RGL

Moving along, there is a scuttle of some sort on the plans but not the kit. reproduced with a bit if etch and plastic strip.

Thanks again to all those whom have looked in and "liked' - appreciate you dropping by.
 
Hi Per great to see you drop in; thanks for your very positive comments.  The AOTS has been very helpful with this build.  It's going to be a very hot summer this year; lucky for us a cooler Christmas as we have some major bushfires just down the road from us on the "Great Ocean Road" with some 120 properties/homes lost already; the cooler weather had allowed the firefighters a little respite to try and control it.  Warming up again later this week - we have already had a couple of days in the 4o+ Cel. range - good excuse for a couple of 'frosties' (beers)
 
cheers
 
Pat

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.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Well the 'knitting' is now done with all ratlines finished   That is milestone completed and another started with a good start made on the jib and spritsail yards.
 
   
 
cheers
 
Pat
 
 

I don't mind the 6 month projects at the moment, but I do want to build the Atlantic. It comes down to what catches my fancy and allows my OCD to grab me. I was always going to do an Emden, but when I saw the Varyag I was like "Oh, shiny!", thus my foray into plastic for a while. . 3 masters take a LOT of time.

The next challenge is the 52mm chaser guns. These are to scale so it shows how much the kit ones are out. Not perfect yet but again they are beneath deck. I have not added a pedestal as they will be able to be put into the hull via the openings once most of it is complete and I will build a little interior ledge on the inside. I will put a bit more effort into the 4 that go onto the deck itself. These really are tiny.
 
I used the 47mm resin guns from the Varyag kit, and 1/700 150mm barrels as well as various offcuts from the photo etch spares box to make up the details. The sighting telescope was somewhat challenging.
 
As they will be interior, if one side looks crap I can face it inboard.

I tried to add a bit more detail to the 105mm guns for the remaining 3. There will be below decks to they are acceptable. I just need to paint them up now. I utalised a pedestal from a set of Complect Zip guns which I misordered. When I do the deck guns I will use the kit supplied pedestals which I will bash more than Mike Tyson would.

Second last post, just a scale comparison. 1/60 Vs 1/350.

OK, third last post for this build: I affixed the ships boats, I got to the stage where I had to draw a line, the kit does not include cradles (which it really should) and fabricating them at this scale is quite hard and I think I'd probably just make a mess of it.
I have made a temporary base where I'll park the old girl for a while, I only have to add the rope coils when they arrive.
 
It's a really nice and very different kit, the Artwox resin is nice, but it is missing many deck fittings and I think the creators went of the Kagareo book a little too much for accuracy when the plans are available.  I would like to see some of the resin made available commercially, such as the ships boats and the fairleads. No sea steps, just the original Zvesda bumps on the hull, no mast ladders, no stand for the model at all.
 
The guns have all been replaced, the kit ones are just too inaccurate. The masts are wrong, the instructions are atrocious, some of thr alignments are not explained and you don't find out till way too late, and some oif the details left on teh fret I'm still scratching my head over.
 
Whilst I'm a mutt at the photo etch thing, the frets are too thin. I think it they were as thick as the Eduard ones it would be a step ahead,as the detail is very nice.

The next challenge is the 52mm chaser guns. These are to scale so it shows how much the kit ones are out. Not perfect yet but again they are beneath deck. I have not added a pedestal as they will be able to be put into the hull via the openings once most of it is complete and I will build a little interior ledge on the inside. I will put a bit more effort into the 4 that go onto the deck itself. These really are tiny.
 
I used the 47mm resin guns from the Varyag kit, and 1/700 150mm barrels as well as various offcuts from the photo etch spares box to make up the details. The sighting telescope was somewhat challenging.
 
As they will be interior, if one side looks crap I can face it inboard.

I tried to add a bit more detail to the 105mm guns for the remaining 3. There will be below decks to they are acceptable. I just need to paint them up now. I utalised a pedestal from a set of Complect Zip guns which I misordered. When I do the deck guns I will use the kit supplied pedestals which I will bash more than Mike Tyson would.

I don't mind the 6 month projects at the moment, but I do want to build the Atlantic. It comes down to what catches my fancy and allows my OCD to grab me. I was always going to do an Emden, but when I saw the Varyag I was like "Oh, shiny!", thus my foray into plastic for a while. . 3 masters take a LOT of time.

