U-47 1936 by rvchima - FINISHED - Amati - 1:72 - PLASTIC - Type VIIB U-Boat

[rvchima]

Amati U-Boat 47 type VIIB

After building the Syren I didn't want any more rigging. After building the Arno XI Ferrari hydroplane I didn't want any more brass nails in the deck. After building the Anteo harbour tug I didn't want another double-planked hull. What to build next??? A submarine!

 

Amati offers an attractive kit of a German U-boat from 1939. You can get it for £225.00 from westbourne-model.co.uk, but I found one on eBay for much less. I've had the kit for 6 months and am finally getting started.

 

What's in the Box

The meter long box has two divided plastic bins on the sides and one large area in the center for flat materials. The bottom contains a cast resin hull of the submarine.

 

The full-sized plans are about 0.7m x 1 m, and are all in Italian. The hull seems to be two hollow pieces glued together, but I can't find obvious seams. Alas, there are no rivets, panel lines, or other details molded in the hull.

 

There is one sheet of laser-cut plywood parts used to build up the superstructure of the deck. There is also a heavy cardboard sheet, apparently used to identify the plywood parts.

 

There is also a large sheet of photo-etched brass parts used to make all the of the detail on the deck. It seems to be beautifully detailed.

 

One parts bin contains a resin cast conning tower, dive planes, and some miscellaneous small parts. The kit does contain two turned brass mounting pedestals but no wood base.

 

The other parts bin has a decal, and a nice cast sailor and anchor. The props and mounting hardware are, disappointingly,  plastic.

 

The instructions are 16 pages long and are written in Italian. But like Lego instructions they are mostly pictures, so I don't think they will be too hard to follow. The English translation is about 1.5 pages long.

 

I'll be starting on this after the holidays. Stay tuned for more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rvchima]

A Little Progress, 7 hours over 7 days

 

I started by making a temporary stand from poplar. The kit came with nice brass pedestals. I found some bolts that fit them, drilled holes in the hull and epoxied nuts in place.

 

The laser-cut parts for the superstructure popped right out of the surrounding wood, but they didn't quite fit in the space atop the resin hull. I had to do some cutting and sanding to make them fit. The resin hull seems solid but it sands like Styrofoam and is very easy to shape.

 

And that is the end of the wood work on this model.

 

The superstructure will be covered with photo-etched parts with lots of holes, so I painted the interior black.

 

[Old Collingwood]

Very interesting looking build, in her scale she should really stand out, i will be watching this if i may.

 

 

Regards

 

OC

[dgbot]

I nave seen finished models of subs many times but rarely how they were built.  I think I will pull up a chair and follow along.  I hope to learn many things.

David B

[rvchima]

Lots of Brass Parts, 20 hours over 11 days

 

I repainted the superstructure gray since the brass deck is full of holes and the gray paint will get inside anyway. Then I glued all the photo-etched brass decking to the wooden superstructure using CA. I soldered the joints between the vertical sides and the horizontal deck.

 

I thought I was pretty good at soldering until I tried to join these edges. No matter how much I cleaned and fluxed the joints the solder just wouldn't go where I wanted it to. I ended up grinding and sanding off lots of surplus. I still have a little work to do with putty. Useful Italian word: "Stucco = putty."

 

Surprisingly, the kit did not include the brass tube for the cleats.

 

The photo-etched parts have beautiful detail.

 

The conning tower is resin with lots of little brass parts. Unfortunately the brass deck did not fit into the tower and the ladder rungs were wider than the holes in the tower, so I had to do a bit shaping and drilling.

[rvchima]

Lots of Brass Parts, 20 hours over 11 days

 

I repainted the superstructure gray since the brass deck is full of holes and the gray paint will get inside anyway. Then I glued all the photo-etched brass decking to the wooden superstructure using CA. I soldered the joints between the vertical sides and the horizontal deck.

 

I thought I was pretty good at soldering until I tried to join these edges. No matter how much I cleaned and fluxed the joints the solder just wouldn't go where I wanted it to. I ended up grinding and sanding off lots of surplus. I still have a little work to do with putty. Useful Italian word: "Stucco = putty."

 

Surprisingly, the kit did not include the brass tube for the cleats.

 

The photo-etched parts have beautiful detail.

 

The conning tower is resin with lots of little brass parts. Unfortunately the brass deck did not fit into the tower and the ladder rungs were wider than the holes in the tower, so I had to do a bit shaping and drilling.

[rvchima]

A Question About Weathering

 

The photo of the completed model on the box shows rust surrounding every joint and opening on the deck. I've been Googling articles on how to paint a weathered finish and have seen two promising techniques.

1. Use artists' pastels ground to a powder and applied with a brush, followed with a matte finish.

2. Use  a dry brushing technique where rust-colored paint is applied sparingly with a nearly-dry brush.

 

Can anyone recommend other techniques or tutorials for making a weathered finish?

Edited January 8, 2016 by rvchima

[yvesvidal]

Lots of Brass Parts, 20 hours over 11 days

The conning tower is resin with lots of little brass parts. Unfortunately the brass deck did not fit into the tower and the ladder rungs were wider than the holes in the tower, so I had to do a bit shaping and drilling.

