Author Topic: My U-69  (Read 43444 times)

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TRM

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My U-69
« on: 09 May , 2010, 15:18 »
The Time has come to start my thread about my build of U-69. 

A little background:

U-69
The keel was laid down on the 11th of November at Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel.  F. Krupp Germaniawerft produced 131 u-boats, which were commissioned into the Kriegsmarine in World War II along with a list of other war vassals consisting of u-boats starting with U-7 in 1935 and finishing with U-4710 in 1945.

Technical information for type VIIC

Displacement:
(tons)    769 (sf)
871 (sm)
1070 (total)
Length: (m)    67,10 oa
50,50 ph
Beam: (m)    6,20 oa
4,70 ph
Draught: (draft)   4,74 m
Height:   9,60 m
Power: (hp)   3200 (sf)
750 (sm)
   
Speed:
(knots)   17,7 (sf)
7,6 (sm)
Range:
(miles / knots)   8500/10 (sf)
80/4 (sm)
Torpedoes:   14
4/1 (bow / stern tubes)
Mines:    26 TMA
Deck gun:    88/45
220 rounds
Crew:    44-52 men
Max depth:    ca. 220 m
(722 feet)
sm = submerged, sf = surfaced, ph = pressure hull,
oa = overall, hp = horsepower.

(from u-boat.net )


U-69 was launched on September 19th, 1940 and commissioned on November 2nd, 1940.  She participated in 11 war patrols in her career and belonged to 7 wolf packs. He was a member of the 7th Flotolla (Unterseebootsflottille "Wegener") From November of 1940 to February of 1943.  Throughout her career she amassed 16 ships sunk for a total of 67,500 GRT, 1 ship damaged for a total of 4,887 GRT,1 ship a total loss for a total of 5,445 GRT before her fate on 17 Feb, 1943 in the North Atlantic east of Newfoundland.  She was sunk from depth charges taking with her 46 souls.  Until this point no crewmembers aboard U-69 had perished while in her commission.

The time period I hope to depict will be from the end of her 3rd patrol (thank you Dougie). All the criteria I am looking to depict are present.  She is returning to St. Nazaire and has added 33,868 tons to her war chest for a total of 61,205 tons at this point.  U-69 was commanded by Kptlt. Jost Metzler (Knights Cross).  Metzler would leave on the 4th patrol with u-69 only to be stricken ill within days from leaving St. Nazaire.

I am still learning as I go here.  The subtle differences between the boats are becoming more apparent.  I will be ordering some of the critical add-on kits to help me along the way.  Starting with the PhotoEtch: Flood & Vent set (U-Brass/WEM #PE 7232).  Below are a couple of shots from the beginning stages of my build.  I started opening the flood vents along the hull in preparation of a delivery of my add-on.

Please feel free to make suggestions and/or critique along the way.  I am not an expert by all means and if I am missing something or overlook something along the way

Offline Greif

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #1 on: 10 May , 2010, 00:42 »
Your start is looking good TRM.  Opening the free flooding vents is a bit tedious isn't it?!  ;)

Ernest

Offline Rokket

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #2 on: 10 May , 2010, 01:41 »
Off to a good start!

"Tedious"? I can think of a few other words...
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Offline Siara

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #3 on: 10 May , 2010, 02:20 »
Good start, but i can think of better way of doing this.
Easier, and quicker way at that.
You need to mill more on inside, to the point where the holes will open themselves. No need for drilling them out.
You still have about 1mm of plastic around the holes.
Get them as thin as possible, and you end up with thin looking sides, and nicely rounded holes without drilling.
Thay just pop out when you mill.

TRM

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #4 on: 10 May , 2010, 04:20 »
Thanks Guys...I will stick with the word "Tedious", it covers it cleanly.

Siara,

Thanks for the heads up.  I will mill them down some more.  I can really see where the "take your time addige"  applies.  Go to fast it will melt.  I am sure I will melt  or remove something I don't want too before I'm done.

