U Boot Werft scale 1/144: U-98, U201,

[Seewolf]

Hi all,
here I will start my try of building VIIC U-98. I allready start this build last year, but now I am at a point where I need some help from excelent builders like here in the forum. I start my reserche for the VIIc when I start building U-98, than I find out that the reserche is more time consumption than the build itself  Aahh yes I should say that I have no expirience in modelling, I start last year with an 1/350 Bismarck and during the build I saw that a big battelship is to much as starting projekt, so I chose for a small U-Boot  to find out that I am lost in details. When you ask your self why I am building in 1/144 and not in 1/72, answer is simple I will build many boats ( in the moment I have 5 VIIC, 1VIID, 3 VIIC/41, 3 XXIII an fleet is still growing). I want a U Boat collection that shows the boats from the early "successfull" time to the bitter end, so not only a collection of the "great hero boats". I want that my collection display how the U-Boot war was. So far the plan, still stocked at the first one I hope when I improve my skills that I can speed up the building time.

OK, here we go with the first one U-98:

Dock           : Germania Werft Kiel
Start Building: 27.Sep.1939
Comissioned  : 12.Okt.1940
Carrier         : 9 Feindfahrten, sunk 11 ships with 59.472 gross tonage
Fate            : 15.Nov.1942 Wabo`s from HMS Wrestler - All hands lost

[Seewolf]

I will build U-98 in the early time with breakwater and netcutter but without windsheeld.
First opening the flood holes:

[Seewolf]

After opening the flood holes, I start withe oil canning

[Seewolf]

Sanding down the presure hull and welldings





Nice dramatic light outside 

Next will be sanding of the saddletanks

[Seewolf]

The starbord side is now ready for preshading, now I was going a unusual way. The deeper points I want dark and the upper surface lighter. I did the preshading with black oil paint, very quick to do but long draying time 




Now in the meanwihle, the oil is draying, I start with the port side. Again opening and oil canning, very nice work 

Opening the flood vents

same strange procedure for preshading 

[Seewolf]

The conning tower

[Seewolf]

Because of my lack of expirience I decided to make a test with a spare part of the upper tower. That will be not mounted on the finished model.


Experiments with copper wire

[Seewolf]

Unfortunally the copper wire was to big, but next time I will use a smaller wire.

[Seewolf]

Ok so far, because I liked the work for opening the flood holes and the oil canning so much I punish myself with the main deck 







 Don`t ask me how long time I need for this work..... I stil try to forget how time consumptioned it was 
The Deck at the tower I made in wood paint, meantime I find out it was from steel one point more to correct.

[Seewolf]

Now first paint starboard side






I am happy how the oil canning effect comes out at the starboard side but at the port side I forget to shake the paint propper before start brushing  so it turned out to white, ok in this stage not a big problem but I learned my lesson for the next time 
Now port side

I was using Revell aqua collor Hellgrau 76 matt mixed with white and much to less thinner... need long time clean the air gun  next leasson learned at the hard way 

[TRM]

Seawolf,

You certainly are off to a great start!  I love the milled out deck.  Worth every minute you spent.

Enjoying your build, keep the pics coming!

Cheers!

[Seewolf]

Hi TRM,
thanks for the kind words, I will still post some pics today hope you enjoy it 
cheers

[Seewolf]

Insert the spant`s and find out that the main is not sitting propper, but it is not a big problem in the end everything fits when assambled. But strange at U-201 I didn

[Seewolf]

Here zou can see wich oil paint I use

And the result

[Seewolf]

While the Oil paint is draying I take care about the base.
I want it rusty  , I use the salt technic, don`t now if this is usual in this scale but worth a try



After that I use Graphit dust

Now I was happy, the base have now a nice metal shinning

[Seewolf]

After the Deck drayed I continue with a mix from black and white oil paint. The deck was originally made from an cheap light brown wood to prevent the deck from rodden in the early time it was common to use carbolineum. Than the deck was black, after a while, special at the walkways the Deck comes out dark red/brown.




Here together with an colored Black and White picture, I don`t know if this will stay final... but at first it looks fine for me.




I will post tomrrow some more pics but now it is getting late. And as you maybe saw in the first pictures I am a sailor and we never have weekends, in a short time my new duty starts will get some rest before. My internet conection is via satelite not very quick and often not stable but I am happy to have it. All information I have regarding model building is from the net, I am active in a german forum when I start last year model building. Without this guys my boat will look fore sure total different 
Off course all comments or suggestions are welcome.
Cheers for now

[Rokket]

Seewolf, thanks for making the effort to post all that, read everything and looked at every pic close - very impressive! I also love the stand! The effect is just right, and very clever, never would have thought a crappy stand could be turned into something so good! Your oil canning and paint are superb, and all this while on the ocean! Nice steady rock solid model bench - not! Axiusly awaiting more...

