yvesvidal

So impressive. It is gorgeous. Yves

Some updates, on the Diesel engine compartment: Basically, to give the roof and wall a more interesting appearance, I am doubling the molded wires with real conduits: twisted pairs from CAT5E cables. The fasteners are made of a small piece of tape sliced, to create the illusion of some metallic holders. Also, notice that I made a second hole for the exhaust of the starboard engine (missing in the kit, of course). Once painted, the result is not too bad. All the conduits blend nicely.... Highlight of some details and a touch of wash on the conduits. Still very clean overall, no grease and oil being spilled. Painting the chassis took forever, even with an airbrush: there are so many surfaces.... I cannot even imagine what it would be to paint this with a brush: Et voila, for the moment. Yves

Very true. Nice catch Keith. Yves

Great work Jack. You are very patient..... Yves

Before we dive into the model, let's present the Diesel Engines compartment. First, from the official blueprints: The U-Boot Manual offers a technical Comparison between the two types of engines used on the Type VIIc: the M.A.N. and the G.W. The main difference is in the forced induction: On the MAN, the induction is done through a turbine driven by the exhaust (Turbo-charger), whereas on the Krupp engine, the compressor is driven by a belt. The G.W. engines were much better and more reliable and MAN engines were retrofitted little by little, before the submarines were sunk...... M.A.N. Krupp (G.W.) Number of cylinders 6 6 Piston displacement 57.8. liters 57.8 liters Piston speed 7.2 meters/second 7.2 meters/second Efficiency 82.5 81.0 Speed 470 RPM 470 RPM Supercharger speed 10,900 RPM 10,900 RPM Performance 1400 SHP 1400 SHP Stroke 460 mm 460 mm Cylinder diameter 400 mm 400 mm Length (whole engine) 5630 mm 5600 mm Width (whole engine) 1400 mm 1400 mm Height 2810 mm 2895 mm Engine weight 38.476 tons 43.440 tons Weight to power ratio 13.75 kg/SHP 15.5 kg/SHP Fuel oil consumption (+) 0.165 kg/SHP 0.182 kg/SHP Supercharger Buchi Exhaust gas turbine B.B.C. Roots type charger G.W. Fuel oil regulation Over flow adjustment Chamber volume by means of beveled edge adjustment From a size and shape perspectives, both engines are very similar: The fantastic characteristic of these Diesel engines is that they could run in both directions (reversible) thanks to a very ingenious mechanism to change the distribution. You only had to stop the engine, swing a lever to change the distribution at both end of the engine, and restart it. It would then run in the reverse direction. The operation did not take very long (less than a minute) and could be performed with one or two mechanics. One of the most incredible task during the construction, was the insertion of the massive Diesel engines into the Pressure Hull. This was done through a large opening on top of the pressure hull, which was then welded once the electric motors and diesel engines had been inserted: A smaller and similar opening was also made in the pressure hull, for the insertion of the front electrical batteries. Once installed, the Diesel engine compartment was very full and always maintained in a very nice condition (which is not the case with the Swedish crew, as you can see on the picture): The picture above shows the Swedish crew that took possession of the U-995 at the end of the War. That boat is the only Type VIIc in existence and on display, in Europe. The air intake was provided by the two openings at the top of the sail. These two intakes were funneled through a large duct, running above the Control Room, the rear compartment, the kitchen and entering on the roof of the Diesel room. Thus, fresh air was injected in the Diesel room for the engines (and the crew....) to breathe. I have included the schematic below, for those who wish to understand some of the intricacies of the propulsion system: I will be adding more technical data as we move along with the construction. The above should whet your appetite.... Yves

Dave, I am with you and have a profound hatred for wars and conflicts in general. They only profit the ones that are behind the scene: the canon makers and international bankers and an elite who only wishes to control and enslave human kind. Now, that being said, like many modelers I have a passion for certain instruments used to fight wars, not so much for their ultimate purposes, but for the engineering that went into them. I abhor all armored vehicles and deplore that current trend in plastic modeling at replicating all these weapons of civilians destruction, in the scale of 1/35th. On the other hand, I enjoy all the sea vessels going on the surface of the water or under it. It is one of these polarities that makes us humans and that we have to reconcile and forgive. Yes, I am compassionate of your father and the sheer terror he may have felt during his Atlantic crossing. The terror was shared on both sides, as more than 75% of the German sailors did not come back. The movie Das Boot, clearly depicts the unbearable life of a German submariner, during WWII. Once Man refuses to fight unjustified wars, then all this nonsense will stop. Women should refuse their bed to all men who are partaking in wars. That would put an end to it, immediately. Yves