Cheers!

Offline Sniperonzolo

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #5 on: 10 May , 2010, 05:54 »
Yes that is the way but becarefull
if plastic goes too hot u could do the big damage!!!


Offline Rokket

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #6 on: 11 May , 2010, 02:50 »
Yes, the damage part is dangerous, but using a Dremel or the like is the way to go, as Siara says. It DOES THE WORK FOR YOU! Some cleanup is needed, but the excellent #11 blade is perfect for that. I angled my bottom and side "walls" of each hole, to give the illusion of scale-thin:









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TRM

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #7 on: 11 May , 2010, 04:14 »
Thanks Guys.

Thanks for the nice diagram Rokket.  That gives a great perspective on the cut out.  I used a  325 grit sanding brush with my dremel (variable speed).  Seemed to work well.  The thinner I got, the slower speed.  This seemed to eliminate the melting.  From what it looks like to be, it's about 0.5 mm on the thickness. SLOW and STEADY! 

Thanks again!

TRM

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #8 on: 13 May , 2010, 11:07 »
Any thoughts on the shape of the vents in the attached photo...The forward most vent holes seem to be more round in shape than what is on the Revell kit.  Or is this an "angle" or optical illusion.  They seem to be evenly spaced as well, unlike some of the offset holes on other boats.


Offline billp51d

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #9 on: 13 May , 2010, 14:25 »
                 TRM...Nice work so far on thining the flood holes. I think what your seeing in the photo is exactly that, optical.They're oblong also. Remember though, there are only two of these holes on the other (starboard) side.
                                              Bill in Delaware..
« Last Edit: 13 May , 2010, 14:27 by billp51d »

TRM

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #10 on: 13 May , 2010, 17:22 »
Thanks Bill. ;)  Was thinking they might be, but my eyes were in control for a moment.  Also thanks for the heads up on the starboard side.  I remember reading something about that I think in the section with the different number of vents side to side.  I'll have to re-read the AMP .pdf files again.

Cheers!

Offline billp51d

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #11 on: 13 May , 2010, 17:34 »
            I was going to mention that pdf on the floods and vents by Dougie, TRM . It's good your aware of it. A wealth of information. BTY theres another pdf on type vii modifications in the AMP library you may find useful.
                                           Cheers/Regards   Bill
« Last Edit: 13 May , 2010, 17:40 by billp51d »

TRM

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #12 on: 14 May , 2010, 17:46 »
Thanks again Bill.  Read it (both) again last night.  Trying to commit some of it to memory.  I have filled the stern holes in preparation for drilling the smaller ones as suggested.  I'm itching to cut and drill for the PE....I need the PE 1st.  Oh well, there is plenty to keep me busy.  I did notice that you loose the rivets on the hull in some areas from sanding.  Is there rivet "kits" or am I going to be punching out pinhead size dots from styrene sheets.  I think I read something from Siara's build about add-ons....off to look.

Thanks!

Offline Rokket

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #13 on: 21 May , 2010, 03:19 »
The U-Brass stuff (now WEM distributing) has rivets. As far as replacements rivets, the best product is the resin rivets on a decal carrier. There's a post about them here, see if I can't dig it up. They are pretty expensive, but very high quality. Our own Glenn Cauley forum mate researched and designed them for Archer.
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TRM

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Re: My U-69
« Reply #14 on: 21 May , 2010, 13:24 »
Thanks Rokket,  I actually ran over the post about rivets last night...After scrolling through Siara's 552 build (fourth time).  Saved the link.   http://www.archertransfers.com/index.html.  Amazing stuff.  I am a bit out on getting transfers yet, but, need to have it ready when the time comes.  Being the 1st U-boat, I'm assuming I am looking at at least a month or two in just preparing the hull before I start adding anything to it.  I can see why you may want to bounce around on the build, just to change things up.

Thanks for the info!