Finished, this is a 1:72 replica of U-991, a Type VIIc submarine, built to sit proudly on a shelf as a display piece, and by all accounts it reads as a museum-quality replica. For a subject this size in this scale, that is a serious achievement, and the level of care shows everywhere you look.
The maker started from a 1/72 Revell kit and layered on a long list of aftermarket extras: a Nautilus laser cut wooden deck, a Griffon Models gun set, photo-etched flood, drain and vent parts from White Ensign Models, a Caswell's photo-etched flood hole set, an Eduard set for the boat itself, a resin pressure hull top and an Archer decal set. 3D-printed resin pieces add detail to the torpedo tubes, hatches and internal piping. An Epilog Laser Helix cut the wooden supports and deck sections, while a Dremel 8220 rotary tool was used to modify the plastic hull.
The details that stand out to me are the ones earned by hand. The molded flood vents were cut away and swapped for brass photo-etched parts, and the hull was sanded to suggest dented metal plating. Multi-part anti-aircraft guns, railings and deck hardware were soldered together from brass, which is brave work at this scale. Weathering was done with Tamiya paints and Lifecolor sets, plus Dr. Ph. Martin's watercolors to fake rust, salt deposits and water stains. Final assembly brought detailed rigging and custom decals.
One honest note: the maker admits a good chunk of the two years, June 2015 to May 2017, went on procrastinating, and names the soldered railing as the hardest part of the whole project. That pacing clearly did not hurt the result.
Project by Tristan Reidford. Watch it on their YouTube channel: