Author Topic: Tores mailbox VIIC and VIIC/41 operation and technical details  (Read 572199 times)

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Offline tore

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Upon requests and for my own convenience I am opening this thread if I can (within the limit of my capacity), be of any help to you who are taking interest in  the VIIC and VIIC/41 boats. My experience is primarely based upon my 2-3 years as the (EO) engineering officer, on the norwegian version of  U-995  KNM Kaura and U-926   KNM Kya to a lesser extent U-1202  KNM Kinn in the periode 1953- 1956.

Offline tore

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Christopher
Your question on snorting.
Snorting was in general a challenge to the people on watch. Trim and correct handling of the hydroplanes was very important.
If the snortvalve shut,  the big diesel would suck out the air in the sub in seconds and the people would suffer. The cook had a hard time, one minute the kettles simmered in a second it could start boiling like crazy. In my day snorting was a novelty and in order to get experience we were ordered to test out the boat by sailing submerged from the westcoast of Norway passing Iceland to Greenland and back some 27 days submerged, which at that time was a record (in the norwegian navy).
We got a lot of experience and ideas for improvement. One of the main problems was the garbage of which 46 men produce substancial in the course of 27 days. Rottening garbage is not a pleasant thing and particulary not on board a sub. We got desperate and decided to put it in bags ( before the plastic ages) and load the torpedotubes whereupon we fired. Of course the bags bursted and the torpedopeople didn`t like it much
tore

Offline tore

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Christopher
Painting the casing
No we didn`t let the crew do any painting, we usually docked the sub every 6 month and the yard did the painting. Howewer we had a can of paint for patching up minor rustspots. Remember space was limited. It was more important to have place for some cases of whisky. Some times I wonder if the popular weathering of the modelsubs is a little overdone allthough the wartime uboots did looked a little weary after a warpatrol. The blackening of the casing at the exhaustoutlet in the casing is overdone.
Tore

Offline NZSnowman

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Offline tore

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Unbelievable! I have never seen it, you can really see every detail. I shall definetely study the pictures a little closer.
I see they have done a little fancy painting on the engines since  my time and unfortunately even painted parts which shouldn`t be painted f.i. the fuelcontrolrods of the fuel pumps. Great! I shall have interesting days ahead of me. Thanks.
Tore

Offline NZSnowman

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Unbelievable! I have never seen it, you can really see every detail. I shall definetely study the pictures a little closer.
I see they have done a little fancy painting on the engines since  my time and unfortunately even painted parts which shouldn`t be painted f.i. the fuelcontrolrods of the fuel pumps. Great! I shall have interesting days ahead of me. Thanks.
Tore

Tore, do you mean that dark blue was not the original colour. I am shock to found this out!  ;) ;)

Offline NZSnowman

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Colour coding for Piping

How common was the colour coding on the different piping system throughout the U-boat? Can you remember any of the colours?
 
We have a set of original German piping Schematics drawings that show the colour coding for each pipe (e.g. Gray with two brown bands = High Pressure Air for blowing or Purple with blue band = Oil purifying system piping).
 
However, it

Offline tore

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Unbelievable! I have never seen it, you can really see every detail. I shall definetely study the pictures a little closer.
I see they have done a little fancy painting on the engines since  my time and unfortunately even painted parts which shouldn`t be painted f.i. the fuelcontrolrods of the fuel pumps. Great! I shall have interesting days ahead of me. Thanks.
Tore

Tore, do you mean that dark blue was not the original colour. I am shock to found this out!  ;) ;)
The main engines were grey. The camshaftrods to the rockearms were not painted at all (metalic), the controlrods to the fuelpumps were not painted, the indicatorcocks black( not painted), and as far as I can remember the HP fuelpumps  were black.The small drains (dearation) on the fuelpumps same as the pump, not red. I`ll revert to the other question later today.
Tore.   

Offline tore

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You may see a more correct picture of the enginecolours at Wikipedia Commons Filmset of das Boot, Wikipedia file: Bavaria filmstudio das Boot. Correct not painted fuelcontrolrods,camshaftrods for exhaust and inletvalves indicators cocks and engine colours on fuelpumps. May be a little too rusty on the nonpainted parts. Hope this don`t give you any trouble.
Tore   
« Last Edit: 30 Jan , 2012, 07:07 by tore »

Offline tore

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Colour coding for Piping

How common was the colour coding on the different piping system throughout the U-boat? Can you remember any of the colours?
 
We have a set of original German piping Schematics drawings that show the colour coding for each pipe (e.g. Gray with two brown bands = High Pressure Air for blowing or Purple with blue band = Oil purifying system piping).
 
However, it
« Last Edit: 30 Jan , 2012, 09:21 by tore »

Offline tore

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Hi again,
I found a photo of Kauras engines, although it is black and white and bad quality, you can see the shiny steel pushrods for the valverockers and (not so clearly) the steel fuel regulatingrods not painted. On the pipes up front you migth be able to see some colourmarking bands. 
Tore   
« Last Edit: 11 Nov , 2016, 05:08 by tore »

Offline NZSnowman

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Hi again,
I found a photo of Kauras engines, although it is black and white and bad quality, you can see the shiny steel pushrods for the valverockers and (not so clearly) the steel fuel regulatingrods not painted. On the pipes up front you migth be able to see some colourmarking bands. 
Tore

Tore, were the fuel line bronze?

Offline tore

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I think they possibly were, but

Offline tore

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Model KNM Kaura ( U 995  VIIC/41) norwegian version.
My model was finished today and as some of you asked me to show a picture of my modest model. I am posting same, although it is not so much compared to what some of you are building. The model is in general based on the Revell building kit with addition of the normal varieous "extras" brass, wood and decalsets as far as they were correct. The model kit is modified on several places: guns and wintergarten removed, partly new conningtower, snortmast modified incuding new airpiping,deckcasing and lockingpin. Casingdeck modified, two pressurecontainers ( not 4), casingdeckflares (widening) at the wintergarten place removed and casing straigthened, zinkanodes ( not painted)on the propellor "A"brackets and aft hydroplanes and slit for the"Pillenwerfer" on stb side next to the exhaust outlet to mention a few things. The model is painted to the norwegian navys colourcodes and not weathered as the sub  never looked  like some of the fantastic and skillfully made weathered modelsubs you see, neither is any brownwash done whereby you emphasize the rivets of any use as you hardly notice same in the real.
Tore
 
« Last Edit: 01 Feb , 2012, 05:56 by tore »

TopherVIIC

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A Fine looking ship Sir!