Probably due to the fact that the resin tower is molded from resin. There is usually a 10% reduction in size taking place with molding techniques. It could explain what you are seeing with the tower and the grab irons.

 

Yves

[rvchima]

Resin Parts

 

Yes, the resin parts may have shrunken. But in my opinion they aren't very well made for a kit as costly as this. I would expect to see parts comparable to a good plastic model.

 

Here's a photo of the plans and resin parts for the aft gun. The resin parts have huge pieces of excess plastic that have to be removed. The scrap is often much larger than the part itself.

 

Conning Tower and Forward Gun - 33 hours over 15 days

 

The conning tower came out nice, and the supplied sailor is a nice touch. Those brass rails were really hard to attach since, again, the holes in the resin didn't quite match the brass parts. The curved rail around the sailor is a single photo-etched part with 13 loose ends that had to be glued in place. I was almost afraid to breathe while I was working with it.

 

The forward gun has an unbelievable number of tiny resin parts that are all butt-joined with CA. It went together OK but it seems terribly delicate.

 

I'll paint the conning tower and guns separately and attach them at the last minute.

[rvchima]

Ready for Paint - 50 hours, 25 days

I have completed construction of U-Boat 47 and am ready to start painting. The sailor, flag, and guns are complete but unattached. The conning tower and periscope are also unattached.

 

I love the sailor in the conning tower with his tiny binoculars. Moments after I took this photo I breathed too hard and the little loop antenna broke off at it's weak resin attachment point. I drilled it out and reattached it with a tiny brass pin.

 

I think that the brass saw teeth on the bow must be for ice cutting, but what do I know about submarines?

 

The props and rudders are made of several different materials. The props are polystyrene and had embedded nuts, probably for some other model because there's nothing here to attach them to. The other green parts are soft resin. The tan parts are also resin but are stronger and much better made. The drive shafts are polystyrene tubes. There is one photo-etched brass brace on the bottom. The only instructions are an exploded view on the large plans, and there are no holes or registration marks for alignment. However, once you locate any one piece, everything else pretty much falls into place.

 

It's about 10 degrees F (-12 C) here. I have to wear a jacket to paint in my unheated basement. I hope the paint doesn't freeze!

 

[justsayrow]

Rod,

Looking really good!

 

The saw teeth are for cutting cables or nets that were deployed to defend against u-boats.

[rvchima]

Model Complete - 80 hours, 35 days

 

The top of the hull was painted with Krylon Fusion light gray spray and the bottom with Rustoleum colonial red. Seam lines were drawn with a 1/2 mm black Faber-Castell artist's pen.

 

The deck is supposed to look like gray, weathered wood so I put a very thin coat of Testors' flat black over the gray. I'm not crazy about it. I used a very thin wash of Testor's "rust" color for, what else, rust. The first try was far too conspicuous so I sanded everything lightly with 3M 220-grit foam sanding pads. I put a couple of coats of Krylon acrylic matte finish over everything. The weathering still feels totally overdone. This was the first time I ever tried to produce a weathered look on a model, and I have a lot to learn.

 

It as fun attaching the antennas over the deck - almost like rigging a sailing ship! And I really like the stand. I made it out of purpleheart wood that looks great with the deep red hull.

 

The only hint of the forward torpedo tubes are some panel lines that I drew. There plans show a large array of holes in the bottom of the hull (not visible here.) I couldn't figure out how to draw a neat array of holes so I just painted the area black.

 

The props, rudders, and aft diving planes are a little more interesting than the rest of the ship.

[rvchima]

Summary

 

Amati's kit of U-Boat 47 is an interesting build. It is a lot more complicated than a plastic model but a lot easier than a wooden model. The photo-etched brass parts are beautifully made, but the resin parts are disappointing. They have almost no detail and they don't quite fit to the brass parts. I really wish that the hull had a little detail molded into it.

 

Like a plastic model, this kit doesn't offer much chance to build anything from scratch. The stand is the only thing I can point to and say "I made that out of a piece of wood." The model is also less visually interesting than any of my other models. There just isn't much to see on the outside of a sub.

 

Finally, it only took 35 days to build this model. Winter isn't half over and I don't have anything to work on!

[shiloh]

You have the model and instruction sheets, use that stuff as a pattern and guide to scratch build that sub. When you get done, you can say I built it all and invested about a year into the build with little expense. Piet could probably provide some guidance if asked.

jud

Edited February 1, 2016 by shiloh

[RGL]

Nice work

[hof00]

Hi Rod,

Just thought I'd have a look at your "Amati" U-Boat build.

An interesting kit but as you pointed out in your log, a little light on detail.

(There don't seem to be many U-Boat builds on the forum....)

 

I'm thinking that I might have a go of the Revell 1/72 Type VII "Wolfpack" that I have in storage, I have the Pontos Detail-Up stuff for this as well.

 

Anyway, that's in the near future.... 🙂

 

Cheers and Regards,

 

Harry.

[Bill Morrison]

There is an important detail missing on this kit that would help differentiate this Type B boat with the Revell Type Cs.  These are rivets.  You could check in model railroad stores for rivet head decals that can put a lot of detail in this deserving boat.  That said . . .

 

There is no such thing as a "conning tower" on submarines.  They are officially known as "Fairwaters" and unofficially as "sails".  Just an interesting factoid . . ..