1/72 Revell Type VIIC/41

[tsenecal]

...

They are up on shapeways if you want some.  This 3D printing isn't cheap!
https://www.shapeways.com/shops/supernashwan

TristanR,

PM me, i would like to know what it would take to get you to do a set of the:

U-boat Hatch with hinge
&
U-boat type VIIc conning tower equipment

in 1/32 scale...
i would also be interested in the 2cm gun and the 8.8cm gun, if you ever decide to do those...

[TristanR]

Hi tsenecal, what would you expect the diameter of the hatch to be at 1:32 scale?

For the hatch, I can do this really easily and upload it to shapeways. 
I'm still working on the conning tower parts,  they are nearly there for 1:72


For 1:32 I would want to rework some parts.  The minimum thickness of the material is 0.3mm, so at 1:72 so things had to be chunkier than I would have liked, I could fix that in 1:32.

Is this for an RC kit?

It might be fun to to the guns, but I've no plans to do them yet.

Cheers!


I might do the snorkel...

[tore]

Floodingholes and gutters.
I am afraid you have fallen into the same trap as many before you, using the museum U995 as a blueprint for you model. Apart from excessive corrosion marks, which never would have been approved on an operational submarine, the museum U995 has a number of modifications added for easy maintenance and visitors securities. The L-shaped steelgutters has nothing to do with the original VIICs, they are fitted on the museum U-boat to prevent rustbleedings from the floodgates. The original fairings at the ends of the saddletanks do not have drainholes. Likewise you might notice that some of the floodgates on the casingside have been eliminated or shut by welded plates. I have been told this is for security reasons as visitors had a tendency to climb on the casingside using the flood gates as support. Unless you don`t intend to make a model of the U-995 museum U-boat, don`t copy same. The lower joining of the VIIC casing and the pressurehull is a weldingseam and not a raingutter.
Tore

[tore]

May be this images gives you a better impression of the joint.

[Roel]

I am drooling over the amazing work on the conning tower

[tore]

Tower hatch
I don`t fully understand your fulcrums of the towerhatch hinges hanging in the air. In the days before the 3D printing some clever modelbuilder made a model of a working towerhatch showing his idea about the construction as shown below. May be it would be helpful for you. I would`t copy the spring connection to the hatch as I believe the spring ends are connected to the hatch by a drilling in two "knobs" intergrated in the hatchcover.
Tore

[OldNoob]

Beautiful work. Lovin this build log. 

[tsenecal]

Hi tsenecal, what would you expect the diameter of the hatch to be at 1:32 scale?


For the hatch, I can do this really easily and upload it to shapeways. 
I'm still working on the conning tower parts,  they are nearly there for 1:72




For 1:32 I would want to rework some parts.  The minimum thickness of the material is 0.3mm, so at 1:72 so things had to be chunkier than I would have liked, I could fix that in 1:32.


Is this for an RC kit?


It might be fun to to the guns, but I've no plans to do them yet.


Cheers!




I might do the snorkel...

TristanR,


yes, this is for a 1/32 r/c type VII...  haven't decided which "version" it will be, most likely a "c", but it would be interesting to try for a "d" model...

as it sits, it is just short of 83" long, or about 210.5 cm

when i figure out what the dimension for the hatch will be, i will certainly let you know.

i do not wish to hijack your thread any further, so any new info, i will PM you.

[TristanR]

Thank you Tore, What you say makes a lot of sense regarding the addition of the gutter.  It seemed like something that would not last long on the high ocean.  Although I like the visual interest of the gutter, I think it might be a bit big, and I think I will remove it. 


Iv'e been trwaling the internet fo rany decent shots of this area, and there does seem to be something beyond a weld seem there?  for instance, this shot of 1105


  I know this has the alberich coating on it but I'm sure I have seen some thing in other shots.  It doesn't look like a gutter (or at least not an effective one judging by the stains running from it).


Here's another shot, u-201 again there is something there, maybe it's just a lip? like the the lip seem on u995 from the image you postes earlier?



Here again there is something, which appears to have stand-off for some kind of strip?  What is this?  Perhaps it was something that was hung on these areas only in drydock, for similare reasons to the gutters on the 995 exibit? Although in this shot, it seems to be a lauch party.




The reason the hinge is floating in the air like that is so the #D printer difinitely prints them separatly, so I can run a length of rod through the hinge and have it open and close.  I feel like such a dirty cheat looking at that wonderful hatch someone made!


Thankyou Old noob and Roel!


Tsenecal, yeah send me a message I will plan to make all the 3D printed stuff available in 1:32 eventually.

