Don_

Hello Yves, I believe the Trumpeter U-552 kit has all the other U-Boat compartments... Have you completed the entire U-552 kit? Regards, Don_ PS - attached is a photo pf U-552, 2nd image (right) the wind deflector was added...

Hello Yves, The engine room crew makes a great final touch to your U-552 display! To give a real life prospective of the huge size of the piston liners and the pistons... I have attached a photo of a piston from U-505 (probably an onboard spare) - U-505 is located at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Regards, Don_

Hello Yves, Both the exhaust blower (Port) and the supply blower (Starboard) were sealed around the blower motor. Not open around the blowed as indicated in the model. Regards, Don_

Hello Yves, I'm no expert; just an old retired dude interested in U-Boats! At one time when I was a bit younger and had more patients, I had some model building skills. However, not to your level of detail and patients (keep up the excellent work)! In my personal opinion, Mr. Tore Berg-Nielsen is the sole remaining expert on the Type VII U-Boat. Previously, Maciek Florek (snake doc was his internet handle) from Warsaw Poland was a U-Boat expert and translated many German U-Boat documents including my U-Boat Type VII C training manual for Jerry Mason's website uboatarchive.net. Sadly, my very dear friend Maciek Florek passed away on 2 August 2017. In "Skizzenbuch" on page IV, I dedicate the book to the memory of Maciek Florek... Regards, Don_ FYI - The Ball Point Pen was invented in the USA in 1888, see the following website: http://www.historyofpencils.com/writing-instruments-history/history-of-ballpoint-pens/ Sold on Ebay - WWII WW2 German Wehrmacht Officer Soldier Black Bakelite Ballpoint Pen

Heilo Yves, The print is interesting, but it is for the Type X B U-Boat (mine layer)... Regards, Don_ Photo Title (corrected) - US Navy inspects the German U-Boat Type IX D2/U-873 (Left), and Type X B Mine Layer/U-234 (Right), interned after Germany's surrender at the US Naval Base in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Hello Yves, The exhaust exited through the upper section of the pressure hull through the internal grinding valve as shown in Simons drawing... Regards, Don_

I believe the GW 6 cylinder diesel engine firing order was 1, 5, 3, 6, 2, 4.... The 6 cylinder diesel engine was a joining of 2 - 3 cylinder blocks, and the 9 cylinder diesel engine was a joining of 3 - 3 cylinder blocks. On the Type VII U-Boat, the cylinder blocks were turned around to set the exhaust valves facing the interior of the Diesel room and the control links modified to facilitate this arrangement. That way they didn't need to create a mirrored image of the GW Diesel engine and this also created the counter-rotating engines and props. It was all about minimizing the spare parts situation and scarce resources. Regards, Don_

Hello Yves, You may consider adding the Lubricating box (12 Lines) pump drive arm that is attached to the cylinder valve rocker arm via a drive rod... Regards, Don_

Hello Yves, These are autographed photos from Erich Topp who was the famous commander of U-552; I painted the matte background and had them framed... Regards, Don_

Hello Katuna, Those Donald Duck cookie jars were a gift to my Mom from my Dad about 6 month before I was born. That would make the gift to her around December 1940; I was born in June 1941. They survived me and my two younger brothers and she gave them to me about 50 years ago. I was named Donald, so go figure... They are 79 years old! Regards, Don_

Hello Yves, In my humble opinion the only person to deserve the title as "Mr." is "Mr. Tore Berg-Nielsen"... I am simply Don_ and I have been his student for well over 5 years. Regards, Don_

Hello Yves, Your model building skills are exceptional to say the least... The kit looks to be a daunting task and you have stood up to the challenge; I admire your veracity... Back in 2003 I joined "TheSubcommittee.com" and starting building the OTW 1/32nd scale model Type VII C U-Boat (About 78 inches long); the hull was fiberglass and the deck, tower, and all the accessories were plate brass. When building the tower I had to learn to use a miniature blow torch to build the brass tower which consisted of two (2) flat sides and all other components had to be scratch built form brass sheets or rods. It took me about three (3) years to complete the project as a display model. I never got to installing the Water Tight Chamber (WTC) with the motors and all the control circuits. A completed model would be a static diver which is radio controlled. I noticed you posted some drawings that looked very familiar... Possibly, they came from the AMP Website that contains "Tore's Mailbox"; it is our intent to share our discussions about the design and functionality of the Type VII C U-Boat with everyone. Mr. Tore Berg-Nielsen served in the Royal Norwegian Navy in the early 1950's on U995, and U926 as an Engineering Officer (EO) and I believe he is one of the very few living experts on the Type VII C U-Boat and he is in his early 90's. Over the past 5 years, I have documented our discussions and created "Skizzenbuch: U-Boat Type VII C Project" in a PDF format. At one time I had a publishing contract, but the book format 11 x 17 inch sheet size, 516 pages with over 700 photos and drawings became too expensive to print the book. My original intent was not to profit from Skizzenbuch in the first place, so I made the PDF file available on the internet to be downloaded free of charge. You may find Skizzenbuch helpful in understanding how everything worked in the actual Type VII C U-Boat and what your model represents. Skizzenbuch may be downloaded at www.subcommittee.com and go to "Forums" then "The U-boat Pen" and Skizzenbuch is the second pinned entry from the top where you can download the PDF. Regards, Don_ PS - attached is my OTW version of U-96 (Das Boot)'''