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

[mbp521]

Yves,  

 

I agree with everyone on this. Truly an amazing piece of artwork, craftsmanship, and model building. You are a treasure to the hobby and an inspiration to us all. 

 

-Brian

[popeye the sailor]

the lighting is awesome!   really highlights the detail you've added.   are you gonna replace the sonar light?   she's a sweet look'in model!   

[yvesvidal]

2 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

the lighting is awesome!   really highlights the detail you've added.   are you gonna replace the sonar light?   she's a sweet look'in model!   

I wish I could. It is not possible....this stuff is buried in the Radio/Sonar module and totally unreachable. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things....

 

Yves

[thibaultron]

That's all well and good, until that 1/48th British destroyer shows up! Then they'll be cursing you for slacking on the sonar bulb! 🙂

[popeye the sailor]

too bad..........still doesn't take away from the outstanding job you've done so far  

[Kitzilla]

Wow! An amazing build so far.

 

I just received this kit myself, and am eagerly awaiting to dive into it myself. It may take some waiting though, as I want to get the RCSubs PE detail sets as well, but they've temporarily moved their business operations into creating PPE during this Covid pandemic. Cheers to them for helping out the medical community, jeers to me for being impatient. I've also bought the light and sound kit from Magic Scale Modeling, as I don't know anything about electrical, and their kit is largely plug and play.

 

I'm definitely going to take some cues from your build, Yves. You've really elevated this kit into a real museum piece. Can't wait to see the finished model!

[yvesvidal]

A quick update on the conning tower. I just finished cutting and filing three pieces of clear cylinders, from the transparent sprue. They are then painted clear green, clear red and clear yellow, using Tamiya paints. Let's verify that it works electrically: 

Intensity of the lights will be adjusted when the conning tower is glued to the hull.

 

Yves

 

[Rob S]

Yves - Truly a museum piece if there ever was one; very well done and in such a relatively short time!  The detail is amazing!  Where will you display her?

[ErnieL]

On 3/7/2019 at 2:07 PM, Jim Rogers said:

“The Trumpeter kit is an enlargement of the Revell kit and all mistakes of the original Revell kit have been carried over to the Trumpeter model. “

 

sounds pirated and then enlarged...Just sayin’

Standard Trumpeter practices. The plastic model bunch don’t seem to put as big a deal on it because the Chinese stuff is usually a different scale, etc. 

But they recreate every problem of the copied kit, warts and all. 
Add to that reboxings, mold sharing, etc, and it’s tough to tell what’s real and what’s pirated. 
 

But Trumpeter’s two best 1/32 aircraft models, the Douglas SBD and the Grumman TBM are both blatant pantograph enlargements of 1/48 scale Accurate Miniatures kits. 
 

Nevertheless, this build is truly mind blowing. 

Edited May 9, 2020 by ErnieL

[Kitzilla]

5 hours ago, ErnieL said:

But Trumpeter’s two best 1/32 aircraft models, the Douglas SBD and the Grumman TBM are both blatant pantograph enlargements of 1/48 scale Accurate Miniatures kits. 

Unlikely. That sort of old-fashioned copying is not really done anymore. 99% of models are created first in CAD, which means companies can license their CAD files to whomever they wish. Especially in a case like this where Trumpeter wanted to do a larger scale model, so the two products between Revell and Trumpter don't clash because they occupy different segments of the market. Even older models are being scanned to create digital CAD masters, for ease of reproduction and licensing in the future. Heck, I'm working on a Revell Star Destroyer right now that was originally a Zvezda model. Revell licensed it, reboxed it, and that was about it. The sprues even still say "Zvezda" on them. For better or worse, when licensing a product on the model world, there's little incentive to go back and correct any errors present from the original model. The Revell kits were already extremely popular as is, so Trumpeter saw no need to go back in and spend more money correcting what they saw as errors most modelers were willing to overlook or correct on their own.

 

This sub model is the Revell model, but licensed and upscaled. Just like the interior modules are the CMK interior kits for the Revell sub, licensed and upscaled to fit this Trumpeter kit. Nothing nefarious such as copying or pirating going on, just cold, hard business and money changing hands. 🤑

[mbp521]

Great work on the navigation lighting Yves!

 

Good to see you are going to tone them down a bit. Otherwise it makes an easy target for the sub hunters. 

 

-Brian

[ErnieL]

4 hours ago, Kitzilla said:

Unlikely. That sort of old-fashioned copying is not really done anymore. 99% of models are created first in CAD, which means companies can license their CAD files to whomever they wish. Especially in a case like this where Trumpeter wanted to do a larger scale model, so the two products between Revell and Trumpter don't clash because they occupy different segments of the market. Even older models are being scanned to create digital CAD masters, for ease of reproduction and licensing in the future. Heck, I'm working on a Revell Star Destroyer right now that was originally a Zvezda model. Revell licensed it, reboxed it, and that was about it. The sprues even still say "Zvezda" on them. 

This sub model is the Revell model, but licensed and upscaled. Just like the interior modules are the CMK interior kits for the Revell sub, licensed and upscaled to fit this Trumpeter kit. Nothing nefarious such as copying or pirating going on, just cold, hard business and money changing hands. 🤑

I hope you’re right, because my opinion of regular Chinese business practices (not just Trumpeter) lies somewhere lower than the level of a garden slug. 

 

Im all my years, I have yet to build abTrumpeter kit, although I will do the Arizona as the Pennsylvania, and the Hood backdated to her 1930s wave the flag South Pacific Cruise. 

