Greif's New Uboot Project

[billp51d]

           Ernest..Frank Dargies build was the one I was trying to recall. The only other one I was thinking off was Johann Vilthomsen. I believe he had done extensive internal work. I looked at a previous posting on this forum but the pictures don't seem to be available..
                                        Bill

[Greif]

Exactly correct Simon.  As I told Bill, I am going to try and fit 4 faucets.  We shall see if that works out.  Thank you for the info.

Ernest 

If I remember correctly from my research there was no hot water but it was 'grey water'


Here are the four labels

Waschwasser = Washing water
Gefiltertes trinkwasser = Filtered drinking water
Seewasser warm = Sea water warmly
Trinkwasser = Drinking water

[Greif]

No sweat Bill, I have quite a few reference photos.  Frank Dargies' build is pretty sweet isn't it?  I have not seen Johann's yet.

Ernest

           Ernest..Frank Dargies build was the one I was trying to recall. The only other one I was thinking off was Johann Vilthomsen. I believe he had done extensive internal work. I looked at a previous posting on this forum but the pictures don't seem to be available..
                                        Bill

[Greif]

Today's progress:

Pictures 1&2 show the toilet I scratchbuilt and the electrical box I made from spare parts.  The moon and stars were not aligned this time as it took me three trys to get a halfway decent looking toilet.

Picture 3 shows the extra detail I put on the stove.  The two small handles were a challenge, but I finally got them right.

The last picture is a shot of general construction.  For those of you planning on building this model, be prepared to do alot of measuring, cutting and sanding.  It took me a while to figure out how everything fits together as the instructions are less then clear.  The floor had a good bit of warpage which I corrected by putting it in very hot water for 15 or so seconds, taking it out and correcting the warp and finally dunking it in cold water to "set" the piece.  The back wall has to be shortnened in length by about 3mm to get a correct fit of the bulkheads and the curved hul piece that forms the top.  I am still going to have to do a bit of sanding to get everything together correctly, but the worst is past. 

Ernest

[Rokket]

well begun!

[Greif]

Spent the day working on plumbing and electrical lines.  The first photo shows the toilet with a bit of plumbing.  I decided on a minimalist approach here as the room will be packed with supplies.  I wanted to show the flushing handle, but it is installed on the starboard wall and I could not figure out how to get around the lack of one.

Picture 2 is the electrical box for the battery.  Some judicious use of spare parts and copper wire makes for a pretty convincing fake.

Picture 3 shows the sink with plumbing.  I did manage to fit 4 faucets, the spigots were the most painful part to make.  They are oversized as the first ones that I installed, which were very close to scale, could not be seen with the naked eye, at least my naked eye that is.  I scratchbuilt a few parts then used a combination of copper wire and soldering wire for the lines.  I was not able to install all the lines due to lack of space.  The postside wall has a couple of electrical lines installed, more work to be done there tomorrow.  I know the picture is not the best and I will make a better one later.  Overall I am pleased with the effect.

Ernest

[Rokket]

That sink looks AWESOM! nice plumbing (I never thought I'd get so excited about plumbing!). I think the minimalist is a good idea, you are suggesting, you just need enough to make it look good, and the supplies will help a lot. Very nice!

[Siara]

Impressive detail study Ernest.
I love such work.
Check Your PM folder.

[Greif]

Not much to report on the build today.  I did alot of sanding and a little construction, which is not worth pictures.  However, I also buckled down and worked on taking better pictures.  I still have alot to learn but have improved a bit.  Attached is a retake of the sink.  It looks alot better then the one from yesterday, though I still have to work on getting the blue tint corrected.

Ernest

[Mr. Bill]

Superb work!  I almost expect to see water dripping from those taps!

[Rokket]

You COULD do drips with clear resin! hmmm...

There are a lot of free photo editing programs out there, even simple ones will let you color correct. The orange you were getting in the other shots is from the incandescent lights, and the blue from daylight/flash. A tiny col balance and desaturation of offending colors and you're back on track. This new pic looks nice and clear tho, well done! Are you going to put a crewman in there washing up, would be very nice action (despite it not being very physical).

Here's a quick and dirty col correction:

[Greif]

Bill, thank you for the kind comment.  Rokket, thank you for the tips.  I DL'ed a photo editor and I am learning how to use both it and some of the advanced features of my camera.  The below photos are improved, but I still have a ways to go.

General construction is finished and the parts are ready for priming.  The first shows the remainder of the lines I ran on the portside wall.  The next is the U-Off quarters floor showing the floor plates for the tables that I scratchbuilt.  The rough looking round objects will hold the table pedestal round; once constrcution is finished they will not be seen.  The scratchbuilt tables are next.  Finally for this post, the forward bulkhead is shown.  I did not do much detailing here as the part is pretty accurate.  The instructions call for a handwheel that did not exist in the real Type VII's so I left it off.  Part 2 follows in the next post.

Ernest

[Greif]

And on to part 2! The aft bulkhead is the first picture.  I did a bit of modifying to the part.  I have only ever seen the hood above the stove in U995.  None of the other pictures I have seen of uboats have one.  I took it off, along with some electrical line that led to nowhere and a rectangular box that I also have never seen in pictures.  I then scratchbuilt the handwheel post, light bracket and some electrical line along with a small junction box.  Pic two is the batteries, nothing special to see here.  The last picture is the hull top.  I don't have alot of refernence photos, but those I do have son't show alot of stuff so I opted to make a couple of electrical lines for the lights, which will go where the two pencil dots area.

Ernest

[Siara]

Much, much better pictures now.
Good progress.
Watching....

[NZSnowman]

Ernest, I have never given the hood any thought I started to look at my pictures of galleys and you are right it seen that only U-995 has one. I have only one picture of the galley of U-995 (taken during WWII) but I can not tell from it, if there is a hood in the galley. Do you think the Royal Norwegian Navy added the hood?

And on to part 2! The aft bulkhead is the first picture.  I did a bit of modifying to the part.  I have only ever seen the hood above the stove in U995.  None of the other pictures I have seen of uboats have one.....

Ernest