Hello all,
I wonder if they will offer a section at the stern and bow so a full waterline can be built. I built the Accurate Armour 35th waterline and having the full waterline would be good. Working on a tower in 35th scale is much more fun that 72nd.
The box art shows U 96 but the sawfish is too low down. Clearly it is a VIIC without the mast antenna housing on the port side. That limits the boats that can be built to an early Germaniawerft boat such as U 96 (U 69 to U 72 + U 93 to U 98) or an early Blohm and Voss such as U 552 (U 551 to U 557) or U 331.
The photos show the model with a wind deflector at the top of the tower and also the breakwaters on either side of the hull. Neither U 552 or U 96 had this combination. On U 552 the breakwaters were removed before the wind deflector was added. It is not right for U 96 as well because when the sawfish was there there was no breakwaters. However, U 69 did have this combination.
The modeller could easily not add the wind deflector but I don't know that the sawfish could be added for this timeframe for U 96. The wind deflector doesn't extend very far in the photos but may be okay when we see the final kit. It would be good if the modeller could choose to add the breakwaters or leave them off. But the breakwaters might be moulded in place.
Side naviation lights - they have the hood on top which makes it okay for U 69 and U 552. But not for U 96.
Wooden seats on tower - looks like the three separate seats on the box art. This is correct for U 552 but not for U 96 or U 69.
Slat grill at top of tower - this doesn't look good in the photos but may be better on the kit. Can't see the lip at the bottom which was on U 96, U 69 and U 552.
Vents at front - correct for U 552. Not correct for U 69 and U 96 but an easy modification by filling one hole.
Vent at middle of hull casing - incorrect for all boats. Not an easy fix as 4 have to be drilled for U 69 and U 96, 3 have to be drilled for U 552. More of a problem is that the kit has the unpaired arrangement whereas U 69, U 96 and U 552 have the paired arrangement.
Central drainage area - not quite correct in respect to the position of the ammo hatch on the deck. So you may need to drill out to have the central drainage area extending farther forward?
This is just an initial guess given the photos at the moment, it will be interesting to see if some issues will be fixed on the final product.
Cheers,
Dougie
