Armored Conning Tower Boxes

[VonStigler]

Does anyone have any good pictures of the boxes added to the conning towers on type VII boats?  Any pics would help but I am looking for shots taken from the inside of the tower looking into the boxes. I read somewhere that the starboard box was designed to hold 5 crewmen,  can anyone confirm this?
I am doing a lot of research before starting my U-480 build so any information is greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Brian

[Rokket]

Our own forum mate Glenn Cauley has done a fantabulous job on just such a boat if memory serves. have a look:
http://www.travel-net.com/~gcauley/U673/

[GlennCauley]

Thanks, eh!   

[VonStigler]

Awesome build Glenn, I reference your site quite a bit for tips.  But what I am looking for is any information or views of the inside of the boxes on boats like the one pictured here, mainly the starboard side.

[GlennCauley]

I try to dig through the information that I have.
But just from a quick glance at this photo, it sure is a much different box on the stbd than on the right.
The port side was the housing for the radar and had a rounded forward edge.
The stbd side box was used for... ... but it seems it has a sharp angle on leading edge, and it also looks like it might even get wider at the top?   (ie. it is angled outward going up, not vertical).
Of course, without multiple pics it is just a guess.

I seem to recall some large scale (1/25?) conning tower kits that were offered from a German company a while ago (now discontinued).  If I recall correctly, there were some that had the stbd side box.
Does anyone know the ones I mean?
A.R.T. ?

[VonStigler]

Thanks Glenn for your help.  The box on that boat does indeed look like it is wider at the top, others I have seen are more vertical/square , and some have edges that are rounder. These boxes were essentially add-on modifications done by different shipyards so I am not surprised at the variances.  I believe these were meant to provide the gun crew shelter from strafing aircraft.  Here is a good pic I found of  a boat with the large starboard box and what appears to be a smaller extension forward of the antenna housing on the port side. The pic was labeled U-1060 but I can't confirm this. The second pic is of U-480 with similar boxes.  I wish I knew what the inside of the box looked like!

[Jan]

Think i saw here two very good pics in the gallery a couple of years ago... but i didn`t download them and now i can`t find them anymore...

[bracco_n]

Hey Jan! So long! Did you finish your boat!?

[Jan]

Hey Nicolas, glad you are also still around!  No haven`t finished it yet, but i resumed work. Started with the fine molds millenium falcon meanwhile - but only the vii c is the real deal! 

[Rokket]

Jan - how is the FM Falcon? I think it's a tad smaller than the original kit? Can you post some stuff in our SciFi section Love to see the build!

Cheers

[Jan]

The quality of the kit is very very very good. It needs only very few, minor modifications. Building the Falcon is very different from building U-711 or any other uboat. A lot more glueing and painting instead of scratching an other "operations". My Falcon is far from being completed - but i´ll try to post some pics the next days 

[Rokket]

Thanks Jan (I built mine and it's lost now, back in 1980-81 in high school. Yes, I'm that old.Sigh.)