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Full build report: Uboat XXI (1/72) – sunk and raised (years later)

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falo:
B U I L D   R E P O R T

What’s in the box? Parts breakdown

So let’s start with an deep inbox review and as already mentioned in the first post of this thread I will report from now on chronology. The kit comes in a very sturdy cardboard box and after opening you’ll find the following parts:
– blueprint respectively more a schematic drawing in 1/72 scale (the photo etch parts are highlighted in grey and deep black),
– three photo etch frets,
– vacu formed hull divided in four parts and „Balkongeraet“ (hull parts are rough pre-cut),
– sheet leftovers from the vacu forming process,
– 3d printed parts, for example the conning tower is printed in one piece with open flood holes,
– and a compact disc with historical pictures of the XXI and pics from Oto’s own build.

The kit don’t supply you with the following items:
– periscopes,
– 2 cm gun barrels for the AA guns (four barrels needed),
– propellers and anchor,
– UZO with binoculars,
– radio direction finder antenna loop,
– hatch for the conning tower and (visible) inner structure of the ct.

Most of the above listed („missing“) items are available on the aftermarket for example the well known suppliers/companies like „Eduard“, „CMK Kits“, „l’Arsenal“ or „Shapeways“ (3D shop). So IMO it won’t be an issue to get hands on these parts. Hope I don’t forget an item, in that case I will give it later.

Conclusion:
This model is far away from being a shake and bake kit like those from Tamiya, but I didn’t expect this either and finally this kit is after my fancy.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

Best regards.
falo

falo:
Horror vacu(i)?

The work began with the four parts hull (vacu formed).

I used the schematic drawing to cut the hull to length. I fixed stern and bow to the drawing and cut away the overhanging vacu material – in the middle where the two hull parts meet – to get the accurate length of the complete boat.

Previously I had compared the supplied drawing with those shown in „Vom Original zum Modell – XXI“ virtually as a measurement back-up. At the end I get two halves, but as I reached this task, I was aware that the hole vacu deck from stern to bow was to broad. One look at the drawings from the above mentioned book approved my appreciation. But you will see (later in this build report) that this was not an issue because the whole deck will be constructed by photo etch parts. It was just a matter of the support construction for the pe parts.

To stabilize the hull halves I supported the seam with „Revell plasto“ on the outside and inside I used plastic card stripes strengthened by two component filler for cars. In addition the vacu parts are stable and round about 1,5 mm thick so no frames were needed to steady the hull at this stage of the build. I suppose this thickness was opted because the kit was priority designed for radio control (rc) models and that means you need space for the pump and propulsion system, propeller shaft and so forth.

For control purposes I fixed the two halves with Tamiya tape and let the „complete“ hull rest on my favorite chair. Later on I realized that the hull was to long for my motor skills because nearly every doorframe was „kissed“ by the hull during changing my workplace from working bench to my balcony where I did filling, drilling, sanding and painting. Now it crosses my mind but too late to change the thread title in „sunk, raised and dinted years later“.

Best regards.
falo

falo:
Missing cheeks

As said before I compared the supplied drawing from time to time with those from Koehl/Roessler („Vom Original zum Modell – XXI“) and soon I saw that the vacu hulls missed the – what I call – the „cheeks“. If you look at "Frame_32.jpg" (red encircled) for example you know what I mean. A friend of mine has an unassembled XXI from Revell (1/144) and so I got an impression how the cheeks looked like.

Before I formed the cheeks I added the vertical lines of the bow for orientation matters with a felt pen. The original XXI boats were built in sections by different yards. Finally the sections were shipped and put together from one specialized yard. Every XXI had eight hull sections ("Sections.jpg"). Without thinking too much I took DiBond sheets from my spare box to form the cheeks for both sides of the hull. The DiBond material is ideal for bending but later I learned it the hard way that the DiBond choice was an (time-consuming) mistake. I suppose due to the relativ thick vacu material (circa 1,5 mm) the cheeks are not reproducible through the vacu form proceeded. But IMO it is no great task to add the cheeks for the smart modeller who would choose plastic card for that task of course  ;)

Best regards.
falo

falo:
Panel line transfer

The next task was to mark all the panel lines on the two hull halves with a view to the scribing. Again I had an eye on the drawings of Koehl and Roessler as mentioned before. Though I omitted the three torp doors because I want to show them in a open position and for that purpose I opted a laser cut solution so a vector drawing was required based on Koehl and Roesslers drawings. Jobwise I use Adobe Illustrator for vector drawings so this was not a big deal, learn more about that in the next post.

I marked the hull cutouts for the photo etch parts with a felt pen. Some cutouts had to be positioned directly on the in a further mentioned cheeks. To saw out these cutouts from the DiBond cheeks was very time consuming because the material has three layers: Aluminium a kind of black rubber (high-density) and again aluminum. The aluminum was difficult to saw out and sand. The rubber core frayed during sanding and slowed down the saw blade nearly to halt. As I said a post before the DiBond material was ideal for bending the cheeks in a rounded form but rework would be needless if I had chosen plastic sheet for that task. Learning never stops.

Best regards.
falo

falo:
Photo etched and laser cut parts

At a first step It’s important to seek and glue the pe parts before starting scribing because some recessed lines from the photo etch has to match the marked lines respectively the felt pen lines has to align the recessed lines. And remember that the XXI was built in eight sections (plus conning tower of course) so the lines has also to align the deck to simulate correctly the sections.

With an eye on the weathering process I altered the depth of my scribed lines to simulate a more or less overgrown edges. You will see later that this was helpful to figure wear and tear on these areas. Unnecessary to mention that my „beloved“ DiBond material was very stubborn during the scribing process, I have to order a lot of spare scribing blades.

Besides: That’s IMO the annoying thing during building a ship hull: You have to do it for both halves. Next time I will build a asynchrony ship like the „B-Wing“ from the Star Wars movies!

As mentioned in the Post before the laser cuts based again on the Koehl/Roesslers schematic drawings the chosen material was „Lexan“ because its thin, tough, flexible and reacted very good with superglue or two-component adhesive. Picture „DSC_0019.jpg“ shows the attributes of „Lexan“: For the above row of the flood holes the material has to be flexible, for the more straight row of the flood holes below the material has to be stiff.

Best regards.
falo

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