The next challenge is the 52mm chaser guns. These are to scale so it shows how much the kit ones are out. Not perfect yet but again they are beneath deck. I have not added a pedestal as they will be able to be put into the hull via the openings once most of it is complete and I will build a little interior ledge on the inside. I will put a bit more effort into the 4 that go onto the deck itself. These really are tiny.
 
I used the 47mm resin guns from the Varyag kit, and 1/700 150mm barrels as well as various offcuts from the photo etch spares box to make up the details. The sighting telescope was somewhat challenging.
 
As they will be interior, if one side looks crap I can face it inboard.

I tried to add a bit more detail to the 105mm guns for the remaining 3. There will be below decks to they are acceptable. I just need to paint them up now. I utalised a pedestal from a set of Complect Zip guns which I misordered. When I do the deck guns I will use the kit supplied pedestals which I will bash more than Mike Tyson would.

I don't mind the 6 month projects at the moment, but I do want to build the Atlantic. It comes down to what catches my fancy and allows my OCD to grab me. I was always going to do an Emden, but when I saw the Varyag I was like "Oh, shiny!", thus my foray into plastic for a while. . 3 masters take a LOT of time.

I don't mind the 6 month projects at the moment, but I do want to build the Atlantic. It comes down to what catches my fancy and allows my OCD to grab me. I was always going to do an Emden, but when I saw the Varyag I was like "Oh, shiny!", thus my foray into plastic for a while. . 3 masters take a LOT of time.

The next challenge is the 52mm chaser guns. These are to scale so it shows how much the kit ones are out. Not perfect yet but again they are beneath deck. I have not added a pedestal as they will be able to be put into the hull via the openings once most of it is complete and I will build a little interior ledge on the inside. I will put a bit more effort into the 4 that go onto the deck itself. These really are tiny.
 
I used the 47mm resin guns from the Varyag kit, and 1/700 150mm barrels as well as various offcuts from the photo etch spares box to make up the details. The sighting telescope was somewhat challenging.
 
As they will be interior, if one side looks crap I can face it inboard.

I tried to add a bit more detail to the 105mm guns for the remaining 3. There will be below decks to they are acceptable. I just need to paint them up now. I utalised a pedestal from a set of Complect Zip guns which I misordered. When I do the deck guns I will use the kit supplied pedestals which I will bash more than Mike Tyson would.

I tried to add a bit more detail to the 105mm guns for the remaining 3. There will be below decks to they are acceptable. I just need to paint them up now. I utalised a pedestal from a set of Complect Zip guns which I misordered. When I do the deck guns I will use the kit supplied pedestals which I will bash more than Mike Tyson would.

The next challenge is the 52mm chaser guns. These are to scale so it shows how much the kit ones are out. Not perfect yet but again they are beneath deck. I have not added a pedestal as they will be able to be put into the hull via the openings once most of it is complete and I will build a little interior ledge on the inside. I will put a bit more effort into the 4 that go onto the deck itself. These really are tiny.
 
I used the 47mm resin guns from the Varyag kit, and 1/700 150mm barrels as well as various offcuts from the photo etch spares box to make up the details. The sighting telescope was somewhat challenging.
 
As they will be interior, if one side looks crap I can face it inboard.

The next challenge is the 52mm chaser guns. These are to scale so it shows how much the kit ones are out. Not perfect yet but again they are beneath deck. I have not added a pedestal as they will be able to be put into the hull via the openings once most of it is complete and I will build a little interior ledge on the inside. I will put a bit more effort into the 4 that go onto the deck itself. These really are tiny.
 
I used the 47mm resin guns from the Varyag kit, and 1/700 150mm barrels as well as various offcuts from the photo etch spares box to make up the details. The sighting telescope was somewhat challenging.
 
As they will be interior, if one side looks crap I can face it inboard.

I tried to add a bit more detail to the 105mm guns for the remaining 3. There will be below decks to they are acceptable. I just need to paint them up now. I utalised a pedestal from a set of Complect Zip guns which I misordered. When I do the deck guns I will use the kit supplied pedestals which I will bash more than Mike Tyson would.

Here's a pic of our new little addition making her mark on our cats toys....
 
OC..

That's the thing about plastic, you can't just bin it and start over. After doing a 10 year build on a wooden ship and redoing lots of mistakes, I'm finding the amount of pre fitting is far more time consuming. Good to see another plastic build here! I shall follow with great interest.

Impressive