Hello Dougie,
Many thanks for your assistance. Your articles on U-47, flood vents, and colours are excellent. I would very much like to see your article on the Amati kit, can you send it to me or tell me where it is posted?
I fully agree that the Revell kit has rendered the Amati kit obsolete, but I think it may actually be better, faster, and easier to use the Revell kit along with the Amati brass deck to model a fairly accurate early VIIB boat. After making a side by side comparison with the Revell deck parts, I was surprised to discover that the Amati deck would fit nicely onto the Revell hull. Other than the area around the 88 deck gun, there are no gaps between Amati brass deck and the edge of Revell hull. The brass deck does sit too low, but can easily be raised with strip styrene to make a flush fit. It also seemed better to convert the Revell tower rather than modify the Amati resin tower.
In addition to the incorrect aft deck watertight container (discussed earlier), one other problem (as you already know) with the Amati brass deck is the center line ventilation duct on the conning tower deck. Rather than convert the Revell deck, I decided to try and correct the problems with the Amati brass. The Amati photo etch brass is very heavy and extremely difficult to cut, but I managed to carefully remove the incorrect watertight container section and replace it with a portion of the galley hatch which has to be removed anyway in order to use the separate galley hatch part. The conning tower deck correction involved drilling several tiny holes in the blank ventilation duct space and then trying to square the holes to match the surrounding details. Due to the thickness of the brass this was very difficult. The results are not perfect, but acceptable.
Rather than try to correct the Amati kit resin tower, I decided to modify the Revell parts using the Amati kit as a guide. As you know, the VIIB tower is smaller in length and width compared to the VIIC so it is necessary to reduce the Revell tower parts in both dimensions. I did compromise with the round vent holes on the sides of the tower by using the Amati brass parts with some modifications. The size, pattern, and number of holes on the Amati kit are not correct, but I could not think of a better alternative.
After making these modifications and test fitting the parts, I was very pleased with the results so far. More finishing work on the conning tower and deck is needed, but I think it will work. I need help with the details on the inside of the conning tower for an early VIIB, especially the periscope housing (which seems very different than the VIIC) and the size/pattern of the wood slats which I think are very different from the later VIIB boats. Maybe these were totally absent at the time of commissioning? Do you have any photos or diagrams of the inside of an early type VIIB tower?
Using your excellent articles, the Revell hull parts can be modified to match an early VIIB. I see only one real problem and that involves the 19 flood vent holes in the lower row on the port side. There is no space on the kit part to add the required two extra vents without cutting away and reshaping the forward part of saddle tank. I think I will compromise on this detail and have just the 17 flood vents rather than attempt major surgery on the kit parts.
One other detail I am uncertain about involves the missing three flood vents that follow the curve of the after part of the saddle tanks. Although these three vents appear on later VIIB and VIIC boats, I am not sure if they correct for an early VIIB. My reason for this is a photo on page 16 of TYPE VII U-BOATS by Robert Stern. The photo shows an early VIIB prior to launching which does not have the three holes. Do you think this is correct or am I missing something here?
Thanks for your help,
Mr. Bill
