Greetings!
Worked on the forward watertight ammunition container yesterday and today and have a few photos to share. The early VIIB's as built had only one watertight ammo container located near the 8.8 deck gun. I believe that the later B's and C's had a second ammo container installed on the deck aft of the conning tower. The Revell kit features this type of configuration. I am not sure if the early B's were subsequently modified to include a second ammo container when the 20mm was relocated to the enlarged platform on the conning tower, but I think so.
The hatch design for the ammo container is slightly different on the early B's compared to later versions. It has four "flanges" on the edge of the circular edge while later versions did not. In addition, there is a noticeable gap between the hatch edge and the deck that is not visible on the later hatches. The early hatch features can be seen in photos of U-47 and U-53, which I used as references as I could not find any images of the hatch on U-45. I assume that U-45 and U-47 had the same hatch design.
Cutting the Amati brass deck is very difficult. It is very thick and I had a few tense moments using a dremel to cut the brass away. The result looks good to me, except for one small rough spot on the edge that I will try to fix later.
I am relieved that U-45 had only one of these hatches as I would not relish the thought of having to do a second hatch modification on that thick brass!
Right, on to the photos:
This image shows the cutout of the Amati deck. If you compare to the image of the unmodified Amati deck in the early post, you can see the differences.
Here is the scratch built ammo hatch based on photos of U-47 and U-53. Note the four flanges.
Ammo hatch dry fitted into the modified deck.
Another image of the hatch dry fitted. You can just see the blemish on the edge of brass deck!
Last photo for today showing the Revell hatch and the modified Amati deck + scratch built hatch.
Thanks again everyone for all of your input. I appreciate your advice and questions, so don't hesitate to let me know your comments and questions!
Cheers,
Bill