U552 by Kevin - Trumpeter - 1/48 - PLASTIC - German U-boat - Started November 2021

[Kevin]

2 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Wow, that's super cool Kevin!

Thank you Mike

[mtaylor]

Those illuminated panels will really pop when installed.   Just curious here.... should then be red?   Or did the subs have dual colors for night and day use?

[lmagna]

3 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Or did the subs have dual colors for night and day use?

I am pretty sure they did, but I read somewhere the choice of color in the German navy was blue not red. 

Edited December 1, 2021 by lmagna

[Kevin]

8 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Those illuminated panels will really pop when installed.   Just curious here.... should then be red?   Or did the subs have dual colors for night and day use?

 

8 hours ago, lmagna said:

I am pretty sure they did, but I read somewhere the choice of color in the German navy was blue not red. 

im not sure what colour they are, i don't even know what the panel is for, although i am presuming it is a control state board for the tubes, colours can be decided at anytime when i know for sure, its just a filter at the light source, at a quick quess i would say red/green and power status

Edited December 1, 2021 by Kevin

[Tomkattr]

Looking forward to your build. I have one in my stash. Good luck!

[Kevin]

good afternoon everyone

thank you for comments likes

submarines never had space under the torpedo tubes, there was a multitude of pipes, strainers, and valves, so although this is artistic licience, i closed the gap in a bit, no one is going to be able to follow a pipe

mig oil stain used under the tubes, 

my loading torpedo get the chop after a aluminium paint job and a new set of props

 

the bunk beds from the kit were discarded as the bunks would have been raised whilst loading the fish

sorry about the poor photos, i need one hand to keep it all together

 

arrived today

 

[Kevin]

good afternoon everyone

 

thank you for comments and likes

 

the after bulk head went in after a primer and Lifecolour DKM50, picking out a few colours along the way

 

next the torpedo stowage deck with just primer dkm 50 and Flory grime

the torpedo's i never went the full hog on them, going to be pretty well hidden, alclad aluminium and a bit of brass for the props, Tamiya dark grey for the bang bit of the torpedo, i then put a bit of brass around one of them to simulate be secured in the stowage

 

 

t

 

a

 

the bulheads are now fitted, just the deckhead left to go  in the next couple days

left to do

torpedo crane

torpedo tube rear doors

lighting

weathering, but not going heavy at all on the rust, she is a new boat going out on first patrole

 

[Kevin]

good afternoon everyone

 

 no lights

not much achieved today, but i did a quick temporary wire up of the 5 leds in the compartment, im happy now as it is how I wanted it to look

some lights

i will change the lights to warm white and dim them later on in the build

Edited December 3, 2021 by Kevin

[Old Collingwood]

Cracking work there Kevin  - so much work going into her.

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

Kevin, I'd consider using a variable pot or rheostat for the LED's.   That way you can brighten or dim them depending on what you want at a given time.

[yvesvidal]

Kevin,

 

you may want to organize all these wires as they will not fit inside the hull.

Also, the light leaking out of the modules will look ugly, through the openings of the deck.

 

Yves

[Kevin]

good morning

yes the lighting wont work like it is, it was just setup for now to see if the effect i was after was going to work, i work put un any lighting until the outer hull is ready, mush later on

however i was quite happy with the results and it shows the areas i need to improve, loving this build,

 

another surprise is the interest others have shown

[Kevin]

good morning everyone

 

the forward torpedo compartment is coming to an end, just a few things that are in paint, but i am unable to fit for now until i decide how to set the build up in its final setting

 

 

right for me its silly time

i want to do something with this build that  i have not seen before, or found on the net

 

as discussed she only has one engine in the kit, which is a port side inboard , which has some hull framework underneath it

there is no stbd engine or frame work under the diesel to support it either, 

 

i want to build a stbd side engine from the port side, using it as a doner unit  the port one can be cloaked in covers whist welding work is carried out

 

reason for doing this

because i want to, as the kit does not represent the confined space they endured 

 

how am i going to do this?

I dont know, but i mess it up im up a creek without a paddle

 

both engines are symmetrical  as in both sides have the controls inboard, which also means the blocks are different as well

i am going to start with the superstructure first whilst i get my head around the best way to do this

 

 

 

 

the boocks are the same but above that everything is 180 degs out

Edited December 4, 2021 by Kevin

[Kevin]

me again

well i managed to turn the hull supports form the port side to the stbd

removed some tabs and adjusted the bulkheads by cutting where the diesel support beams go, i don't suppose for a moment that  the further I go into this that it will be easier, but for me thats a great start

 

 

[Kevin]

good morning everyone

thank you for comments likes and messages

lol i now have realised the full amount of work involved in this idea i had

everything now has to be rotated 180 degrees, and the easy bit is done, most of it will have to be scratched 

 

as i went along removing the ends of the block, i could have avoided taking the head off 

 

 

[Kevin]

good evening everyone

 

the engine conversion will take me quite a while so here is some more progress, should you be interested

 

the first of the outboard exhausts only requires the six pipes to be cut off, and turn the manifold upside down 

the rest of todays photos are trying to get some shape to the after end of the  stbd engine, No its not perfect by a very long way, i need to see what it looks like after a bit of filler, more shaping a coat of primer

[robert952]

Thanks for the details in the log.  Not that I plan on building this, but the work does spark ideas for future projects.  

[Kevin]

8 hours ago, robert952 said:

Thanks for the details in the log.  Not that I plan on building this, but the work does spark ideas for future projects.  

lol you just never know when you might need to know how to swop a submarine diesel over

[robert952]

Well, I was actually thinking about how used lights on the panel.  I do have a diesel tug that doesn't have an engine. I may have to create one. 

[Kevin]

good afternoon everyone

 

what a brilliant idea off swopping the engines over, lol what have i done to myself, no regrets its just not turning out as expected, the space (well lack off) is being made worse by (a lack of space)

anyway i plod on in my own way of making something good into a mess

the engine still has another 80+ bits to be fitted, and each bit has to be altered, so its ongoing

meanwhile another moment of madness to replace the molded wire on the bulkhead

im using .4mm wire for this oh and by the way non of this will be seen either, i just want to try my skills out and avoid finishing the build by christmas this year

i will put in at least another 10 cable runs

 

 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Kevin

[Old Collingwood]

Great work there Kevin  as you say the  space is limited not making it an easy job.

 

OC.

[Raymic]

Nice build Kevin. I'm following with interest as I'm a couple of years into my build also, complete with RCSubs etch, Eduard Etch and lots of extras.

As you know this kit is woefully inaccurate. Its such a shame given the price Trumpeter charged for it.

Its basic shape for a Type VIIC is OK but the interior is terrible. And as U552 its totally wrong.

But it goes together very nicely out of the box, Trumpeters engineering is well done.

So the decision is for us modeller's, do we go for accuracy or out of the box? Out of the box with little accuracy it still looks impressive on the shelf as a lot of Internet builds have shown.

 

For example the Forward Torpedo room is too long and needs shortening, the actual Torpedos are too short and need lengthing.  As you have modified too, the Air bottles are in the incorrect place, the beautiful job you did of Fibre optics on the forward control box is a beautiful modelling job, I personally love it, but unfortunately that box doesnt even exist.

I really don't know what Trumpeter were thinking.

The list goes on, I've probably made 100 plus modifications just on the Forward Torpedo room and still haven't got it totally correct. 

Mine will never be 100% accurate either as there is just too much to improve.

Here are a few old pics of mine, I have changed it a bit since.

Hope you enjoy the build its a lot of fun regardless.

cheers

 

[Kevin]

28 minutes ago, Raymic said:

Nice build Kevin. I'm following with interest as I'm a couple of years into my build also, complete with RCSubs etch, Eduard Etch and lots of extras.

As you know this kit is woefully inaccurate. Its such a shame given the price Trumpeter charged for it.

Its basic shape for a Type VIIC is OK but the interior is terrible. And as U552 its totally wrong.

