X Craft by king derelict - FINISHED - I Love Kit - 1/35 - PLASTIC - Royal Navy midget submarine

[king derelict]

I'm still on this submarine thing so next up is the I Love Kit of the X craft (WW2 Royal Navy mini submarine) in 1/35. These were the craft that went after the Tirpitz and reconnoitered the D Day beaches amongst other raids.

A crew of four in a fifty foot tube. Creature comforts were somewhat limited.

This is going to be quite big at 450 mm long. Just fits on the work table and its going to challenge the new compressor for the air brush.

A lot of plastic in the box, reasonable instructions and a paint guide (paint it grey)

Monster hull pieces

And joined together. The fit is good but it needed clamping for a bit. Great idea about using sandpaper on the jaws of the clamps to hold sloping pieces. @CDW I think. Many Thanks

There is a strut clamped by a feature in the rear lower hull

Its awfully early for fragile stuff like that to be added. I'll be curious to see if it makes it all the way through

This looks like an interesting but short build. I plan to liven up the paint scheme with chipping and rust.

Thanks for stopping by

Alan

 

[CDW]

What a super project. Great subject to immerse yourself in paint, weathering, and fun. Is there any photo etch or turned brass included? 

Glad that sandpaper trick worked for you. It gives the clamps some bite.

[Canute]

I'm in on this one, too, Alan. Interesting boat; tail fins look like some Buck Rogers rocket ship.

 

Brave lads who sailed these into Ka Fjord to attack Tirpitz.

[king derelict]

17 minutes ago, CDW said:

What a super project. Great subject to immerse yourself in paint, weathering, and fun. Is there any photo etch or turned brass included? 

Glad that sandpaper trick worked for you. It gives the clamps some bite.

Thank you Craig.

There is a small PE sheet to add some covers. There are a lot of fragile plastic pieces too. The control linkages for the rudder and planes are part of the kit so some careful handling is going to be needed.

I have seen a suggestion that there is an Eduard PE kit available but I haven't tracked it down. I think the kit is a Merit kit under a new badge so maybe I need to look at Merit kits for upgrades. There are a couple of crew members available in aftermarket and the hatches can be set open - that's an interesting direction to go on. I haven't decided yet.

Alan

[Old Collingwood]

What a Cool build   - certainly in on this.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

14 minutes ago, Canute said:

I'm in on this one, too, Alan. Interesting boat; tail fins look like some Buck Rogers rocket ship.

 

Brave lads who sailed these into Ka Fjord to attack Tirpitz.

Thanks for joining Ken. Yes, they were incredibly brave. Some just disappeared under tow and were never seen again.

Supposedly they had an operational range of 14 days and 600 miles and could make 2 knots submerged. And all that time in a five foot diameter tube.

Alan

 

[mtaylor]

I'm in also.  You find the most rare (I think that's the right word for your builds) projects.  They also have some very interesting history.

[RGL]

I nearly bought this too! Look forward to it 

[lmagna]

Looks like I may be early enough to grab my peanut brittle and hammock and join in for a change. These were certainly some interesting craft. Looking forward to your rendition.

[king derelict]

23 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

What a Cool build   - certainly in on this.

 

OC.

Thanks OC; glad to have you with us

Alan

[king derelict]

18 hours ago, RGL said:

I nearly bought this too! Look forward to it 

Thanks Greg

I found the Eduard PE set

Alan

[king derelict]

16 hours ago, lmagna said:

Looks like I may be early enough to grab my peanut brittle and hammock and join in for a change. These were certainly some interesting craft. Looking forward to your rendition.

Welcome Lou

I need to start catering these build groups properly; get the cooler and beverage bar installed and lay on some snacks. Off to Europe in three weeks so I hope to lay in some German Christmas goodies.

 

This looks like being a good build, There is a lot more detail than on the Seehund and I found the Eduard PE set so I ordered that to add a bit more detail too.

The idea of spending two weeks in one of those things is staggering. 

Alan

[king derelict]

On 10/11/2022 at 10:40 PM, mtaylor said:

I'm in also.  You find the most rare (I think that's the right word for your builds) projects.  They also have some very interesting history.

Welcome Mark

Possibly "weird" is the word you were searching for.🙂

Yes, I like the history in these odd subjects.

Alan

[king derelict]

I spent a lot of yesterday chasing my tail trying nail down some of the reported problems with the kit. It has been noted that teh control linkages are wrong; they are provided for both sides but should only go on the starboard side in reality. It has also been noted that the single piece diving plane is wrong and the rudder should actually be a single piece instead. That is incorrect; the reference is the x craft at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum which for some reason has diving planes and rudder installed incorrectly. This has been confirmed by the curator so the kit is good to go. The control linkages are rather nice and with a bit of effort could be made to operate the planes but since that sort of behaviour is discouraged we won't be doing that.

I also tracked down the Eduard PE kit and ordered it *somehow a Hasawega AV-8B got in the cart too). The nice people at Sprue Brothers already have it in the mail so there will be a brief hiatus while that delivers.