[Siara]

Nice build. I`ll be regular visitor here.

[Seewolf]

Hello again, thank you for the kind words regarding my boat.
@ rokket   it is no problem to build models at sea, I am since 20 years sailor maybe I will have problems if nothing is rolling and shaking 
Only I don`t work longer with super glue and PE`s in stormy weather or deep inside the ice fields... made some bad experience under this circumstances 
@ Siara    your blog from the red devil was/is very inspiring for me to try many stuff and not to give up if something not work out. From your blog I was coming to this great forum.

[Seewolf]

This is my first attamped with soldering







I have now a better soldering station with me, but didn`t work with it yet but I will try again

[Seewolf]

Here I did my test for brushing and weathering, I use Metal paper to take a stamp from the model and than glued it on a piece of plastic



First red arrow means border between upper and under hull
sec. should be the waterline
third  some kind of dirt that is to see when the boat get lighter during the patrol

I must say surface hull is ok with the weathering ( I planed to build this boat just out of the box for training and get some practice with the air brush, without pe parts but to have a eyecatcher I planed to give her a hard weathering.... was for some time ago now I have pe from griffon  ) but with the antifouling paint I am not so happy. It didn`t fit to the hard rusty surface hull. I just lighten the antifouling paint under the waterline up but that is not enough in my opinion.
I want to have it more like this way.....

..... but I dont now how to do that  Any tips are very welcome

[Seewolf]

After my metal paper test I make a test run on the spare tower, between this both tests I read the paint manuel from Dougie very nice and helpfully. But I didn`t had the right colors with me so  it is a bit to dark what  i was useing. But I have now the correct color with me, thank you Dougie for your great research work.

I just use the swordfish decal for training reasons, later on U-98 will have the snorting bull. If the snorting bull ensignia fits with the period I will display the boat... but I will think later over this issue.

I overdue it with the salt technique a bit, but what do you gays think when I do it more carfully at some parts... is it to use?

[Seewolf]

The weathering at the tower looks a little bit rughly, that is because I didn`t had enough patience to let the different layers of paint propper dry 

One importent think regarding the water inlet...

This Inlet was only at the VIIc/41.... of course I found out after opening the stuff.

Time to come to the inner presure hull, I promissed myself to do this job very quick and very roughly because there is absolut no way to see it later on....... it is just that you can not see direkt throug the open flood holes.
Middle section

Made from plastic sheed and a very thin plastic bottle
Here I take a piece of paper to get the cut even on both sides

[Seewolf]

Drystacked




Aft section

[Seewolf]

And than I found in these site: http://www.u-historia.com/
Higly recomendet site, it is in spain but when you want to have detailed drawing plans of all german U-Boote you should give this site a try you will for sure not regret.

But since I have the drawings thinks need much longer time 
 Forward section

[NZSnowman]

And than I found in these site: http://www.u-historia.com/
Higly recomendet site, it is in spain but when you want to have detailed drawing plans of all german U-Boote you should give this site a try you will for sure not regret.

Yes, great web site!!! Full of very useful information. I used http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ to translate from Spainish to English 

[Seewolf]

Hello Simon, good idea to use a translater 

Continue with the foreward section







I open also the torpedo hatches they are a little bit wrong and without revits in 1/144 scale.  And there is my next problem how to make revits in 1/144 .... I know this Archer transver revits in scale 1/72 but do somebody know what I can do for my scale

[Seewolf]

Pe set is from Griffon
Looks like there are some small mistakes in the griffon manuel... off course I find out after glueing 

[Seewolf]

Two of the hatches I will build scratch, the griffon pe didn`t fit in my opinion



This hatch is ok I will use it, but maybe a little bit to big

I closed the wrong water inlet at the saddletanks, and opend the smal water intakes in the ph

[Seewolf]

Now the starboard site, at first I marked the places for drilling

and the result



The big flood opening above the saddletanks is still not entirely open. I will open it when the ph is ready and I can put both side together. I am happy that i didn`t open it before because I think it will  break away very easy 

[Pat]

Beautiful job on the deck colouring Seewolf!  That looks just like I'd think it would in real life after a lot of use has worn away the black antirotting treatment.

And your 3 waterlines makes sense.  Something I hadn't thought of before but there could be multiple lines of algae as unlike regular ships a U-boat rides at different depths during it's mission.

