U Boot Werft scale 1/144: U-98, U201,

[Pat]

Beautiful job on the deck colouring Seewolf!  That looks just like I'd think it would in real life after a lot of use has worn away the black antirotting treatment.

And your 3 waterlines makes sense.  Something I hadn't thought of before but there could be multiple lines of algae as unlike regular ships a U-boat rides at different depths during it's mission.

[Seewolf]

Thank you Pat,
 I read and saw at Pictures that allready at the drilling time in the baltic sea the carbolineum get from black to dark brown. Today it is illegal to use carbolineum to save the environment, but when i was a child it was still in use to protect wood from rotten. Carbolineum was not a paint, it nedd a couple of days before the wood take it propper inside.
Later during the war, sorry I don`t now the exact date yet, at least when the VIIC/41 came, it was order not to use carbolineum instad of that they use two times gray primer and one time black over the primer to prevent the deck from rotten.
About the waterlines.... I am still trying some techniques to let it look more realistic.... not so easy  for me 

[Pat]

I think your waterline idea makes a lot of sense, and one I haven't seen mentioned anywhere.  If it's anything as good as what you've done so far, it should be great.

Some things I've noticed on the boats around here are that the waterline itself there's a buildup of scum.  Mostly algae, a bit of oil and dirt, and in the case of steel hulled boats, some rust.  That would probably apply more to the top and painted waterline than the bottom (floating higher at end of mission) waterlines because at those times, the boat would have spent a lot of time at the dock.  This scum doesn't happen so much when the boat is moving constantly.

The scum seems to be a brown/green colour, and about 10-30cm wide depending on latitude.  The farther north the boat is stationed, the less algae grows on it.

Also, there may be some areas of the hull with barnacles or other life sticking to it.  These would be small whitish or brownish rings, slightly raised and about the same size as rivets.  They would be random around the hull, but often in small patches of several at a time.

[TRM]

Seewolf,

Not sure if they will help any...I ran across these will searching something else.  Gives an interesting color for algae in reference to the water line. 

[Pat]

TRM, good picture of the colour of the algae.  You can see at least 2 different waterlines on the centre picture as well.  Exactly as Seewolf was talking about.  (Since a nuclear sub doesn't use up fuel and supplies like a WWII DE sub would on a mission, there would only be 2 lines, not 3, but the same idea still applies)

[Rokket]

somewhere I've seen a nice supedetail build with scumline...it's hard to oull off, following this with great interest

[Seewolf]

Thanks for the comments guys,
This is a bow pic. from my vessel last year in November. It was in Nuuk/Greenland. In the northern waters the algae dont bloom up so strong, but they bloom up. Once we let sea water run over the fore deck, to avoid the excretements from the sea birds, first year was no problem it works rather good. The next year we hit the time when the algae bloom up, wooow the hole foreward deck was coverd with algae. Unfortunatly i didn`t make pic. from this desaster, it was a hell of a work to get ridd of the algae  I can not do that again to my crew. We live now with the bird excrements  much easyer to clen up that. The algae that bloom up here looks like hairs 10-20cm long green color, when they are dying they get light green to yellow, then light brown and later when they rodden they get dark brown to black.

[Seewolf]

First test withe the scumline.... looks a bit strange  should first weather the underwatership more and than add the sumline 

[Rokket]

Here's an RC site with some good looking stuff:  http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1069471

[Pat]

Wow, that's really good weathering Seewolf.  It looks quite real on your test patch, but may be a bit of overkill for an operational boat.  Not sure I'd want to dive to 240 meters in a boat so poorly maintained.  Just a bit too much rust.

The pattern for the scum line looks good, but the colour seems a bit too blue.  Perhaps mix a bit of brown and maybe just a touch of red to it?

[Seewolf]

Thank you rokket for the link, this was very intresting.
Pat I agree with the rost, much to much 
Here I prepair one more test object, a little bit bigger this time. It is also made from metal paper.
Upper hull Revell 76+white, under water hull Revell 78


Now I saltet the complete pice and use different colors, mainly Revell 57, 76, 47 in different shades







Now I will start to work separated upper hull and underwater hull, think will mix some filters with the base coats

[Pat]

The underwater part of the hull in the new test piece looks REALLY good!  Almost exactly like the steelhulled boats around here when they're hauled out of the water for the winter.  Just the right percentage of rust to antifouling with some marine life and undercoat paint.  Good job. 

The topsides looks realistic too, but I still think it's a bit too much for an operational boat, even at the end of a mission.  Yes, it looks real, but I think for a boat to get that weathered above water, it would have to be sitting idle at the dock for at least 2 or 3 years, and that just wouldn't happen.

A civilian tramp steamer?  Yes, they'd look that old and unkempt.  But not a Kriegsmarine boat unless it wasn't being used. 

[Seewolf]

Hi Pat thanks for reply, I very appreciate that. I apply now the filter for the upper hull... seaworthy now ?









next step will be filtering the underwater hull, then I will loose the effect of marine life a bit. But I will bring it back later after the use from oil and particels... I make allreadey a test how to bring this effect back... yeap... made a test for the test   

[TRM]

Looking great Seewolf!  Looking forward to the actual application!


Cheers!

[Seewolf]

Thank you TRM,
I find out that this is a very time consumption way to make the painting  . We have bad weather in the moment and yesterday I have to put  all my colors in a secure place, now I lost overview what was what color.... filter or lighten up color   Have to make a list and propper marks on the colors next time  
Masking the upper waterline and apply lighten up filter. After that masking some spots and than was the plan to filter again with lighten up grey and a dark grey, but I was to lazy to mix a propper filter. I use a very thin mixed color as filter, mixed it only with plenty water   No that did not work... but any how the result is ok for me.






Now again plenty salt and different grey shades, now my cabin looks like a drydock.