Ouch another U-552

[Trierarch]

Hello everyone,

First let me introduce myself as I am novice on this forum.

My name is Jean-Luc, I am 45 years old, French, and I live presently in Germany close from Luxembourg. I have lived already on quite a few different countries on our small planet for professional reasons.

My interest in modeling goes back to when I was 6 years old and my mother had offered me a new toy to try to keep me quiet, a 1:72nd Airfix Buffalo in a bag! Wow what an idea! Needless to say it was the beginning of something big for me (otherwise I wouldn

[NZSnowman]

Welcome aboard. I am sure that we will be able to found the answers to all of your questions. I have found this forum a great bowl of information, and its only seen to get better, with each new member that joins. I wish you all the best with U-552.

Simon

[dougie47]

Hi Jean-luc,

Welcome to the AMP forum, I hope you enjoy being here. U 552 definitely did not have the netcutter and the wind deflector at the same time, I'm afraid.

U 69 and U 96 were some of the very few boats which had the netcutter and wind deflector at the same time.

The best of luck with your U 552.

Cheers,

Dougie

[Siara]

You finally made it here Jean-Luc! 
I tald you all your questions will get answered, we have such wide array of experts here it just couldnt be different.
Hope you enjoy your stay, and good luck with the build- im looking forward to another U-552.

[Trierarch]

Hello,

Thank you for your prompt answer.

I have already made too many modifications to the hull to change it into another boat. I am pretty close to gluing both sides together, so I will have to live with it and thus go for an earlier version of U-552.

It will be too long to list all the modifications there, so I post a few pictures this way you can tell me if you think I did something wrong so far.

One thing I did too was to modify the front dive planes locations by advancing them by 5.12mm. In the plans that I have, and on the photos that I looked at, the front support was located just under the UT system. I also added the kind of metal plate reinforcement around it.

Keep in mind that I still have quite a bit of sanding to do to make things better.

Cordially,

[Trierarch]

You finally made it here Jean-Luc! 
I tald you all your questions will get answered, we have such wide array of experts here it just couldnt be different.
Hope you enjoy your stay, and good luck with the build- im looking forward to another U-552.

Yes I wrote directly to Wink, a great guy, and apparently they had a kind of bug on the program. He solved it very quickly. You were right about the question I asked, but I followed your advice and asked here for confirmation. The answer came faster as the blitzkrieg itself. Very impressive.

While I am here talking to you, if I can give you a little advice. With the paint you bought for your figures, you do not need to prime them. It is surprising, but all the new Spanish champs in this category don't!!! even on metal... It was hard for me of the old school to try it, but it does work even better. I just give you that hint in order for you to save time, as we are all dying to see your next pictures.

[Trierarch]

Other shots



By the way if someone knows a better technique to post as the one I am using, please let me know.

[Trierarch]

Anchor well and anchor modification. They are not completely finished yet, but well under way.



For the anchor, I took the original that I down sized a little, and re-sculpted almost entirely.

[Trierarch]

Ship rear bottom view

[Siara]

I like what you doing here Jean-Luc. Good start.
Only reservations are about position of the bow dive planes supports. I just imagine the anchor droping straight on top of it. Are you sure the position is right? BTW- i like the reinforcing plate around the support- nice touch.

[Mr.Mox]

Welcome Jean-Luc, a good beginning, and it looks like you have take care of all the kits inaccuracys.

I would give et a light coat with primer at this stage, as it makes it much easyer to spot the places that needs extra attention.

Cheers/Jan

[Trierarch]

Hello Siarra,

Thank you for your interesting comments coming from an expert eye, and for the compliment.

I will try to explain my choices so you can tell me what you think.

Bow dive planes:

 The problem here once again is a matter of choice. The model is wrong, that is evident. I join you one of the plans that I have, but all of them show the same, that is the front support starts under the UT.

Once again we need to compromise; I took as a starting point the road supporting the dive planes (Black and White squares in a circle) on the plan. They are located as on the photos at the first intersection of the bottom flood holes. From that point I measured and modified the whole thing.

At that time I did not realize that the flood hole pattern in metal, also a big improvement, is faulty too. It biggest drawback is the angle of the grids that forced me to change the angle and the length of the riveted reinforcement passing through it.

What I should have done was maybe is to start from the front and work backward, this way I would be 1 or 2 mm safer in the front, but then wrong in the back!!!

Anyway what you see in the photo is just the base of the support, the support has a very strong angle at that point and it just leaves 1mm extra for the anchor to drop safely. But I wouldn

[Siara]

You are right about compromising here, and there. One question is- how accurate are the plans. During my build i came accross some plans that are simply loughable. Having 3 different plans, and 3 different looking detail layout, it came to common sence.
I just compared the pictures- if available, and guessed- most times with good results- where the detail should be, and how it looked like.
Heres my effort at the dive planes- without the support plate:


By your plans- the Unterwasser Telefunken should be moved slightly back- on top of the central line of the dive plane support.
It realy isnt that noticeable, especially with the GHG array drawing the eye of the person watching the model.
The main thing is now the crew can drop the anchor without fear of loosing the starboard plane.
I wouldnt worry so much about it- it probably is too late for correction- i personally would leave it as it is.
Carry on Jean-Luc, theres still lot of work to be done, and you dont wonna be still doing that model in 5 years time.

[Trierarch]

Hey thank you for your wise advise,

The truth is that I haven't seen your work before I started this kit... too bad I would have made some modifications a bit differently here and there, and maybe didn' waste so much time on things I had to correct later .

We do have the same problem, a lot of plans contradict each others, as as you say some might have smoked the carpet when they were drawing them...

This particular set is coming from a set of ten large plans from Germany based on U-boot archiv real plans. Also not perfects as some detailed parts are missing in some areas, they are very well made in others and for me I trust them a bit better than the others.

Talking about the anchor weel, I have another question about it. One of these stupid details that probably won't show, but that can influence weathering and interest you as well.

Did a lot of U-boot's had these two drain holes that we see on this picture?





As for spending time on details, I am building this boat for fun and personal challenge. It will stay in my house when completed and I bet very few persons will ever see it. You are right nevertheless and sometimes I spend too much time on areas that do not really deserve it. My problem is that I am used to look at very little details because of archeology, and once I have seen it it bugs me if I do not reproduce it.

Thanks for the photo, every time I see your boat, I measure how much I still have to learn, but whow what a beauty she is.

[Siara]

Thanks for good words.

Now- the two holes, isnt that the dent caused by winding the anchor in? I have feeling it may be chiped paint, and slight dent to the cavity. The paint was knocked off, and rust made some discolouration, and streaks.
I never seen these 2 holes on any boat before.