U-552 by yvesvidal - FINISHED - Trumpeter - 1/48 - PLASTIC - Type VIIC U-boat

[hof00]

Nice!!

Are you going to bother "Linking" the Batteries?

(Sorry, a detail thing.... If it can't be seen, why worry.... just a thought.)

 

Cheers....HOF.

[yvesvidal]

2 hours ago, hof00 said:

Nice!!

Are you going to bother "Linking" the Batteries?

(Sorry, a detail thing.... If it can't be seen, why worry.... just a thought.)

 

Cheers....HOF.

HOF, I thought about it for half a second ... and then decided against it 😉

 

Yves

[mbp521]

19 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

"Once the deck is in place, that vision of a large number of cells all lined up will disappear."

Yves,

 

Your attention to even the tiniest of details is just amazing. Even if the batteries will be mostly hidden, we will still have your build log to go back and reflect on your accomplishments.

 

-Brian

[popeye the sailor]

is that cut away a kit thing,  and something you opened yourself?   I think what you've done is really good  

[yvesvidal]

A few details for tonight. The rear bulkhead is pretty much completed. I still have to paint the outside of the pressure hull: 

The stove to prepare food for 44 people, three times a day ..... 

I decided to close the door to the diesel engines room, to allow a better view of the Galley. The noise was preventing the cook to do his job, anyway...

 

Yves

[Osmosis]

15 minutes ago, yvesvidal said:

The noise was preventing the cook to do his job, anyway...

Not to mention maintaining watertight integrity.

[yvesvidal]

I am doing some woodwork, building partitions, bed bunks and remodeling my kitchen: 

Lots of saw dust around here.....

 

Yves

[mbp521]

Wood and plastic. The best of both worlds. Nice looking bunks. Now it’s nap time. 

 

-Brian

[Kevin]

just a thought, if you wanted to show some of the battery tank detail, could you open up a section of the galley deck, i was unable to see where access was gained to the tank, but doubt it was there due to the anount of water from the ranges

 

[BobCardone]

Yves, superb work and attention to detail! Some may ask "why detail what you won't see when it's done" miss the point. You, the modeler knows it's there and the satisfaction that comes from that is precious. I'll be following this build as a template on how to do plastic at the highest level.

[yvesvidal]

Thank you Bob, your compliments are very well received.

 

Small progress on the living quarters and kitchen. That view will most likely be no longer visible once the front bulkhead is in place. So enjoy that nice genuine poster, sitting on top of the auxiliary fridge: 

Some of these parts are not provided in the kit, but taken from the extra set of parts I have. 

The kitchen sink (below). The sink was equipped with a small basin and four taps: two for cold-warm/fresh water for cooking or drinking and two for cold-warm/salt water for washing the dishes. When not in use, the sink was covered with a large wooden board (depicted here), used as the only plane of work for cooking. The size of that board was 83 cm x 45 cm. It is no wonder the cook was revered more than the officers, in most cases. On the left wall, a cold storage was used as a fridge, and below another storage area was available as well. Trumpeter did not represent the faucets in detail as well as the large cock located above the sink because it is not visible once the module is assembled. Right above the kitchen is also a hatch (Kitchen hatch or cook hatch) that we will see when we put together the roof/pressure-hull element. That hatch was used to pass small food supplies.

Yves

 

Edited March 22, 2020 by yvesvidal

[Osmosis]

Yves,

 

All of the hidden gems are great. Just knowing they are there even if no one can see them adds something to the build, don't you think? Kind of like when we were kids and had a secret and would say "I know something you don't know"!

 

The real question is where on earth did you find so many "Nude Nazis"?

 

Regards

 

[yvesvidal]

Just finished building the six mattresses. These are made with the original Trumpeter part, a layer of thin foam and a piece to wrap the whole thing:

One bed completed.... five more to go: 

Et voila. Pillows are made with white putty. These will be formed more precisely and then lightly stained for more realism, once dry.

 Yves

 

[yvesvidal]

Installation of four white LEDs on the ceiling/pressure hull: 

The "Cook Hatch" has been improved with a large wheel (not in the kit).

