Revell Germany VIIC/41 "Atlantic Version" 144:1

[Osmium Steele]

* SIGH * I've juts lost any excuse I possibly had to avoid opening up some vents and to minimize oil-canning due to the 1/144 scale of this model.

This is AMAZING! Click the picture for a link to his Spanish language site.

[Osmium Steele]

Originally Posted by Penguin

What sources did you look up? It helps if we post them, so we don't check the same ones over and over.

Thank you for your interest Penguin. I'll certainly keep 'em coming.

All of my research, so far, has been online. I started with Google images, and branched out from there. I've hit all the obvious websites on uboats/modelling, including a couple of german sites. I don't speak german, but have picked up just enough over the years to get the gist of what I'm looking at, given enough time.

The only book I've checked was an online scan of Type VII U-Boats by David Westwood.

The only pic I can confirm from the above batches is one of U-295:



The vent pattern below the turm is clearly the Bremen-Vegesack pattern.
(Thank you Dougie Martindale)

The only pic I've found of U-297, is a pic of the bridge area on the surface. The pic shows the correct turm and fittings for a VIIC/41, but I'll have to confirm the kaleun in the pic is that of Wolfgang Aldegarmann.



EDIT: This is the only pic I could find listed as U-297. The chin is the correct shape, the width and height of the mouth above the chin, the nose appears correct. I'm going to say that this is correct. This pic tells me a bunch about the boat.

The small pic is Kurt Kraker, the 1st officer of U-297. Looks a great deal like the individual on the right.

I'll soon be ordering the booklet on the discovery of the U-297. Hopefully it will have some decent pics of her.

2nd Edit: The book arrived! While not as helpful as I'd hoped, it has cleared up a few questions I had.
The picture above is indeed u297, but the Kaleun is actually the shorter figure at the right and Kraker is wearing the peaked cap! The author confirmed this with Aldegarmann's widow.

It also led me to German Warships 1815 - 1945 Volume 2 by Groner. This book reportedly has the exact scuppers/limber holes used by this batch of VIIC/41s! Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Fish40]

That guy does fantastic work! He must have a hell of alot of time on his hands. He's not in prison is he? Osmium keep the pics comeing! I love threads like this

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by Osmium Steele

The only pic I've found of U-297, is a pic of the bridge area on the surface. The pic shows the correct turm and fittings for a VIIC/41, but I'll have to confirm the kaleun in the pic is that of Wolfgang Aldegarmann.

Check out this site about a diving expedition to U-297: http://newfrontierdiving.com/u297.html
The guy here is the same guy as in your pic:

The caption also says it's Wolfgang Aldegarmann.

And I found a report of a crew member of U-300, though only in German:
http://www.kbismarck.com/u-boot/ugas...hschmiedel.htm

There are two pics of her sinking on this site, but they are grainy pics taken against the sun, so not too many details to see there.

[Osmium Steele]

Thank you so much for the link to the kbismark.com site. I found this:



While I've seen that pic before, I've never seen the hull numbers listed before! The 2nd from the left is listed as U-293!

From the left: U-802 (Type IXC/40), U-293 (Type VIIC/41), U-1105 and U-826 (both Type VIIC). Note that all 3 type VIIs have the atlantic bow.

I cannot seem to open this link from work. Perhaps someone else might have better luck? It supposedly contains more pics of u-297. Thanks!

http://www.ubootwaffe.net/crews/crew...916-06-24Z297Z

[Osmium Steele]

Remember the aggressive grinding incident? I made one of the limber holes look kinda like this:



I cut the top of the hole until it was even all the way across. Not sure if this was neccessary, but hey, I'm learning here.

I then CA glued a small piece of quarter round styrene behind the hole, trimming it away from the neighboring holes.



This is the finished repair after filling with Squadron White putty and shaping/filing/sanding.

The bottom of the hole is kinda ugly. I'm thinking of melting a bit of sprue and using it to fill that spot, using a tiny jewellers screwdriver as a putty knife. Will test it out a bit before I make the attempt.



Started opening up the lower vents. WOW, was scraping/sanding the aft vents intense. I kinda botched it a bit, but it should be a simple fix. Pics next week.

The order for the Griffon Type VIIC PE set went out yesterday. Should pick it up next Friday (payday). Also, waiting for a copy of Type VII Uboats by David Westwood to arrive at the house.

See you next week.

[Osmium Steele]

The book arrived yesterday! It is going to be quite a help.

As promised, pics of opening up the lower mbt vents on the port side.



Oops! Turned two vents into one long vent on the forward end. Should be a simple fix.



Forward vents worked out OK.

[Osmium Steele]

Been almost a month now. The research is going slower than hoped, but still moving along.

I just picked up the 1/144 scale PE brass Type VIIC kit from Griffon Models. Obviously I cannot use all the parts, but many of them will work.





Resumed working on the limber holes/vents on the hull this weekend. I'm going to be making a couple of drill patterns for a few vents. Now that I have the PE kit I can make a step-by-step list of tasks required to complete the model!!

There are no 1/144 scale wooden decks that I know of, but I consider myself a fairly skilled wood modeller, so... ...gonna have a go at making my own. Hardwoods are surprisingly durable at that scale, and since it will be stained/painted dark, any light/medium colored hardwood should work.

Wish me luck!

[TLAM Strike]

Never mind, Your making the 1/144 scale... (duh!)