[tore]

Gutters and weldingseams.
When judging all the images of the various weldingseams it is understandable that people get mixed up with the museums gutters. I guess there are two main reasons for the the excessive look  of the thin plating joints between the thick pressureproof hull and saddletanks. The bow and stern are not pressureproof and consist of thin galvanized platings overlapping the pressurehull making a lapweld which visually is like a step up joint where the bow and stern are joining the pressurehull. Some of these welds are made in steps making it look like shadows of floodgates/drains.
 The other joinings are where the thin galvanic casingplates are welded to the pressurehull. If you study the images of the thin plainting joining the pressureproof steelconstructions these welds looks like a thick "sausage". These "sausages" are primarily seen towards the bow and stern as well as on the fairings fore and aft of the saddletanks.
In the early 40ties the welding technique was not as advanced as today, riveting was still common. Welding thin galvanized plates to black steel was a challenge even if Germany was very advanced in the technique. Allthough I am not a welding expert, I believe the problem for the galvanic platewelding could be the zinc which has a much lower melting point (about 900 deg. F) and a vaporization temp of 1650 deg. F.  Normal steel has a melting temp of 2750 deg F. With limited suitable electrodes they probably had developed a method of welding to avoid the evaporated zinc fumes entering the weldseams making it porous. It might be this is an explanation of the volume of the weldingseam which you only see where the thin galvanic plating is welded to the ordinary steel. Where the saddletank steelplates are welded to the pressurehull you see an ordinary weldingseam.
A general remark to the casing construction is that bow and sternsection as well as tower is riveted not welded as would be today, I believe this is due to difficulties with galvanic steel welding.
Tore

[TristanR]

Thank you again for the detailed explanation Tore!  I am going to add something here, but not gutters. I think I might carve away some material underneath this seam and make it look more like a lap joint.

Boat number.
I have been looking into what U number I can assign my boat.
I am keen to do some heavy weathering (really keen), perhaps one scheme over another that has chipped away.  To justify this and the work I have done already, I have these requirements.

*   I want a boat with a fair number of patrols under it's belt, including some long ones. 
*   At least one emblem on the boat.
*   Something that served in the north, for arctic paint scheme.
*   I like the idea of an operation deadlight boat, but not necessarily one of the well documented ones.
*   Something without many available pictures, so I can make it up a bit.
*  Planked deck,
*  Askania compass housing (maybe)
*  Schnorkel with the above deck plumbing.

My favourite right now is  U-764
http://uboat.net/boats/u764.htm

It patrolled from Brest, then moved to Bremen in sept 1944, I would imagine they'd go for a nice new arctic paint job after the move.
It had some success, including shooting down a wellington.  (I will give it a U-249 style plane emblem for that). 
I really like the Key of Bremmen emblem it has.

I can't find many pictures of the boat online of it, According to 'Diane and Peter' here's one which has the 9th flotilla swordfish emblem (I think)


There is even a published diary (which I ordered)


What do you guys think about this?

[TristanR]

Hey Jan , thank you!  Lets hope I actually finish it!

Bow thingy.


It will need some fettling to integrate it into the rest of the bow.


I attempted using little magnets for the 37mm and 20mm AA guns.  Works pretty well, and even allows the guns to solidly swivel.
[/size]




The latest version of my laser cut deck included these nice holes for the above deck portions of the schnorkel.  Unfortunately I failed to include the thickness of the conning tower walls so the holes are obscured by the tower.
[/size]

Since I have a new deck I decided to sacrifice my old one to the god of experimental weathering. I have seen this down before on Foxbat's amazing boat build on here.
First I sealed the basswood with model aircraft wood sealer.  This stuff dries instantly with no gloss or warping.


[/size]

Then a coat of XF-1 mixed with some german grey.


Then finally I sand and scape away the flat black, using sanding sticks and a curved blade.  To add some color I stain it with water color pigments (really useful for thinning paint without losing colour saturation)

[/size]
Cheers!

[tore]

Wooden deck towhawse bow hole.
The wooden deck was mostly painted very dark grey, in fact the German naval  highcommand issued an order that the Uboats should have a box of deckpaint for patching up possible light stains. The reason was possible spotting by air.
The bow towing hawser pipe had a bead to prevent chafing. Image below shows the bead as on U 995 being laid up almost 5 years without maintenance.
Tore

[SG]

Excellent progress TristanR. Neat soldering of the bow towing hawser pipe and a great weathering effect of the wooden deck. Very effective technique. I'd follow Tore's advice and darken the deck a little more to be more faithful to reality. Anyways, it's a matter of personal taste and the result you achieved is really appealing. Congrats, am looking forward to see the next series of WIP shots!     

[TristanR]

First off I removed this gutter.  Will fill the holes too.




More soldering. When I was cutting the wooden deck, I made some engraved guides for the conning tower railings. 
I just tape the .5mm rod into the grooves and leave the joint exposed, work quite well.


 I syringe some flux onto the joint, and stick a sliver of solder into it.


Apply heat and bingo!


Perfect fit.


I laser cut a solder guide thing a while ago now, but thought I'd give it a try


After the soldering It pops off, I won't be using this one, I need to used a thinner rod for the uprights, but it proves the idea of using the flat strip that surrounds the wooden deck.








I'm cutting off the fairing for the magnetic compass, I prefer the Askania.



Made little handles for the life raft container hatches.



Finally I have a little collections of conning tower furnishings on the way from shapeways.  Too keep the cost down, I'm doing all the stuff in blue as extreme detail. and all the darker stuff as a lower quality print.


https://www.shapeways.com/product/9TFXMUBA8/1-72-u-boat-type-viic-exterior-onning-tower-detail