Wiring of the LEDs in series (4 x 3 volts = 12 Volts).

Some putty blobs to prevent light leaks. Once painted, they should prevent any unpleasant light leaking outside of the pressure hull. All this will not be visible once the hull is closed.

 

Also working on the bulkhead of the control room. Openings have to match: 

All this is to help represent the large rear fuel tank, located around the rear officer compartment and under the control room.

 

Back to the sub-officer and kitchen compartment, Trumpeter screwed up royally by mixing up the toilet room and the pantry. Instead of the necessary appliances, Trumpeter is giving us a wooden box..... Very useful to dump a c...!!! I have built a small platform to install the second set of toilet bowl and sink (which is of course not provided in the original kit). They could have offered a second set to populate that very visible room..... But no!

Let's not forget the toilet paper....apparently a very valuable (and rare) item, nowadays.

 

View on the ducting bringing fresh air: 

Very soon, we will be closing the lid on the batteries room: 

Hope you enjoy.

Yves

Edited March 23, 2020 by yvesvidal

[BobCardone]

Awesome.

You're blending together a whole spectrum of techniques here with great continuity. I bet if you had the resources, you could probably build a real one when you're done with this.

[mtaylor]

 Very well done, Yves.   Check all the LED's hooked up and power applied.   From my electronics work way back decades ago, you may find some bulbs not as bright as others.  If that happens, you'll need to change the wiring to parallel.  Like I said, it's been more decades than I care to think about and I might be wrong.

[G.L.]

Fantastic work, Yves!

[Katuna]

I don't mean to keep beating a dead horse but, after including the forward Port head (which you can hardly see) they didn't include the aft officers head. Mind boggling sometimes. 

 

Are you going to load it up with perishables for the galley?

[yvesvidal]

1 hour ago, Katuna said:

I don't mean to keep beating a dead horse but, after including the forward Port head (which you can hardly see) they didn't include the aft officers head. Mind boggling sometimes. 

That is Trumpeter choice and reasoning. As someone mentioned it before, I suspect that these independent modules were designed by different groups and ended up with a different level of quality and details.

1 hour ago, Katuna said:

Are you going to load it up with perishables for the galley?

I thought about it. The hard part is to find the perishables..... actually, I have a lot in my fridge right now 🙂 Honestly, I have a trail and need to order a couple of things.

 

Yves

Edited March 24, 2020 by yvesvidal

[Fright]

Wow!!! I just stumbled onto your build. You are doing some outstanding work with this sub. Really spectacular!!!

[Old Collingwood]

Great work Yves.

 

OC.

[yvesvidal]

Module is almost completed. A few more details, the ceiling/pressure hull and it will be over. In the meantime, enjoy some shots: 

The fuel tank (below) surrounding the batteries room: 

The sleeping quarter, also used for eating and relaxing (as far as you can relax inside a submarine): 

Galley, pantry and toilet room: 

Lots of magazines (propaganda) and Nazis ideology posters on the walls:

Magazines are made of a cover printed at scale and glued on a thin cardboard sheet. All covers are authentic Kriegsmarine and Adler publications from the early 40's.

Girls are the Olympic champions of 1936, held in Berlin.

Aerial view of the galley:

I still have to solder some electrical wires, glue the ceiling and fill up the tank. Some painting on the outside and the main air hose to be added on top of the pressure hull, and the module will be ready to rest in the hull.

 

Yves

 

Edited March 25, 2020 by yvesvidal

[CDW]

Very realistic. An awesome job on the details Yves. Along with everything else, the magazines and pictures on the walls add so much realism to the room.

[lmagna]

Is the empty room next to the head some kind of storage room, or something else? Fantastic build, I am loving every installment.

[amateur]

Given the level of detail you are adding, including the actual food is almost a must.....

 

Jan

[G.L.]

Impressive!! I can't wait to see the sequel.

[Osmosis]

This just keeps getting better and better I don't know how you can keep topping yourself. But I am sure you will find a way. Keep up the great work.

