Hi folks,
Happy New Year to you all.
Dan, I guess you've been waiting for a long time for a U 805 model and here it is. It looks very like the Tehnoart model so looks like you will not have to do much to the kit to make it U 805. I'm delighted for you (I'll be doing U 805 too).
I am almost certain that Jon is correct that the new kit will be using the U 505 kit with a few alterations (cut out deck, planked rather than slotted deck, schnorchel).
They have used the designation IXC/1940 in their catalogue and this is going to lead to confusion over the IXC/40 designation and the cut out foredeck. I discussed this in the U 505 article (paragraphs below copied from article) –
On pages 33 and 34 of Vom Original zum Modell: Uboottyp IXC by Fritz Köhl and Axel Niestle, the authors list the IXCs and IXC/40s which received the cut out foredeck and the dates when the alteration was completed. Note that this feature was not universal by the end of the war – U 532, U 534 and U 889 are some examples of IXs which did not receive this modification. Therefore, U 505 may or may not have had the cut out foredeck if the boat had remained in active service until the end of the war.
Some enthusiasts believe in two fallacies – firstly, that the cut out foredeck was an exclusive feature of the IXC/40; and secondly, that this feature was added to all IXC/40s. Although quite understandable, both these assumptions are erroneous. Many Type IXC/40s were built before the introduction of this cut out foredeck and were therefore launched with the normal deck. It is also true that the cut out foredeck was added to IXs regardless of variant or sub-variant.
It is possible Revell thought that all IXC/40s had the cut out foredeck. Or they may have used the IXC/40 designation simply to differentiate it from their U 505 kit.
Either way, I tend to agree with Jon that we might have an IXC with cut out foredeck rather than an IXC/40.
Cheers,
Dougie
