowed by the Hobby boss type VIIA. I think it SHOULD be the same coning tower. Next is the Revell Type VIID followed by the Hobby Boss Type VIIC which again, those two towers SHOULD be the same size. Any takers on this one?

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

The top is AFV Type VII Bfollowed by the Hobby boss type VIIA. I think it SHOULD be the same coning tower. Next is the Revell Type VIID followed by the Hobby Boss Type VIIC which again, those two towers SHOULD be the same size. Any takers on this one?

Well, they are NOT the same conning tower types. The number of variations is very great, and this already started with the VIIA (which was in fact called plainly 'VII'). Before the war there was only this small platform carrying a 20mm, but then it was enlarged to form the first Wintergarten platform. So both apply to the VIIA.

Something similar for the VIIB: originally (see all pictures of U 47 returning from their victory at Scapa Flow) just a small platform, but later the same ship had a more extended platform too. Also, the VIIB had some visible air trunking on the outside of the tower, which seems particular for this type.

So forget about there being a small number of distinct tower shapes, there are really a lot of variations of each basic type, and you need to study photo's of a particular ship (at a specific date!) closely.

[krgf15]

Well Im aware of all that, but by looking at the material I have it looks like the AFV Type VIIB tower is bigger than the HB Type VIIC tower. I dont think that should be the case. My point is that I think the hb conning towers are under scale.