U-45 WIP - Completed October 2019

[Rokket]

I have a dim memory of just incredible spring pressure. The spring could seal it "average" and at depth the water pressure would keep it reeeeally sealed. But again, this is a dim and vague memory, it could be completely false or of some other type of container on some other type of...thing.

[Jan]

Great work, Mr. Bill!

Concerning those "ammo-hatches", I`m not even sure, that they were in fact watertight containers as David Westwood writes... right now, I

[NZSnowman]

Jan, I have just finish reading "Iron Coffins" enjoy it a lot!!!! Now reading Black May : The Epic Story of the Allies' Defeat of the German U-Boats in May 1943 by M. Gannon

[Rokket]

Iron Coffins was excellent, read it when I was 20, and again at 40. Checking the patrol report from a couple sources, there is some, er, "discrepancy" between Official and Werner, especially what constituted a patrol (a false start I think), and the usual extra tonnage included in orig report and either disallowed by HQ or History.

Werner sure wanted a Schnorkel and hydraulic-loaded torps! Who can blame him. He (and Dick O'Kane) both talk about the fast weathering of their ships, too...how after just a short time, blazing suna nd salt spraw turned their boats into chipped, flaked, faded things unrecognizabile!

[billp51d]

          I just looked at Type11 "bouy marker" configuration, which later in Type V11"s became "ready to use ammo containers". In the Type11"s it appears that the hatches were activated (opened) by a blast of air. Donno, but could have been the same operating system used later on the Type V11"s.
          Never the less, ammo hatches had to be air tight to keep sea water out! So whatta you guys think?
                                        Cheers/ Regards....Bill   
       

[NZSnowman]

Werner sure wanted a Schnorkel and hydraulic-loaded torps!

In retrospect, I don't think I would wanted to used the early Schnorkel. They had a lot of trouble with them. In addition, the firsts boats used them without using the sky periscope and planes were sudden engaging them while submerge. The Brit

[Jan]

Werner sure wanted a Schnorkel and hydraulic-loaded torps!

In retrospect, I don't think I would wanted to used the early Schnorkel. They had a lot of trouble with them. In addition, the firsts boats used them without using the sky periscope and planes were sudden engaging them while submerge. The Brit

[NZSnowman]

I would had love a Type XXI but I think I would had been happy in a late war Type VIIC/41 with all the new toys

[Pat]

The wide flange around the 88mm ready ammo would seem to confirm that water pressure might have kept it closed.  Extra surface area for the water to press down on the lid.  But a near miss by a depth charge would have changed the pressure and caused such a lid to flop open sometimes.  At least enough to let water in before it closed again.

Having a blast of air open the hatch makes sense.  But if that was the case, why wouldn't they have also done the same with the ready ammo for the 20mm and 37mm Flaks?  Those seem to be held with a screw-type closure.

Whenever the hatch was used, there was so little freeboard that some water would inevitably splash in just from wave action.  That makes me wonder if perhaps the hatches weren't watertight at all since the ammo would have to proof against even this little amount of water. 

It also brings up the question of how the spare torpedos were kept watertight.  Such a long, narrow tube would be hard to pressurize, and in the pictures I've seen, there doesn't seem to be any sort of watertight closure on them. 

I do remember coming across something that said the torpedos had to be taken out and serviced about once a week while at sea, and this may have meant that they weren't in watertight containers but were simply coated in grease.  So perhaps the 88mm shells were also coated in grease?  That wouldn't be possible for the Flak ammo because it was much smaller, on belts and/or would jam much easier than the larger caibler ammunition?

[billp51d]

          Interesting observation, Pat. Thanks for your input..
               (BTW.. Off topic: I'm ready to order cherry veneer strips you recommended and hope to see your own deck build process)
                                                             Cheers/Regards .. Bill
                                                            

[Pepper-mint]

I would had love a Type XXI but I think I would had been happy in a late war Type VIIC/41 with all the new toys

Let's build one...

@ Bill : I love your hatch, very fine work.

[Rokket]

I think the air blast was for when it was a buoy marker - you blast it up and out to the surface....seems a bit wacky for ammo...

[Pat]

Yeah rokket, the air blast does seem a bit odd, but it wouldn't be the first oddity we've found with U-boats.  And it does seem to fit the available, though scanty, evidence as to how they worked.

billp, glad you've found the cherry wood strips of interest.  I've used them in dozens of ship models and even for building parts of land-based dioramas.  They're very versitile.

Not sure when I can get pix of my own build.  Besides having terrible computer problems for the past few months, the only digital camera I have is my cell phone which isn't the best resolution.  Not sure how much detail will show up with it.

I had a big set back last week too.  I have a box with all the little parts that I've been scratch building and dry fitting to my U-boat, and all the parts that I've cut off the sprues but haven't glued in place yet.  Well, the box fell over last week and spilled about 300 parts all over the floor.  It's going to take a while to even go through and figure out if I've found all of them or if I have to order/create more parts.  (There were a few choice words uttered, and the cat thought it looked like great fun!)

On a positive note though, I figured out how to make the the capstan spring-loaded so that it can be displayed in either the above or below deck position.  It's a variation on what I was planning to use to raise and lower the bollards.  While I don't think the capstan actually went up and down (I think they unbolted manually and stowed it - but if anybody has any better info I'd be interested), however, since I don't like the idea of making it removable and therefore, loseable, this is a good method and will look right even if it's not how the original worked in RL.

[Rokket]

sorry to hear about the spill....standing by

[Pat]

I'm sure every one of us has had some experience of dropping tiny parts on the floor that seem to manage to roll and bounce into the most unlikely of places.  Usually though, I don't drop so many at once.  I'd just been making all these little hinges and latches and tiny bits all at once.  (after all, there are only about 193 pcs in the kit and at least half of them ARE in place on the model so far)

My biggest problem (other than that the room is a mess with lots of hiding places for these little parts) is even remembering what all of them are to even know what's missing.  So many of them are parts that I'd made to make things operate/rotate/elevate/open/swivel etc. just like the real ones, that I'll only remember them when I see them.  Many of them were made in advance of assembly, since to get so many moving parts it all has to be put together in the right order or it doesn't work.

Oh well.  It'll keep me off the streets at night.