Hello, new guy introduction

[Von Hilde]

Im a 66 yr old artist/musician living in the Florida Keys. I am currently scratch building a Type VIIc U 751 in 1/32 and found this forum, researching for the boat. I started my intrest of building a u boat model to compliment the 1/48 scratchbuild of a WWII Fletcher class Destroyer, that I started about 10 years ago. After the hull was framed and sheeted, it sat idle, due to priorities. After my youngest son Joined the Navy and left home, I decided to complete the project. After deciding it would be one of the 6 ships to have the experimental Os2 Kingfisher catapult installed in replacement of the #3 and #4, 5" gun turrets. This was a mod that was addapted to the ships in 1943 to augment their escort capabilities in ASW. The experiment was discontinued after a short period, due to the advent of the new escort Carriers that could deploy aircraft to rapidly attack the U boats. Initially I built a 1/48 scale Typ VIIC using only a handfull of photoes of U 995. This model was made of some hardwood framework and balsa wood and construction paper covering, with wire bits and scraps of fishing poles and old reels (things that I have a lot of) for the various tubeing diameters, and mechanicle gears, belcranks ect. During construction, I began to see other peoples models and was amazed at the detail. At this time I wanted a model that could get wet, and began another Type VII, same scale, but out of hardwood and metal. A few weeks into this project and hours of internet on U Boat research, I decided to abandon all other modeling projects and up scale, so I could represent more detail. Now that I am 6 months into the 1/32 boat, I have seen the amazing work on Siera's boat, and am re thinking the entire project. I have re engineered half the work I did, starting with the hull. Currently reworking  the bow section to get it more correct. Looking for pictures of the inner torpedo tube doors in the closed position. My outer doors will function, so I want to be able to see the pressure doors.

[Siara]

Welcome, and thanks for good words.
Im eager to see same pictures.
Good luck with the build- i always enjoy watching people scratch building stuff.

[Von Hilde]

thanks Siara, I used alot of your excelent ideas as a guide to some of the detail work, so far. In fact Ive made several mods and changes due to seeing your "my way" posts after I started the project. This is actually a test build for a larger scale boat. 1/16th or larger, as I have about 30 ft of unused dock space at my house in the florida keys. Im contemplating a Type II , but there is not as much resourceful info as the VII. [img=http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/7356/007xw.th.jpg] added the sprey shield and the vents on the sides of the tower last nite as I hadnt decided on which particular boat it would represent, but Im using 571 as a guide since, presently, thats the boat Im doing a painting of. This model will be used for an underwater photography, study of perspective and lite, of the Type VII series of paintings that I have planned. I will be posting the pencil sketches as project progresses. Now, what about that large Type II you are intrested in, Im thinking of making a plug mold for the hull, in 1/32 and popping a few resin boat hulls out. Rather than foto etched decks, I will CNC them at the sign shop out of aluminium sheet. Now if NZSnowman ever does the drawing of the decks of the IIs, Ill be ready to play.

[Rokket]

I dont know if this pic will help, it's from U505 I THINK (I didn't take it), but it illustrates mechanics fairly well...I tried to post to gallery, didn't work, I'll give it a go here...

[Pat]

Great picture of the torpedo tube opening Wink.  That answers quesitons that I've been wondering about for a long time as to how to make my outer torpedo doors open realistically.  It looks so simple now that I see it.

Do you know if they opened the outer hatch before the casing doors, (in which case they'd be behind the casing doors when everything is open) or if they opened the torpedo tube hatch after the doors, in which case they'd overlap and be seen when everything is open?

In your photo, it looks like the two are connected and open as one operation.

But another observation is that I don't think it's U-505.  If you look at the out hull on the extreme right of the picture, it appears to curve around the torpedo tube as if this was a small boat, perhaps the size of a type II.  Also, for the outer casing door to open in this manner, it would probably have to slide forward, somewhat like the pictures in the thread that I started of a type VII from Operations Deadlight.

[NZSnowman]

Pat, I know on the Type VII's it open in one operation. Also good spotting on the curve around the torpedo tube. I miss that!

[Rokket]

Hi Pat,

yes, as far as I know, all WWII subs (the majors) operated in one action. The "hull door" (shutter in USN parlance) - was cranked open (later hydraulically) and because this was connected to the outer door, they opened as one. Here's a simple animation from the AMP Gato shutter set, but principle is the same:

(down or plan view)

This animation does NOT show the linkage on the shutter, making it appear as if the outer door is the motivator, but it is really the shutter. (And of course, the "outer door" means the muzzle end of the tube, not the shutter).

[Pat]

Great animation showing how it works Wink.  It makes much more sense now and seems quite logical that it would be one single operation.  Otherwise, I could see a problem if somebody opened one and forgot to to open the other.

But, ouch, no way can I make mine operate like that at 1:72.  There's just not enough room inside the bow to make those sorts of connections.  It's hard enough just to hinge the 'shutters', in the tiny space available, let alone connect them to the 'outer door' in such a way as to open like that.

I guess I'll have to make do with just having the shutters open and close.

[Pepper-mint]

Von Hilde, welcome aboard !

Very Impatient to see your work. Siara's right, it's greatly inspiring watching scratch buildings.

In the book "Vom original zum modell: Ubootyp XXIII" E.R

[Rokket]

awesome photos/build!

[Rokket]

No worries Pat,

I'm going to have one open in my Gato, with a fish in the tube, to match my VIIC. Not working, just glued!

[Pat]

In my case, I'll probably display my U-boat the same way, with one or two open and the rest closed and seldom, if ever, change them.

It's more the challenge to see just how detailed I can get everything and if I can make all the moving parts actually move.  Not so much about moving them all the time.

The parts that I might move sometimes would be the hatches in the deck over the spare torpedos and inflatable rafts, and the various guns and periscopes.  And perhaps the bollards on the deck.

The deck hatches to reveal what's inside between the casing and the pressure hull but like the bollards, I'd close them up most of the time to show what the deck looked like clean and dispaly the deck itself with its hundreds of pieces.

The scopes etc. down sometimes to show the dive positions vs surfaced positions.

And the armament just because it's fun to do and daydream with.

The main hatch would likely stay open most of the time to show off the small amount that can be seen inside the tower.  And the turnbuckles and railing openings (goosenecks) would probably NOT be moved because they'll be too delicate and difficult to do back up again.