Yup, that's the thing which struck me when I toured U-534, the Type IX, before, sadly, it was closed to the public.
You only really ever see pictures of guys on the sub's deck when it is tied up at the dock with most of it underwater, so you don't really appreciate the scale. Sure it is pretty cramped inside, but when you walk up to one on land, it's a real shock how big the bloody things were.
The other thing that stikes you is how graceful they look, almost like a creature rather than a machine, which I supose is what they are trying to emulate in being like a whale or something. The curve of the fixed part of the bowplanes really does look like a big sea creature's fin when you walk under it, it's a really beautiful organic shape.
Of course now they are cutting up U-534, that experience will be gone forever, and I'm having a hard time forgiving them for that, so it's nice to see all these models taking shape.
Chock