Well... the model of U-673 is still around and had probably it's last model show this past weekend at Ajax 33 (Ajax, ON).
I finished the model for CAPCON 2011, and it took 2nd place in the category against a stunning Type IIB.
In spring 2013, the boat took a 2nd place to a tiny little bathysphere model about 1.5" in diameter. That really stung.
In September 28, I could not enter U-673 in CAPCON 2013 as it has already showed there 2 years prior.
On October 26, I entered U-673 in Ajax 33. It still qualified as it had never won 1st place or "Best of" anywhere, so I thought "What da heck!"
I was never satisfied with a few things on the model, so in preparation for the final show I took the time to correct them.
Rigging:There was a broken tensioner wire for the stbd bow dive plane that had to be replaced.
I had never added jumper wires spanning the rigging wire insulator groups, so I added those all around.
The antenna lead wire coming from a conduit tube at the rear of the wintergarten... it didn't attach to the main port & stbd antenna rigging in the right places, so I corrected those, too.
I added a tensioner rope that "pulled in" the rear port & stbd antenna rigging; this was simply a rope from the rear center of the wintergarten railing, going to each side wire.
Periscopes:Both periscopes are turned aluminum, and are gorgeous. I think they are from Schatton-Modelbau.
Originally I painted the main shafts with Alclad II gloss black base and then Chrome, and the tops were painted hull grey colour. I streaked black oil stains along the chrome part.
In looking at these, they didn't look all that good to me. I stripped all the paint off them using lacquer thinner, polished them, then masked off the main shafts. For the tops, I primed with Tamiya metal primer (clear) then painted them with Schlickgrau grey. I removed the masking, and polished the main shaft again. Then I painted the lenses with gloss black. They both look good now.
I had cut the periscopes short so I could insert them into their respective mounts.
The front navigation periscope went into the OEM kit plastic tube, but the attack periscope went into a resin CMK base (much more detailed).
I had to carefully drill out a hole in the top of the resin attack periscope base so the antenna would fit. And unfortunately... you guessed it... the attack periscope didn't sit perfectly vertical and in line with the fwd navigation periscope.
On to Ajax 33...
U-673 won its category, and also the Ship Theme award of "50 Shades of Grey" <grin>.
When it came to "Best Ship"... it was a dead tie between U-673 and a stunning, flawless 1:350 Russian destroyer built by a friend of mine; it had won Best Ship & also Judges' Choice in Capcon 2013. (The boat is GORGEOUS, and quite frankly is flawless in my eyes.)
The ship judges were going back & forth between U-673 and the Russian destroyer... and back... and forth.
Finally they spotted the flaw in the periscope alignment, and that was enough to break the tie. When announcing the winner, they said it was so very difficult to decide. So the nod for "Best Ship" went to my friend's beautifully done Russian destroyer, and he also won "Best in Show - Judges' Choice" !!! I couldn't be happier for him. I know all the flaws in my own U-673, so to be considered so closely to his marvelous model is very pleasing to me. His work truly inspires me.
So now I'm onto a flying thingy... I think it's called an aerioplane or something. <grin>
I'm building it for my dad, who flew in them during WWII. It's called a "Lancaster" or something like that.