[Kitzilla]

Yeah, I understand that about a lot of Chinese companies. Trumpeter is quite a giant in the industry though, so any actual "pirating" wouldn't go unnoticed, or punished, for long. I've done a quite a few Trumpeter kits as well, and they're always a pleasure to work on.

 

Modelling seems to be more of a "respected" industry in China and Japan as well, so you get less shenanigans going on there than in other sectors. With big-daddy Tamiya watching over everyones shoulders around the Pacific Rim, no one company wants to step out of line and get banished from the modeling community.

[mtaylor]

13 minutes ago, Kitzilla said:

Yeah, I understand that about a lot of Chinese companies. Trumpeter is quite a giant in the industry though, so any actual "pirating" wouldn't go unnoticed, or punished, for long. I've done a quite a few Trumpeter kits as well, and they're always a pleasure to work on.

 

Modelling seems to be more of a "respected" industry in China and Japan as well, so you get less shenanigans going on there than in other sectors. With big-daddy Tamiya watching over everyones shoulders around the Pacific Rim, no one company wants to step out of line and get banished from the modeling community.

 

My sense is that it's the wood kits are the one's being pirated the most as they're comparatively easy to copy and make.

[ErnieL]

22 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

 

My sense is that it's the wood kits are the one's being pirated the most as they're comparatively easy to copy and make.

Yep.  The model industry and market over there is massive. Here we’re seen as the nerdy bunch, but there, you’re right, it is respected. I better quit. We’re close to hijacking a build log. LOL

[G.L.]

8 hours ago, mbp521 said:

Great work on the navigation lighting Yves!

 

Good to see you are going to tone them down a bit. Otherwise it makes an easy target for the sub hunters. 

 

-Brian

I don't think they switched on their nav lights when they surfaced in the operations area.

[cog]

Let's stick to this great plastic Trumpeter kit.

 

You pulled a rabbit out of the hat with that tower, Yves, magnificent, as has this whole build been so far ... any more surprises to follow? The lighting is almost a show to set off the sub. Marvelous!

[RGL]

Absolutely awesome work!!!!

[ErnieL]

11 hours ago, cog said:

Let's stick to this great plastic Trumpeter kit.

 

You pulled a rabbit out of the hat with that tower, Yves, magnificent, as has this whole build been so far ... any more surprises to follow? The lighting is almost a show to set off the sub. Marvelous!

Yves has lit my fire, guys. The more you study it, the more you see.  

[kpnuts]

Omg that is awesome in its incredibleness

[Kitzilla]

One thing I'm going to try when I put lighting in my kit is these 3mm LED Lenses. They look like they could present the appearance of a nice scale heavy-duty bulb housing. I might try fabricating a wire cage around each one as well.

 

[yvesvidal]

I realized I had not posted any updates, recently. Reasons were multiple: 

- Waiting for parts and materials to finish the submersible.

- Started the construction of two motorcycles Honda CB750 at the same time (what was I thinking...?)

- Started restoring another pinball machine.... Bally Playboy 1978

 

Anyway, a major milestone was achieved recently with the gluing of the conning tower on the deck: 

It is starting to look like a Type-VIIc now: 

Next will be the rigging, that I have been preparing, while waiting for some elastic thread.

 

Yves

[reklein]

Reaaly outstanding project. Nothing else to add really since you've shown us "how its done". Thankyou

[Katuna]

Starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel yet? Haha. Man, that is a milestone achievement. Looking fantastic.

 

Mmm, 1978 Playboy pinball machine. Oh yeah, 12 years old...fond memories. That was the one I made a beeline for. Plus it was a good play (I think?!).

[rvchima]

I am truly amazed - I had no idea that kits like this existed. Your meticulous work is just perfect, and it's only taken 14 months so far.  I'll follow along to see the finished model.

[md1400cs]

Yves,

 

Just catching up WOA!!! --   Superb project in all areas.

Also such an interesting insight into these, then, such feared and dreaded machines.

Your log has been an also great learning experience indeed. 

 

Years ago I saw the 5 hour German Das Boot German TV series - Just discovered it again on HULU - PS: This one must be listened to in German,

the dubbed version is IMO much weaker. May watch the series again. 

Cheers,

 

[yvesvidal]

Folks,

 

The project is still going on. Because of other side activities, I have not been able to dedicate much time for it. I am working on the rigging and will then move to the guns.

After that, a few more details inside and we can call it done.

 

Yves

[mbp521]

Good to hear it’s still ongoing. Looking forward to more updates. 

 

-Brian

[mtaylor]

No rush, Yves.  I think model ship builders are a pretty patient lot by nature.

[yvesvidal]

Folks,

 

I have been working on the rigging of the submarine (among other things unrelated to modeling) but I am not finished yet and thus will not show my progress. The main gun is next.

 

Trumpeter implementation of the gun is not the best you can find and after-market manufacturers such as Shapeways (and others), will have a blast in proposing some serious improvements: 

 

Fortunately, RCSubs comes to the rescue with a lot of details. However, finding the parts and understanding how to place them, requires some serious thinking and looking at the real gun on pictures which are most of the time blurry and washed out by the sun and the salt. Here are the instructions from RCSubs: 

I wish they had grayed out or indicated in a better way, which section of the Trumpeter parts need to be cut and removed. It is not too clear....

 

Anyway, this is where I stand so far: 

 

Yves