Revell Germany VIIC/41 "Atlantic Version" 144:1

Osmium Steele · 06-16-11, 07:37 AM

In my youth I was a fairly skilled modeller, intermediate with a few advanced skill thrown in. The only ship model I ever built was the USS Ranger, and it was a poor job, believe me.

Cars, planes, HO scale trains and various military vehicles were my thing. My favorite being a 1/8 scale '32 Ford Coupe, until my 8 yr. old cousin rolled it down the stairs while I was at school.

Sold everything when I joined the Navy. Built an M1 Abrahms about 18 years ago for my father. It turned out very nice. Built nothing but model rockets, a couple of wooden ship models, and a small scale Space Battleship Yamato since that time.

So this model will be a chance to shake the rust off my skills, re-stock the modelling kit, and test out some new skills prior to finding a 1:72 model to build.

Hey, the wife's always saying I need another hobby.

Castout · 06-18-11, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osmium Steele

In my youth I was a fairly skilled modeller, intermediate with a few advanced skill thrown in. The only ship model I ever built was the USS Ranger, and it was a poor job, believe me.

Cars, planes, HO scale trains and various military vehicles were my thing. My favorite being a 1/8 scale '32 Ford Coupe, until my 8 yr. old cousin rolled it down the stairs while I was at school.

Sold everything when I joined the Navy. Built an M1 Abrahms about 18 years ago for my father. It turned out very nice. Built nothing but model rockets, a couple of wooden ship models, and a small scale Space Battleship Yamato since that time.

So this model will be a chance to shake the rust off my skills, re-stock the modelling kit, and test out some new skills prior to finding a 1:72 model to build.

Hey, the wife's always saying I need another hobby.

Oh after this 1/144 done do get a bigger U-boat and protect it. I got a feeling from your story you're not a bad modeler at all.

PS: I just take a look at 1:144 U boat model kit. It's not as small as I thought it would be. Looks quite detailed in fact. Don't forget to post pictures of yours.

Platapus · 06-18-11, 07:08 AM

Revell Germany VIIC/41 "Atlantic Version" 144:1

144:1? That is going to be one big model!

Good luck with it. One of these days I would like to get in to model building. One of these days....

Osmium Steele · 07-12-11, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Platapus

Revell Germany VIIC/41 "Atlantic Version" 144:1

144:1? That is going to be one big model!

Good luck with it. One of these days I would like to get in to model building. One of these days....

9681.12 meters. I suppose they could build a pier out to the shelf for it in Hawaii. The draft is gonna be a bit much, methinks.

Anyway, just started on it last night by opening up the free flood vents with my Dremmel.

I'm leery about opening up the lower MBT vents. It'll make those areas quite thin, and my thick irish fingers will crush it for sure.

I may drill those out if I can find a bit that incredibly small. Hmm.... hot wire perhaps?

Sorry for thinking out loud... Pics tomorrow or Friday.

EDIT: Added a link to my build pics in the first post.

Osmium Steele · 07-13-11, 08:59 AM

This is the kit.

The kit cost $28.00 and change with tax at Rider's Hobby Shop in Grand Rapids. Oh, how I love this place.

Edit: I should say first, that the kit is perfectly buildable right out of the box, and will give the builder a fine, though generic version of the type. It is a high quality kit, surprisingly so. /edit

The hull is surprisingly detailed for the scale, though the kit has the same flaws as the 1/72 scale. Various vents wrong shape/location, anchor well misplaced and too deep, Peri/Uzo bases quite basic, etc.

The rest of the parts are quite clean with almost no flashing except on the railings, which I won't be using anyway. The rails on the 1/72 kit are too thick, you can imagine how bad they are for the 1/144 version. I'll be building jigs to bend and solder wire for a new wintergarden and other rails.

I am having trouble finding photo-etched parts for this model, though I have found some for the standard VIIC, many of which should be appropriate. We'll see how that goes.

I'd be remiss if I didn't stop to thank Siara for his stickied thread on building his 1/72 scale model. It gave me the impetus to get to work on my own. Tips/tricks learned from reading his thread have already stood me in good stead on this project. Thank you, sir.

LINK TO MY BUILD PICS

Osmium Steele · 07-14-11, 08:58 AM

Opening the limber holes and other free flooding areas

Using my ancient Dremel, with a new cable attachment. The old one had rusted and snapped a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what I am going to do with the diesel exhaust port shown in the first photo, between and above the two lines of open holes.

There are, at least, 4 types of exhaust ports used on VIICs, and I am having serious trouble finding any photographs of any VIIC/41s from the batch to which my subject (U-297) belongs, let alone of the boat itself.

Didn't want to use the dremel on the aft holes. I was afraid to thin this area out too much, so chose to drill and file the holes instead. I have no pin vise, so I used a trick learned while reading Siara's build thread. An X-acto knife works very well with a small enough drill bit. 1/32" in this case.

Still have a little cleaning up to do, as the first pic shows. Can't seem to locate my needle files. Probably still packed in a box somewhere. Don't want to just start scraping with the x-acto knife.

I'm not sure what to do with these areas yet. The aft floods are the wrong shape/size/locations. Any grinding there will make it terribly fragile.

The bow floods should be oval shaped, and the saddle tank flood vents need to be opened and grates fashioned from stretched sprue. Each piece as thin as a human hair. That should be ALOT of fun.