[Seewolf]

Thank you Pat,
 I read and saw at Pictures that allready at the drilling time in the baltic sea the carbolineum get from black to dark brown. Today it is illegal to use carbolineum to save the environment, but when i was a child it was still in use to protect wood from rotten. Carbolineum was not a paint, it nedd a couple of days before the wood take it propper inside.
Later during the war, sorry I don`t now the exact date yet, at least when the VIIC/41 came, it was order not to use carbolineum instad of that they use two times gray primer and one time black over the primer to prevent the deck from rotten.
About the waterlines.... I am still trying some techniques to let it look more realistic.... not so easy  for me 

[Pat]

I think your waterline idea makes a lot of sense, and one I haven't seen mentioned anywhere.  If it's anything as good as what you've done so far, it should be great.

Some things I've noticed on the boats around here are that the waterline itself there's a buildup of scum.  Mostly algae, a bit of oil and dirt, and in the case of steel hulled boats, some rust.  That would probably apply more to the top and painted waterline than the bottom (floating higher at end of mission) waterlines because at those times, the boat would have spent a lot of time at the dock.  This scum doesn't happen so much when the boat is moving constantly.

The scum seems to be a brown/green colour, and about 10-30cm wide depending on latitude.  The farther north the boat is stationed, the less algae grows on it.

Also, there may be some areas of the hull with barnacles or other life sticking to it.  These would be small whitish or brownish rings, slightly raised and about the same size as rivets.  They would be random around the hull, but often in small patches of several at a time.

[TRM]

Seewolf,

Not sure if they will help any...I ran across these will searching something else.  Gives an interesting color for algae in reference to the water line. 

[Pat]

TRM, good picture of the colour of the algae.  You can see at least 2 different waterlines on the centre picture as well.  Exactly as Seewolf was talking about.  (Since a nuclear sub doesn't use up fuel and supplies like a WWII DE sub would on a mission, there would only be 2 lines, not 3, but the same idea still applies)

[Rokket]

somewhere I've seen a nice supedetail build with scumline...it's hard to oull off, following this with great interest

[Seewolf]

Thanks for the comments guys,
This is a bow pic. from my vessel last year in November. It was in Nuuk/Greenland. In the northern waters the algae dont bloom up so strong, but they bloom up. Once we let sea water run over the fore deck, to avoid the excretements from the sea birds, first year was no problem it works rather good. The next year we hit the time when the algae bloom up, wooow the hole foreward deck was coverd with algae. Unfortunatly i didn`t make pic. from this desaster, it was a hell of a work to get ridd of the algae  I can not do that again to my crew. We live now with the bird excrements  much easyer to clen up that. The algae that bloom up here looks like hairs 10-20cm long green color, when they are dying they get light green to yellow, then light brown and later when they rodden they get dark brown to black.

[Seewolf]

First test withe the scumline.... looks a bit strange  should first weather the underwatership more and than add the sumline 

[Rokket]

Here's an RC site with some good looking stuff:  http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1069471

[Pat]

Wow, that's really good weathering Seewolf.  It looks quite real on your test patch, but may be a bit of overkill for an operational boat.  Not sure I'd want to dive to 240 meters in a boat so poorly maintained.  Just a bit too much rust.

The pattern for the scum line looks good, but the colour seems a bit too blue.  Perhaps mix a bit of brown and maybe just a touch of red to it?

[Seewolf]

Thank you rokket for the link, this was very intresting.
Pat I agree with the rost, much to much 
Here I prepair one more test object, a little bit bigger this time. It is also made from metal paper.
Upper hull Revell 76+white, under water hull Revell 78


Now I saltet the complete pice and use different colors, mainly Revell 57, 76, 47 in different shades







Now I will start to work separated upper hull and underwater hull, think will mix some filters with the base coats

[Pat]

The underwater part of the hull in the new test piece looks REALLY good!  Almost exactly like the steelhulled boats around here when they're hauled out of the water for the winter.  Just the right percentage of rust to antifouling with some marine life and undercoat paint.  Good job. 

The topsides looks realistic too, but I still think it's a bit too much for an operational boat, even at the end of a mission.  Yes, it looks real, but I think for a boat to get that weathered above water, it would have to be sitting idle at the dock for at least 2 or 3 years, and that just wouldn't happen.

A civilian tramp steamer?  Yes, they'd look that old and unkempt.  But not a Kriegsmarine boat unless it wasn't being used. 

[Seewolf]

Hi Pat thanks for reply, I very appreciate that. I apply now the filter for the upper hull... seaworthy now ?









next step will be filtering the underwater hull, then I will loose the effect of marine life a bit. But I will bring it back later after the use from oil and particels... I make allreadey a test how to bring this effect back... yeap... made a test for the test   

[TRM]

Looking great Seewolf!  Looking forward to the actual application!