I am waiting for new blocks to realize the rigging of the sail. I ordered some blocks from Syren, but really went way too big with the size ordered (1/4 inch). I was fooled by the size and thought like an imbecile that it was the scale (1/48th). I am trying to depict insulators and not blocks and got carried away with the size. This time I will get the 3 mm ones that should come closer to the 1/48th scale ceramic insulators. So, to spend the time on these rainy and windy weekends of November, it is time to start a new module: the Diesel engine room !!! It is a very complex module and it will take a certain (read loooonnnnggg) time to complete it. I also wish to replicate both sides of the compartment, having the incredible opportunity (sheer luck, really) to have most parts in duplicate. Here again, the "Trumpeter" has taken some regrettable short corners and we will get in more details as we build it. The first task is to build the frame that will support the diesel engines! Yes plural for engines as I have two of them! This is exciting! First, this is how the "Trumpeter" envision the assembly of the frame. Basically, for the observer, you only see a flat piece of framing (T1 on the assembly manual). All the nice ribs are hidden and on the non-visible side. They are used to support the diesel engine. Once again, the "Trumpet Player" could have duplicated the ribs and offered the observers (and enthusiasts) a better rendering of this extremely interesting part of the Type VIIc vessel: Thus, thanks to the incredible generosity of The Nautilus Drydock (Thank you Bob !), I am able to build a full chassis with symmetrical framing: You will recognize that it has more punch than the original design. The two bulkheads are also slightly modified, to accommodate the new starboard framing: Once we insert the frame in the hull, it offers a beautiful depiction of that extremely sturdy section of the Type VIIc: For modelers who do not have the luxury to use a second set of parts, it is worthwhile to replicate the parts with plastic sheets, but it is a lot of work. Of course, some adjustments will be required as the original Trumpeter kit is not exactly symmetrical (the starboard - transparent - side being thicker) and I will have to do some sanding of the hull, internally. Overall, it fits almost perfectly, a little bit tight on the stern side. Yves

I agree with you that they are not made of wood. However, wood blocks can be made to look like these insulators, better than a flat PE part. We'll see how that goes. Yves

Just a couple of pictures showing the sail in color, and matte clear coated: There is still plenty to do but the lights have been wired and most details installed. I still need to create the lenses (out of clear sprues) for the navigation lights and perhaps do a very subtle weathering. I am representing the vessel in the early days of teh U-552, and as you can see from this famous picture, the sail was very clean: I have ordered some blocks from Syren and will try putting together some of the rigging. That should be interesting. Note that Trumpeter have nothing planned or described about the wires and antennae and I did not purchase the Photo-Etched set from RC Subz for the rigging. As you can see from the picture, the blocks are round and not flat as would be photo-etched parts folded on each other. We'll see how this goes. Another first for me.... Yves

Impressive of realism. Fantastic work. Yves

Beautiful boat and excellent choice. Yves

Coming to a closure on the conning tower. First the attack periscope and its strong platform with a compass: Details of the compass. I need to find some print of the compass, scale it down and glue it in place, once everything is painted. Below is the front of the platform: Observation periscope shaft, the UZO holder (used to hold all kinds of pointing devices and binoculars), the round Direction Finding antennae (DF) for taking bearings on beacons and for receiving Very Low Frequency messages from the U-Boot Commander In Chief (BdU). Front Compass: Attack periscope in place: I still need to finish the wiring of the navigation lights, paint the whole tower, decals and final matte clear coating. Yves

Beautiful, beautiful. This is going to be a hell of a model! Yves

Well, I thought a "Quack" was perfect for a Trumpeter.... 🙂 Yves

7Youngs, Yes I have seen this video and the beautiful realization of this talented Chinese modeler. Yes, he did cut out an opening on the opaque side of the sail and swapped the internal pressure hull sections. It is easy to do although unrealistic as you have to assume that both side were symmetrical of each other, which was not the case. The sail is so small, that I decided to skip this operation and kept it "solid". I admire the beautiful casing he did for his model but do not like the blueish color of the LEDs that he used. I wish my model could be as nice as Jacky's beautiful submarine. Yves

I am working on the periscopes and other details of the conning tower. So, the progress are slow and small. I wanted to share with you some interesting facts about the Trumpeter kit and the real need to invest into a Photo-Etched kit from Eduard or RCSubz. Below is the assembly of the Trumpeter kit for the attack periscope and stand for the UZO (surface attack Optics) and binnacle. As you can see, details have been simply omitted: In contrast, the RCSubz photo-etched set offers many more details with a challenging assembly: I have not looked at the Eduard set, but I suspect they do improve significantly over the Trumpeter kit. So, this is where I stand as this moment: Still adding some small parts to the Conning Tower: Yves

Are you going to depict carbon fiber sails or the more traditional white ones? Yves

Welcome back! Yves

Some progress on the conning tower. There is still plenty to do with the periscope masts and their bases. As you can see, RCSubz offers a lot of small parts to improve the Trumpeter model: After a coat of automotive primer: At the top of the sail, I added some railings for the crew. This part is missing from both Trumpeter and RCSubz, but is clearly visible on some of the pictures: I feel better about the hatches. It is not as perfect as the prototype but a lot better with the primer. Hopefully, the final paint coat will hide them even more. The compass casing and the front of the sail will need some putty. That's all for today, folks. Yves

Very true. I was doing a quick calculation recently and I came close to the same amount.... Yves

Very impressive Jack. Yves

Gorgeous deck. Very well done. Yves

Very interesting model and very well done. Yves

What a beautiful model. So well presented. Yves

So, I went back to some of the hatches, removed them and sanded some more. I think the result looks better. One side of the sail is finished and has been primed with automotive primer. The rungs and handrails were a nightmare to put together, due to the size of these tiny parts. The deck is now glued to the finished side. I will work on the other side and will install the navigation lights with micro LEDs. A test fit on the main deck reveals a perfect alignment and position of the sail, on the wart. I still have to add a lot of details on that deck and conning tower. Yves