The drainage area above the saddle tanks (the dark, horizontal line in the above photo) needs to be opened up and supports glued in place. More on that later.

Enough for now. Today I will order the only photo-etch set I could find for VIIC in 1/144 scale. Hopefully I'll be done with modifications on the hull by the time it arrives.

LINK TO MY BUILD PICS

TLAM Strike · 07-14-11, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osmium Steele

Enough for now. Today I will order the only photo-etch set I could find for VIIC in 1/144 scale. Hopefully I'll be done with modifications on the hull by the time it arrives.

There are a couple but they are quite expensive:
http://www.megahobby.com/1/144scale_1.aspx

...been thinking about building one of these (This is the older version with the 8.8 cm gun) my self to go with my other 1:144 scale subs (Type XXI Wilhelm Bauer, Type XXIII, Type 206A)

06-16-11, 07:37 AM	#1
Osmium Steele Ace of the Deep Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Upper midwest USA Posts: 1,101 Downloads: 22 Uploads: 0	In my youth I was a fairly skilled modeller, intermediate with a few advanced skill thrown in. The only ship model I ever built was the USS Ranger, and it was a poor job, believe me. Cars, planes, HO scale trains and various military vehicles were my thing. My favorite being a 1/8 scale '32 Ford Coupe, until my 8 yr. old cousin rolled it down the stairs while I was at school. Sold everything when I joined the Navy. Built an M1 Abrahms about 18 years ago for my father. It turned out very nice. Built nothing but model rockets, a couple of wooden ship models, and a small scale Space Battleship Yamato since that time. So this model will be a chance to shake the rust off my skills, re-stock the modelling kit, and test out some new skills prior to finding a 1:72 model to build. Hey, the wife's always saying I need another hobby. __________________ In the month of July of the year 1348, between the feasts of St. Benedict and of St. Swithin, a strange thing came upon England... My U297 build thread

06-18-11, 07:08 AM	#3
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 18,985 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	Revell Germany VIIC/41 "Atlantic Version" 144:1 144:1? That is going to be one big model! Good luck with it. One of these days I would like to get in to model building. One of these days.... __________________ abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.

07-13-11, 08:59 AM	#5
Osmium Steele Ace of the Deep Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Upper midwest USA Posts: 1,101 Downloads: 22 Uploads: 0	This is the kit. The kit cost $28.00 and change with tax at Rider's Hobby Shop in Grand Rapids. Oh, how I love this place. Edit: I should say first, that the kit is perfectly buildable right out of the box, and will give the builder a fine, though generic version of the type. It is a high quality kit, surprisingly so. /edit The hull is surprisingly detailed for the scale, though the kit has the same flaws as the 1/72 scale. Various vents wrong shape/location, anchor well misplaced and too deep, Peri/Uzo bases quite basic, etc. The rest of the parts are quite clean with almost no flashing except on the railings, which I won't be using anyway. The rails on the 1/72 kit are too thick, you can imagine how bad they are for the 1/144 version. I'll be building jigs to bend and solder wire for a new wintergarden and other rails. I am having trouble finding photo-etched parts for this model, though I have found some for the standard VIIC, many of which should be appropriate. We'll see how that goes. I'd be remiss if I didn't stop to thank Siara for his stickied thread on building his 1/72 scale model. It gave me the impetus to get to work on my own. Tips/tricks learned from reading his thread have already stood me in good stead on this project. Thank you, sir. LINK TO MY BUILD PICS __________________ In the month of July of the year 1348, between the feasts of St. Benedict and of St. Swithin, a strange thing came upon England... My U297 build thread Last edited by Osmium Steele; 07-14-11 at 11:37 AM.

07-14-11, 08:58 AM	#6
Osmium Steele Ace of the Deep Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Upper midwest USA Posts: 1,101 Downloads: 22 Uploads: 0	Opening the limber holes and other free flooding areas Using my ancient Dremel, with a new cable attachment. The old one had rusted and snapped a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what I am going to do with the diesel exhaust port shown in the first photo, between and above the two lines of open holes. There are, at least, 4 types of exhaust ports used on VIICs, and I am having serious trouble finding any photographs of any VIIC/41s from the batch to which my subject (U-297) belongs, let alone of the boat itself. Didn't want to use the dremel on the aft holes. I was afraid to thin this area out too much, so chose to drill and file the holes instead. I have no pin vise, so I used a trick learned while reading Siara's build thread. An X-acto knife works very well with a small enough drill bit. 1/32" in this case. Still have a little cleaning up to do, as the first pic shows. Can't seem to locate my needle files. Probably still packed in a box somewhere. Don't want to just start scraping with the x-acto knife. I'm not sure what to do with these areas yet. The aft floods are the wrong shape/size/locations. Any grinding there will make it terribly fragile. The bow floods should be oval shaped, and the saddle tank flood vents need to be opened and grates fashioned from stretched sprue. Each piece as thin as a human hair. That should be ALOT of fun. The drainage area above the saddle tanks (the dark, horizontal line in the above photo) needs to be opened up and supports glued in place. More on that later. Enough for now. Today I will order the only photo-etch set I could find for VIIC in 1/144 scale. Hopefully I'll be done with modifications on the hull by the time it arrives. LINK TO MY BUILD PICS __________________ In the month of July of the year 1348, between the feasts of St. Benedict and of St. Swithin, a strange thing came upon England... My U297 build thread