Cheers!

[Seewolf]

Thank you TRM,
I find out that this is a very time consumption way to make the painting  . We have bad weather in the moment and yesterday I have to put  all my colors in a secure place, now I lost overview what was what color.... filter or lighten up color   Have to make a list and propper marks on the colors next time  
Masking the upper waterline and apply lighten up filter. After that masking some spots and than was the plan to filter again with lighten up grey and a dark grey, but I was to lazy to mix a propper filter. I use a very thin mixed color as filter, mixed it only with plenty water   No that did not work... but any how the result is ok for me.






Now again plenty salt and different grey shades, now my cabin looks like a drydock.

[Seewolf]

After cleaning it turns out already very nice. I think the next step will be weathering with oil and particels.

some close up pics

[Seewolf]

Now I add some rust.... I like the front part but in the upper middle part i overdue it, small boat easy to overdue for the future I will try to let the rust be so weak that I can not see it from a 2m distance. That is than ok  for me.

[Seewolf]

Hi guys, some small progress to report.
I soften the rust a little bit with the base color, drybrushed the revits with dark gray where rost is applyed at the surface. Found out it is not so easy to apply propper rost without the flood holes  The surface paint looks in reality better than at the pics, it is a lot of "life" in the paint. But next time I will mask some few areas before I use the filter ( just saw U9 here on the board, very impressiv painting ).
At the waterline  i make the two stripes (black oil paint), after carfully looking to some pics, I saw i make same wrong. My stripes are just thin but they should be only thin in the beginning and in the end, they go more wide where the Satteltanks are because of the different degrees to the Water. I add then a dirt line under the surface with a dark grey (mixed black and grey oil paint) higlighted some spots with moving the brush up und down, than take a brush with black oil paint and drybrushed along the dirt line. after all I take the filter I made for the surface paint, thinned it a lot with water and moved the brush also from left to right along the waterline.
So far I`am now:

[TRM]

Looking good Seewolf!

[Rokket]

very good!

[Don in Cincinnati]

Now I add some rust.... I like the front part but in the upper middle part i overdue it, small boat easy to overdue for the future I will try to let the rust be so weak that I can not see it from a 2m distance. That is than ok  for me.

Seewolf:

Like you I sometimes overdo the weathering, and most often the rust. Because it's hard to get a subtle rust effect I have taken to overrusting and then very lightly respraying the base color which softens the rust to an appearance that looks just about right. You might do a test on some scraps if time permits. I've been happy with this technique.

Nice job on your boat.

Don

[Rokket]

The rust is VERY well done, looks real, but I agree: maybe the sailors could scrape and paint some of it

[rabapla]

hello,

just found this thread and have to say
I'm deeply impressed!! like that weathering, based on first hand impressions!!

thinking of cuxhaven I think of

• german high sea fishing
• deutsches u-boot archiv

and seewolf....................?
let me see..............
http://cuxhaven.kutterfisch.de/schiffsmannschaften-detail/6/seewolf.html

maybe I've seen You on german television?

 

[Seewolf]

Hi all, at first sorry for my long absence.... had no time at all the last weeks. Job keeping me busy and I was long time thinking how to continue right now and than I lost motivation... I`am also in doupt that I have enough paint with me to finish the painting job. Wink you will receive a big order for decals in 1/144 the next days, hope you have enough in stock 
I decide not to change the wrong Satteltanks and also the anchor will stay on his wrong place... I`am afraid that I can not replace the revits in that scale. If I change the Satteltanks I have to do this job on several boats and it must look on every boat in the same way. Maybe possible with resin but I never work with resin or molds and stuff, maybe I give it a trial when I`am back on shore.
@Don
Yes that is a good tip, next time I will be more carfully with the rost and soften it down with a filter until it fits.
@Wink
The Sailors have receive the order for some scraping and paint job 
@rabapla
Good gueesing  but wrong, I`am Captain on a deep sea fishing vessel working around Orkney, North Norway, Svalbad, Island, Jan Mayen, Greenland, Canada. And by the way Manni and Stefan will kill me when I visit them in the Skagerrak, they don`t wanna see me there  I know them both very well, when I finished my quotas before christmas we will have for sure some drings together in Cuxtown 

[rabapla]

good to have You back!!
knew that Your's must be a different vessel, the pennant number didn't fit.
dr

[Rokket]

Fair winds Seewolf! Thanks for the update!

[Greif]

Absolutely exceptional weathering job on that hull Seawolf!

Cheers,
Ernest

[FoxbaT]

Great weathering, especially on that scale!



Karel

[iceonaboy]

Fantastic job mate, that loos like real rsj`s! What paints did you use with the salt technique?