U-Don's U-Boot typ VII C

[Papa Mashy]

I've managed a couple of hours here and there to continue the detail of the conning tower.
Painted the base colours over the whole piece and I hand painted the emblems of the red devil and the snorting bull, plus adding the life rings.

The macro mode on the camera really picks up any fuzzy edges. It doesn't look quite so bad with the naked eye!

I've also been working on the interior detail -
Lower half of the attack scope
Uzo
Conning hatch
Gauge & Compass

I'm quite pleased with the hatch as I scratch built the handle and wheel from wire which I think look OK.

Next job is the observation scope and radio antennae.

 

[zathros]

That hatch came out great!!

 

[Gandolf50]

I agree the hatch is GREAT...

 

[Dagger]

Great job! It looks great.

 

[Papa Mashy]

Small bit of progress...
I've finished and installed the lower half of the observation scope including the binnacle and made the RF aerial from wire.

Parts for lower half obs scope

I only used a few bits. the rest made from wire.


Installed in the conning tower. Sorry I missed taking a few photos.


The piece for the top of the binnacle was just a grey dot (see part 22) so I found a jpeg of a german compass rose, converted to raster in Inkscape and shrunk it down to size. I think it looks a bit better.

Next steps are to glue conning tower to deck and add front section, then begin making the anti-aircraft gun.
Here are a couple of historical photos.

Notice the different painting of the nose at the front of the tower. (not sure what the actual name of it is)
In the first image it is panted all black. In the second image you can just about see that only the top section is painted black.
I'll be aiming to replicate the essence of the second photo for my model.

There is considerable corrosion to be seen on the returning from action photo, beards and victory pennants, in comparison to the freshly painted and clean shaved crew leaving port in the first photo!

 

[zathros]

Lots of disillusionment too!

 

[Revell-Fan]

Maybe the nose piece was partially repaired or exchanged. The second version looks visually more interesting, so this is a good choice to recreate this one.

 

[Cybergrinder]

I would also go with the second version, bit more "personality"

 

[Papa Mashy]

The front nose piece was trickier than expected given it was only two pieces!
There was also an un-numbered triangular piece. It was positioned on the sheet between the front of the main top piece where the cut is to enable it to take the correct form.
The instructions didn't show a picture so I started by gluing the rear of the two pieces together and working round to the front.
When I got to the front there was no space for the un-numbered triangle piece so I just glued up without it.
The general shape was OK but it was a bit pointy. The actual shape is curved in 3 planes.

Therefore I thought I'd try again this time gluing the triangle into the front of the piece first and working round.

That most definitely did not work!
No matter how much shaping/bending I did the length was now too much and it extended beyond the base piece (14). So, into the bin that went.

I can only assume the triangle is glue tab to support the front and should go inside?

Back to Mk1 then as it was only the very front that needed addressing. I gave it a bit of a light sand and minuscule bit of filler, then paint.

Once the piece was offered up to the conning tower, with a little light pressure to close the gaps it took on the desired shape nicely as designed. It's another testament to the quality of this model from U-Don.

After this I decided to do a quick win.
I had been thinking about the flag pole and had come up with the idea of using a sewing pin.

It was perfect. Just needed to cut it down to length.
I had previously, since I started the build, considered whether or not to add the swastika flag. The sheet comes with two flag versions, with and without swastika. As much as I abhor what it stands for I decided that it was historically accurate to use the swastika version.


Nice simple glue of the pole to the rear of the conning railing


AA gun next.

 

[Cybergrinder]

I have to agree with your sentiments regarding the flag. Understandably there are legal restrictions as to where that flag can be shown.

 

[Papa Mashy]

I have to agree with your sentiments regarding the flag. Understandably there are legal restrictions as to where that flag can be shown.

It's good that U-Don has provided both options.
I really did wrestle with this decision.
Ultimately I thought that this wasn't promotion of that regime. To censor it and hide it away, seems somewhat wrong also.
It is historical context.

 

[Gandolf50]

It's good that U-Don has provided both options.
I really did wrestle with this decision.
Ultimately I thought that this wasn't promotion of that regime. To censor it and hide it away, seems somewhat wrong also.
It is historical context.

Yep! I have always found that a dilemma for my conscience, but building a Me-109! don't work without one! I think on a historical build most people don't find it offensive, but a reminder!

 

[zathros]

I think the conning tower is black as it reflects light less in the day time and night time, and they may have figured that out the hard way.

 

[zathros]

It's good that U-Don has provided both options.
I really did wrestle with this decision.
Ultimately I thought that this wasn't promotion of that regime. To censor it and hide it away, seems somewhat wrong also.
It is historical context.

I believe it's called, and to forget the past is to repeat it. Likewise, there are still jerks around who embrace that symbol for what it represented, and to them still represents, so in many ways, that war continues.

 

[Gandolf50]

Yep ...Shaving your head and sticking one on your forehead ...Is not Historical, Hysterical yeah maybe!

 

[zathros]

Yep ...Shaving your head and sticking one on your forehead ...Is not Historical, Hysterical yeah maybe!

Makes for a good target though.

 

[Revell-Fan]

Ultimately I thought that this wasn't promotion of that regime. To censor it and hide it away, seems somewhat wrong also.
It is historical context.

I'm German and I fully agree. This model is not meant to worship a fascist regime but to represent a piece of history. In Germany the distribution of Third Reich symbols is strictly forbidden, even in the modeling sector. Either these symbols are simply omitted or exchanged by a black cross or a partial swastika with a detached "arm" that has to be "added" in the right place to complete it. Recently I have learned that even the "Captain America" comics were censored: They simply prolongued the open ends of the symbol and turned it into a window frame. Strangely the "Indiana Jones" and "Avengers" movies were released unchanged...

 

[zathros]

I'm German and I fully agree. This model is not meant to worship a fascist regime but to represent a piece of history. In Germany the distribution of Third Reich symbols is strictly forbidden, even in the modeling sector. Either these symbols are simply omitted or exchanged by a black cross or a partial swastika with a detached "arm" that has to be "added" in the right place to complete it. Recently I have learned that even the "Captain America" comics were censored: They simply prolonged the open ends of the symbol and turned it into a window frame. Strangely the "Indiana Jones" and "Avengers" movies were released unchanged...

Germany has come a long way. They allow more asylum seekers than any other European country, yet maintain the German heritage and the best of the other cultures from the people they allow to emigrate. Berlin will be, if it isn't already, the center of Europe. Germany's military will have to reflect the need to protect itself though, the U.S. cannot be the policeman of the world, nor should it. Our standard (the U.S.A.) is not as good as it could be because other countries pay virtually nothing out of their GDP to keep a reasonable military, so we have to keep a ridiculously large military, and get crap for that.

Worrying about a symbol of the ast, the censoring is something Germans have to figure out. With the skinhead population from former East Germany, it is a problem that still exists, but will not succeed. IMHO.

 

[THE DC]

This is fine craftsmanship!

 

[zathros]

If you made a diorama with the conning tower, and just the top halve inch of the model, decks awash, fake water (many ways to do that) you would have an incredible model already!! That conning tower is awesome!