Hey 1/72 U-Boat Fans...

If you have some extra bucks to shell out, gidda loada THIS:

formatting link

Reply to
Rufus
Loading thread data ...

Has anyone dealt with this company before? Any experiences with them pro or con?

Mark Lev>

formatting link

Reply to
Mark Levine

Personally, I'd think you could scratch build that dry dock from scored Evergreen sheet stock and foam board for a LOT less than the asking price for the kit...

That's sort of what I'm planning to do for mine, except I was only going to build the floor of the dry dock - the supporting timbers and such.

Reply to
Rufus

Rufus a formulé ce lundi :

Hi Rufus,

Do you know after-markets kits for the great Revell U-Boat please ?

Thanks

Reply to
Flying Frog

One of the best items I have gotten hold of so far is the turned aluminum periscope and gun barrel set from Houshinya. Cost me $25 US, but some very nice peices. The set includes both periscopes (one may not actually be a periscope, not sure - still researching) and barrels for both the 88 and 20mm guns. The profile of the barrel at the muzzle end of the 88mm gun is different from the kit part - not sure which is actually "correct", but the Houshinya part does look good. Hard to find this one right now in the states - I know a buyer for our local Naval museum that only knows of one source in Georia to get them from, and he got them for me...I "need" two more sets now. (They also make a set of

20mm barrels for the Schnellboot - don't make the mistake of purchasing both sets if all you need are the U-boat items...the U-boat set is complete.)

There are also some very nice metal crew figures out from Hecker and Goros, connning tower and gun crew sets. CMK also has a set which includes three resin crew figures "at rest". Some surfing around gives the impression that at least two more sets are planned to be released - more suitable for dockside dioramas. There is a note on the White Ensign site that says CMK originally announced the release of a set of ten figures - so they may have broken that original set down into a series of smaller releases.

The ULAD decal sets are also very nice - some very interesting schemes included, as well a nice write-ups on the combat/service careers of each boat. I have sets 1 and 2, and so far I have at least three boats in mind that I'll "have" to build...I already have two more kits waiting "in reserve".

I've also heard tell that at least two individuals/companies are working on sets of etched decking for the 1/72 Revell U-boat. I wasn't too interested in this at first, but now that I've decided to open up all of the spill holes on mine and scratch build some of the features between the deck and the pressure hull I think I'm going to get keen on grabbing one of these sets if they do come to market. I'll be keeping watch.

BTW - as to opening the spill holes; it seems to me that the easier way to open them up would be to sand the back side of the plastic thin with a Dremel drum sander until the holes open rather than try to carve/drill them open; as some people have done. I plan to try this method where I think it will work, and after looking at the deck parts again I may also try this with the plastic parts for the deck plates to open them up. I'm also thinking of replacing all of the plastic railings with scratch built ones made from soldered brass wire.

Reply to
Rufus

no roof with the tiny dent the grandslam made?

Reply to
e

damn, we are impressed. you have a real nose for finding stuff, rufus. hey, i may be able to ride next week. need a trip to v-ville?

Reply to
e

I'll be layed up for servicing next weekend...rode my remaining miles off between here and Bishop on Saturday. Have been planing a trip that way, though. Might be able to make it on Sunday if I have any energy left.

Reply to
Rufus

One of the boats I may "have" to build is U-96 from "Das Boot" - it's included on the Part 1 sheet from ULAD. I could find myself doing a more elaborate dio for that one seeing as I have a copy of the movie for reference.

Reply to
Rufus

can't wait to see it.

Reply to
e

i'll know by friday. i'll finally show you the pretty sr.

Reply to
e

FWIW You can buy all the aftermarket in the world for this kit but the thing that will make or break it will be the paint job. Rust and streaks in the paint and worse if it's depicted as winter time and she has been plowing through the ice in the North Sea and ... You get the idea!

Bill Shuey

Reply to
William H. Shuey

I was looking at the part 2 decal sheet. It includes a later boat with the enlarged "Wintergarden" with a 20 mm."Flakvierling", that quad 20 mm installation. I wonder where to get a 1/72 version of that gun? I could build the enlarged wintergarden with sheet styrene, but that 20 mm quad? And that was one impressive gun!

Bill Shuey

Reply to
William H. Shuey

One of the reasons I'm interested in building so many of them...

As an aside, I haven't really done a lot of looking at pictures yet, but I'm guessing that from what I've read of the service histories of some of these boats that one could easily over-do the weathering on them. Most of them didn't live that long before being sunk, and I'm beginning to wonder just how much rust and staining would actually be evident on one. Most of the pictures I've seen so far don't seem to show all of the rust staining that people are including on the spill holes on their models, for example. Maybe I've been looking at pre-patrol pictures, perhaps?...

Yet another reason for doing more than one - young ones, old ones, different configurations. But mostly different paint. And some fun scratch building. I was skeptical about opening up the spill holes until I saw it done...now I'm thinking about the deck plating too.

Reply to
Rufus

are there any sites of one done by a weather master yet, bill?

Reply to
e

William H. Shuey a exprimé avec précision :

Yes Bill, you're right, but I have a problem but the paint job : I can't find good walkarounds of U-Boot, to make a very accurate job...

Reply to
Flying Frog

Sure you're not talking about the Part 3 set (which I don't have yet)? My Part 2 shows all single 20's and the small Wintergarten...U-255 in particular has my attention.

Do you mean this conversion?:

formatting link
One I wouldn't mind trying myself...and the pictures that made me a beliver about the photo-etched deck plating.

Reply to
Rufus

There's a book from the Naval Institute Press, in their "Anatomy of the Ship" series; on the Type VII U-boat. I plan to use it as my main building guide once I get hold of a copy.

That, and to look at as many pictures as I can find...as I've mentioned elswhere, I'm not convinced that U-boats actually lived long enough to get "heavily" stained/weathered/rusted.

Also - check:

formatting link
for references, if you haven't already.

Reply to
Rufus

LOL! I see I'm not the only one playing that game. I'm coming up on my next service stop and staying on a short leash in the meantime. A really tough thing to do this time of year.

WmB

To reply, get the HECK out of there snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net

Reply to
WmB

At least I have a second one...but I'll be against it there too, soon...'tis the season!

Reply to
Rufus

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.