U-995 Mission accomplished

[TRM]

Amazing work Karel!

[Pat]

Absolutely gorgeous Karel!

But I see an awful flaw.  Sorry.

You've done such a fantastic job on the armament, and the railings, and everything else so far in those pictures, that it sort of emphasizes that the deck is just plastic.  Compared to to the terrific detail on the guns, the deck just doesn't stand up to the quality of the rest of it.

Please, please, do what I did (for a different reason, but same end result) and scrap the plastic deck and build your own deck out of real wood slats.  It makes a huge difference for realism and with the detail of your guns, you'll be really happy with the result to go with them.

I'm making my hatches open, but you don't need to do that to get the same appearance.  But having real wood decks, with the correct spacing between each slat to let the 'water' come through when it dives, and seeing the beams underneath the deck will really set off the beautiful work that you've done so far.

If you can't get wood slats there, you can get them from Lee Valley in Canada.  They have cherry wood slats, 36" long by just a few mm wide and not much thicker than paper.  Real easy to make a deck out of.  When you scuff off the carboleum on the worn parts, you'll see real wood grain showing through.  Your model deserves it with the detail you've done so far.

[bracco_n]

Or you can get the one made by Nautilus. Pat I

[Mr. Bill]

Hello Karel,

I have been admiring your work and want to join the others in congratulating you on your fine craftsmanship and great photography.  It is a real pleasure to follow your project and I look forward to each new development.

Cheers,

Bill

[Pepper-mint]

Absolutely gorgeous Karel!

But I see an awful flaw.  Sorry.

You've done such a fantastic job on the armament, and the railings, and everything else so far in those pictures, that it sort of emphasizes that the deck is just plastic.  Compared to to the terrific detail on the guns, the deck just doesn't stand up to the quality of the rest of it.

Please, please, do what I did (for a different reason, but same end result) and scrap the plastic deck and build your own deck out of real wood slats.  It makes a huge difference for realism and with the detail of your guns, you'll be really happy with the result to go with them.

I'm making my hatches open, but you don't need to do that to get the same appearance.  But having real wood decks, with the correct spacing between each slat to let the 'water' come through when it dives, and seeing the beams underneath the deck will really set off the beautiful work that you've done so far.

If you can't get wood slats there, you can get them from Lee Valley in Canada.  They have cherry wood slats, 36" long by just a few mm wide and not much thicker than paper.  Real easy to make a deck out of.  When you scuff off the carboleum on the worn parts, you'll see real wood grain showing through.  Your model deserves it with the detail you've done so far.

I totally agree ; Karel your model is wonderful and Mr.Bill gave you the best words.it  It would be worth rebuilding the deck ! 
Once painted, all your details will we highly up lightened.

all the best =)
Pepper-M

[FoxbaT]

Friends.....

I am not ready yet....
There are some nice wooden deck parts from Nautilus waiting to get glued in place 
I will do this after the conning tower is painted and weathered to prevent the wood getting painted grey.





Karel

[FoxbaT]

I started replacing the nails wich were sanded away.
To prevent the delicate decal film from damage during working on the model, i give them a protection by adding a thin layer of matt varnish (diluted with white spirit).









Karel

[Rokket]

paint may do the trick...with all those guns, who's going to argue?

[Pat]

bracco, I'd be quite happy to post pics of my U-boat but I don't have a digital camera and can't afford one.  Perhaps when the lighting is good enough, I can take a few pix with my cellphone, but I know the resolution isn't all that good.

[FoxbaT]

I am ready with replacing the lost nails (thank god, didn`t like this job), i think together i placed about 1000 nails.











Karel

[bracco_n]

Nice work Karel! Can't wait to see some paint applied to it!

[Greif]

Nice job replacing the rivets Karel.  It does indeed look like it was a tedious job; one that was very well executed.

Ernest

[FoxbaT]

Thank you guys,


Next job are the rudders.
I removed the welds because they are not correct, i will replace them later with welds from the Archer kit.
On pictures from the 995, i noticed the rudders also have a rough steel surface with small holes and dimples, so i had the idea to simulate this with the help of some plastic cement and a piece of a steelwire brush.

On this picture the surface with the small holes clearly can be seen.






The rudders with the removed welds





The parts needed to replicate the steel surface





I brushed on a thin layer of cement to soften the plastic, after one minute i added a second layer and immediately started to push the wirebrush into the surface to create the holes.






After one hour of drying, i sanded the surface smooth to remove the small pieces of melted plastic, and only the holes remained.
I am happy with the result of this wirebrush/cement experiment  







Karel

[bracco_n]

Very nice technique!

[Pat]

Excellent work on the rudders Karel.  that's exactly what the rudders and other cast parts look like on the steel-hulled boats around here.

When going into that detail, you might also want to add a sacrificial zinc anode to each rudder.

In real life, the anodes could be almost any shape, from teardrop to rectangular.  They were udually placed on the rudders between 1/3 and 1/5 of the way down from the top, and 1/3 - 1/5 from the leading edge.  Not sure if there was one on each side of the rudder or just on the outside, but I've seen them in several photos.

The reason for the anodes is to use a 'less noble' metal as a sacrifice so that galvanic electrolysis dissolves the anode instead of the more valuable rudder.

I've also seen these anodes on the propellor shaft supports and the dive plane supports.

Not sure why, but they only seem to be around the stern of the U-boats, not the bow.