Hi OldNoob,
Sorry, my bad I meant the IXb was shorter, according to published figures, again by about 2.25mm in 1:72, however having just measured the oa length of my dry assembled type IXc I come out with 1067mm, which in full size would make the model 76.82m. Making the model slightly too long, it will probably shrink on assembly. This is actually closer than any of the 1:144 scale Revell boats which are all a couple of millimeters too long.
Whilst it is possible that the IXb and c may have a slightly different shape to the bow, it is just as likely that the 2 types were in fact the same length, I would suggest reading
U 534 Beam. My feeling is that the dimensions that we seem to take as gospel may have come from one measurement of one boat of that type, which may have been measured with less enthusiasm than it might have been.It might be that the people who were measuring didn't take into account of the underhang at the aft, interestingly that would just about be 160mm. I can't think of a reason why the length of the outer hull would be increased on the IXc by a mere 160mm, whilst the pressure hull remained the same, but to change from a 'b' model to a 'c' implies implies fairly major changes. Of course the changes could have been mostly internal, allowing space for more electronic equipment and more fuel.
Back to the original point, 2.25mm on a model that is over a meter long, how many people would notice (just saying).By reshaping, I meant you could shave the excess length off the bow if you so wished, now if only fitting a turm 0 was that easy!
Regards
Jon