[Osmium Steele]

Ok, here we go. Opening the various vents/holes on the starboard side didn't go quite as smoothly as the port side.

The plastic was so thin in this area, much moreso than the port side, that it was not possible to save the horizontal division below, but it was a simple fix using .75MM quarter round styrene. Still some filing to do to clean up all the holes in this area.





OK, I thought I had ruined the model with this one. I didn't see any way to fix it. A little aggressive grinding turned the red circled area below into one big hole. The thicker vertical part was still there, but slit through the middle.

Note: this pic is obviously post-fix. I was too mad at myself to think to take pics of the botched job.



Here's a pic of the fix from the back side.



Using an X-acto knife and #11 blade, I thinned a piece of .75mm quarter-round. The thicker piece below, used for reference, is the remainder of the piece. (I forgot I had .50mm quarter round)

Using 3 drops of Model Master Plastic Cement held the piece in place until it would hold by itself, about 60 seconds. Came back in an hour and trimmed off the excess.

The curved black line above the fix is one of my eyelashes. I'm very pleased with this one. (the repair, not the eyelash )

We'll see what it looks like after it is primed.

More later.

[Osmium Steele]

Back to the port side aft vents I Borked a few weeks back. Simple fix with the .75mm quarter round.

.50mm would have been better, but I found it after this repair was complete, and I seriously didn't feel like cutting this out again.

It looks fine. Just a little sanding so it isn't quite so proud.



Upcoming projects:

1. Opening the existing flood holes below the tower, port and stbd, and adding a few holes so the pattern will be correct.

2. Moving the 4 bumps, 2 per side, forward one frame and raise them a bit. Not sure what these are exactly, but they are definitely misplaced.

3. Sand and fill the louvred vent on the bottom of the saddle tanks. I've come to doubt these were original equipment. I believe they were added to U995 after she was raised.

4. Locate and drill the new limber holes above the forward end of the saddle tanks. Both sides.

5. Relocate the diesel exhaust port below the waterline. Time to head to the party store to find some of those tiny straws used in mixed drinks. Cut at an angle, it should mimic the new exhaust perfectly.

Better idea, take the wife out to dinner tonight and order a few cocktails! Keep the wife happy, and obtain building supplies! Two birds, one stone!

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

[Osmium Steele]

Glued resin piece behind the exhaust ports. Ground the ports down and filled the holes. Still need to fabricate new ports below the waterline.

Drilled 4 new limber holes below the old port location on each side. The first one was ugly, but I get better with practice.




Opened the small holes below the tower. That worked out fine on both sides.

After a bit of research, I need to fill the three bottom holes on the left of the photo, and add another to the top row. Also need to add a couple further back along the side. (Using U-295 as a model) These are tiny holes, and my smallest bit will barely do the job. Wish me luck.




The area marked by the red oval is charachteristic of later batches of VIIC/41s and VIICs with the type IV turm. The only 2 photos I've seen of U295 clearly show no bulge in this area. Looks like I have a bit more alteration to do here. Also note I filled the louvred grate area on the RFO/MB tank. Need to add a skim coat and finish sand the area on both sides.




Drilled the two ports seen above, and was test fitting the PE pieces for this area when it occured to me that these ports may not have had louvred grates as the PE pieces would suggest. If they were intakes, they probably would, but if they were discharges, they would not.

*sigh* more research

More later!

[Osmium Steele]

I just found out that U-297 had the 4 barreled 20mm flakveirling 38. U-745 is pictured below. Hrm, I just noticed U-745 has no lifeboat canisters under the wintergarden. And, the research never stops.



Of course the kit comes with the 3,7cm flak cannon. If I cannot find a kit in 1/144 scale, I'll have to scratch build until I get one I like. The finished piece would be smaller than the circumference of a quarter.

[Osmium Steele]

I've located a wonderful resource. German Warships 1815 - 1945 Volume Two by Erich Groner shows the limber hole patterns for every batch of u-boat. for Type VIIs, it shows the openings beginning aft of the diagonal row at the bow, under the deck gun (if any), and under the tower.

As a result of the info in this book, I only need to fill these two slots at the bow:




I filled the holes I had drilled earlier. I can find no evidence of any intakes/discharges in these areas, with the exception of the Stbd side of U-995. I can find no technical drawings or schematics showing hull stops in this area. All discharges/intakes on the drawings are connected to one tank or another, or lead directly under the exterior decking.

Note the bulge at the top. In later boats with the turm IV, this bulge allows a tad more room to get around the wintergarden 20mm guns.

Unfortunately, pics of u295 do not show this bulge, and the book referenced above lists 4 slots in this area. All later batches have 0 or 1 slot here.



Eliminating the bulge. The deck will also have to be altered here, if I end up using the original deck.






Will glue some resin and fill this area over the weekend. The plan is also to correct the layout of small slots beneath the tower, open up the long slot over the saddle tanks, and begin framing. Once that is done. A final decision on how to represent the pressure hull is in order.

Until next time...

[Osmium Steele]

Might as well resurrect this thread since I've pulled myself from a watery grave and rejoined the Kriegsmarine!

The model sat idle for a number of years as I was unable to find/build a suitable 144th scale Flakvierling 38. 3D printing has now made a suitable piece. I'll simply have to replace the thick barrels with metal rod.

The turm is complete, the hull nearly so. Now to mate the two, add finishing touches and finish the paint.

Pics when I get the chance. I'm a busy bee these days.