[Katuna]

It takes some searching but you can find 1/48 food. There are a few tin cans and a precious few bags and baskets of fruits and veggies. You could always whip something up with some epoxy putty too.

 

Of course you could always say you are near the end of your patrol 😁. It cost a lot of money to feed a U-Boat crew. Even little plastic ones $$$!

[yvesvidal]

I have been doing some experiments with some acrylic resin. I am mildly happy with the results. As some of you who are following closely the development of that insanity know,  I am trying to replicate the fuel tanks located on each side and under the control room and spanning into the living quarters modules, around the batteries compartments. Because we are using that resin on a delicate plastic model, the Polyester resin with its fast polymerization cannot be used: the heat generated during the hardening reaction is simply too much for the plastic parts surrounding the resin.

 

Therefore, I decided to go with Acrylic resin which presents a certain number of good points when compared to the polyester resin: 

- Less toxic

- Less stinky

- Almost no heat during the reaction

- More affordable

- Crystal clear

- Compatible with Acrylic paints

- Long working time (40 minutes)

- Easier to clean (alcohol or soap)

- Very small shrinking once hardened.

 

The only drawbacks I noticed are the following: 

- Extremely temperature sensitive

- Need to mix perfect 1:1 ratio

- Mixing time of at least 3-4 minutes (no less)

- Very long to harden (24 hours to 48 hours at high temperature).

 

What I am using is this product: 

My first attempt was not perfect but gave a very realistic results (even more realistic than when perfect): 

 

The top surface has a lot of small bubbles mimicking the motion of the fuel into the tank, while the submarine is under way. When I did the first attempt, the temperature during the mixing of the resin was a little bit too low (they recommend 72-78). Mixing the resin during 4 minutes created some tiny air bubbles that had a hard time getting to the surface and disappearing. As you can see, the mold is nothing more than two pieces of scotch tape to prevent the resin from running away. Once the resin is cured, the tape is removed and we have a perfect wall of fuel in the tank.

 

Yves

Edited March 29, 2020 by yvesvidal

[yvesvidal]

The next compartment is the Control room. All these compartments are linked to each other by the fuel tanks located underneath. It is therefore essential to build them almost at the same time for a perfect continuity. Thus, I started the Control room which is probably the most ambitious project as you will see.

 

The lower level of the Control Room is composed of: Front Fuel tank....Main Ballast....Rear Fuel tank. Of course, Trumpeter did not see the need to represent any of these three sections and instead gave us a "semi" container for the periscope mechanism and well, and a few bulkheads. The result is a pale approximation of what this compartment is about.

 

So, let's look at how we can improve on the kit: 

I decided to build a pressure hull and to install in it, the three tanks referenced earlier. I am using a lid from a NEST packaging (cut in half, to represent the convex bulkheads facing the fuel tanks. Tat lid is exactly of the right diameter and fits perfectly against the Trumpeter bulkheads. It does take a lot of fine tuning and adjustments to make it work, but I think I managed to create something that looks realistic. The pressure hull is made with a sheet of 0.5 mm thick, 16 cm long and about 11.5 cm wide.

Above, you can see the front section of the rear fuel tank (extension of what is around the rear batteries compartment). From the other side, this is what we have: 

With both convex bulkheads installed and the resin poured in the rear fuel tank:  

Of course, the level of fuel matches the level we saw in the previous compartment: 

The main ballast structure requires a lot of work, cutting and sanding to bring it to something slightly more prototypical: 

Everything is glued under the control room floor. A tube (left on the picture) is added to represent the well of the attack periscope. That detail is missing from the Trumpeter kit (anybody surprised ?)

 

The main ballast is painted with anti-fouling color: 

And the pressure hull is slightly opened to show the intricacies of the main ballast structure: 

Next step: glue the control room floor and start populating the rear bulkhead with all its details, before installing the front bulkhead and pouring resin in the front fuel tank. 

 

The main ballast will also have some water "poured" into it, for extra realism.

 

Yves