Hello !
New photos of the conning tower to share, but first I want to thank Dougie for pointing out the lack of flooding holes above the prop shaft housing in the Stern book photo. I was so focused on the three holes above the saddle tank, I completely missed this! Although the boat in this photo is not identified in the caption, clearly it is one of the very early VIIB's due to the conning tower style. As mentioned, the absence of the three holes above the end of the saddle tank seem to match photos of U-45 so I am inclined to think this mysterious photo is U-45, but it would be nice to know for certain. If accepted as U-45, then I need to fill in those prop shaft flooding holes that I just opened up recently! I think U-45 maybe is also unique with regards to the bow flooding vents, but I need to check into it further - the photos are conflicting! More on this later.
The following photos show the completion of the conning tower which is finally ready for a light spray of primer. Some items have been left off at this point and will be painted separately prior to final assembly. It may look a bit scruffy in these photos, but I think the primer will help tremendously to bring out the details.
After many attempts with brass and styrene (which all failed), I used the railing from the Amati kit which turned out better than expected. This railing is noticeable "square" in shape, so I very carefully sanded the edges to give it a more rounded look. The most difficult parts for me were the very tiny brass pieces I used for the safety belt attachment rings along the upper inside edge of the tower. The swastika on the top the mast was also a bit difficult due the very tiny size.
My goal was to try to capture all of the conning tower details I could identify from the photos of U-45. The one item that is a bit confusing is the ship's bell. I can't see it in any of the commissioning day photos, but it is clearly there on other photos of U-45. This seems odd, I would have expected to see it on commissioning day. At this point, I believe I will leave it off since I want to show U-45 on her commissioning day.
As always, I greatly appreciate your comments, advice, and questions. Thank you.