But it goes together very nicely out of the box, Trumpeters engineering is well done.

So the decision is for us modeller's, do we go for accuracy or out of the box? Out of the box with little accuracy it still looks impressive on the shelf as a lot of Internet builds have shown.

 

For example the Forward Torpedo room is too long and needs shortening, the actual Torpedos are too short and need lengthing.  As you have modified too, the Air bottles are in the incorrect place, the beautiful job you did of Fibre optics on the forward control box is a beautiful modelling job, I personally love it, but unfortunately that box doesnt even exist.

I really don't know what Trumpeter were thinking.

The list goes on, I've probably made 100 plus modifications just on the Forward Torpedo room and still haven't got it totally correct. 

Mine will never be 100% accurate either as there is just too much to improve.

Here are a few old pics of mine, I have changed it a bit since.

Hope you enjoy the build its a lot of fun regardless.

cheers

 

Thankyou for that, and the photos,very nice indeed, its a real shame about the kit,  anyone i am aware of in buildkng this have criticised just how wrong it is,  however i dont have any decent accurate information to make mine any better than seeing what others have done

[Kevin]

Good evening everyone

thank you for comments and like

 

i have done enough wiring for the hull i still have the bulkheads to do

i removed the wire clips holding the wire runs in place, and replaced them with tape

put a coat of primer over it all, including the bits i have done on the engine up to now

 

 

[mtaylor]

15 hours ago, Raymic said:

Nice build Kevin. I'm following with interest as I'm a couple of years into my build also, complete with RCSubs etch, Eduard Etch and lots of extras.

As you know this kit is woefully inaccurate. Its such a shame given the price Trumpeter charged for it.

Its basic shape for a Type VIIC is OK but the interior is terrible. And as U552 its totally wrong.

But it goes together very nicely out of the box, Trumpeters engineering is well done.

So the decision is for us modeller's, do we go for accuracy or out of the box? Out of the box with little accuracy it still looks impressive on the shelf as a lot of Internet builds have shown.

 

For example the Forward Torpedo room is too long and needs shortening, the actual Torpedos are too short and need lengthing.  As you have modified too, the Air bottles are in the incorrect place, the beautiful job you did of Fibre optics on the forward control box is a beautiful modelling job, I personally love it, but unfortunately that box doesnt even exist.

I really don't know what Trumpeter were thinking.

The list goes on, I've probably made 100 plus modifications just on the Forward Torpedo room and still haven't got it totally correct. 

Mine will never be 100% accurate either as there is just too much to improve.

Here are a few old pics of mine, I have changed it a bit since.

Hope you enjoy the build its a lot of fun regardless.

cheers

 

I hope you'll  consider doing a build log for this sub.   Maybe just a bringing us up to date initially.  Doesn't need a lot of explanation.

[Kevin]

8 hours ago, mtaylor said:

I hope you'll  consider doing a build log for this sub.   Maybe just a bringing us up to date initially.  Doesn't need a lot of explanation.

yes please

[Kevin]

good morning everyone

 

 

 

the torpedo lifting gear is better now having got rid of the kit bits, i left the chains long to help putting the deck head on

 

 

lighting i need to put an inline dimmer and these new 3mm lights are getting quite warm

i think the chain looks out of scale

for now i will be leaving this compartment like this as i am still unsure of the diorama setting and possiblty rethink the lighting

 

 

Edited December 9, 2021 by Kevin

[Lee J H]

It's no exaggeration to say that it's a real submarine, not a model.

[reklein]

Was just thinking the other day that I would like to see a sub model with a full interior. This is a great representation, inaccuracies be damned. It has the feel of a real sub. I'm totally glad I didn't have to serve on one. The only one I've ever been on is the one ,the U-505 I think in Chicago about 50 years ago. Great model keep up the good work.

[Kevin]

2 hours ago, Lee J H said:

It's no exaggeration to say that it's a real submarine, not a model.

thank you, i would have been happier posting the photo with dimmed lighting