The PE kit apparently provides a better propellor. The kit one is not all at nice

If the real one was like that (and it wasn't) even two knots would be a challenge

I'm drilling out the drain ports and then we will park and wait for the PE. One broken drill so far.

Thanks for looking in and the likes and comments.

Alan

 

[mikegr]

just noticed that this is another submarine project.

Those drills are really fragile especially the thinner ones, i'm only left with a couple of these

[Canute]

The carbide drills are problematical. While sharp, they are brittle and any side loads will break the bit. They really should be used in a drill press. I wiped out two using a good pin vise.

[king derelict]

On 10/14/2022 at 1:15 AM, mikegr said:

just noticed that this is another submarine project.

Those drills are really fragile especially the thinner ones, i'm only left with a couple of these

I bought about three sets and now have about one sets worth. They don't like any side load

Alan

[king derelict]

On 10/14/2022 at 8:58 AM, Canute said:

The carbide drills are problematical. While sharp, they are brittle and any side loads will break the bit. They really should be used in a drill press. I wiped out two using a good pin vise.

I broke a lot working on the corvette. Unexpected break though into the mesh below the parts surface would snap them. They are nice and sharp so I persevere

Alan

[king derelict]

I now have the Eduard PE for the X craft and it looks very nice.

I'm a little puzzled why the deck parts are already painted. It would seem that they get fitted before the primer so will be covered. also some parts are part painted and part bare brass. Again the Eduard brass seems nice and "dead" and cuts easily. 

I added most of the deck parts. I had been holding off on building up any more of the model in case there was a conflict with the kit parts but looks like the PE just enhances rather than replaces.so I will return to the plastic now

The hatches are quite nice with PE handles

Thanks for looking in and the likes and comments

Alan

 

 

 

[Canute]

The PE makes nice enhancements. Looks good.

 

With respect to pre-painting, the Eduard PE cockpit sets use a lot of painted parts. And now they are 3D, too. Less issues for the modeler, especially waiting for some of the more esoteric paint colors, such as the Soviet era turquoise  color. Keep up the good work.

[king derelict]

Thanks Ken

I may try to mask a bit f the painted sections during the primer and initial colour layers so some of the PE colour comes through later during chipping and weathering.

Alan

[king derelict]

I added the majority of the Eduard PE. Its all flat stuff; no bending or unpleasantness. The plastic build continues with the rear supports, the diving planes and rudder and the linkages. The linkages are really nice and could probably be made to operate but I decided not to explore the idea The linkages are only present on the starboard side so I'll need to do a bit of filling and filing on the port side where the locating slots are not used.

I drilled out the remaining drain / vent holes

There are quite a few details still to add. I think I will leave the saddle mines off until I have painted and weathered the hull. I would imagine the mines would look a bit fresher than the submarine itself.

This is a very nice kit for fit and quality of the parts. I'm not sure the Eduard PE is really necessary; the kits own PE covers a lot of the spots anyway.

Thanks for looking in and the likes.

Alan

 

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

Looking really nice  Alan.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

Thank you OC. This is a generally well thought out kit and fun to work on

Alan

[king derelict]

I changed my mind and added the saddle mines. I thought it would be easier to pain. I don't plan to weather the mines as much as the hull. All the parts are now in place except for the periscopes and snorkel. They are a bit delicate and I don't want to damage them during enthusiastic weathering.

A coat of Mig One Shot black primer has been air brushed onto the model and next will be some grey shades to set the hull up for chipping. I see suggestions that the x craft were black, I've also seen dark grey or grey / black. I think I will be going with the dark grey.

Thanks for looking in and for the likes

Alan

 

 

[clearway]

Looking good Alan- the differences in colour on the eduard etch is left over from the acid where they "half etched" some parts to make them thinner - see this on a lot of their 1/35 armour upgrades.

 

Keith

[king derelict]

16 hours ago, clearway said:

Looking good Alan- the differences in colour on the eduard etch is left over from the acid where they "half etched" some parts to make them thinner - see this on a lot of their 1/35 armour upgrades.

 

Keith

Thank you very much Keith

That makes more sense. It also explains why the colour has gradually changed since the bag has been open. Thank you for the explanation

Alan

[king derelict]

I added a few shades of lighter grey and some rust to the hull prior to chipping.

The chipping solution was then sprayed on and the dark grey top coat air brushed once it was dry. I am not sure if I was a bit quick starting to work on chipping back the top coat and the paint hadn't hardened as much as when I tried the process on the Seehund. It seemed to cut back much faster and with the watery residue on the hull it was hard to see how much I had removed. I may have been too enthusiastic and taken too much off/ I wa rather startled when I looked at the results but its starting to grow on me.

Please let me know if you think it is too much. I'm tempted to go back to chipping solution and top coast and try again. I'm grateful for any comments here.

Thank you all for looking in and the likes and comments

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

 

[clearway]

Maybe give it a blue wash like the german sub to blend the colour differences together- but definitely looks like it has seen some work.

 

Keith

[king derelict]

8 hours ago, clearway said:

Maybe give it a blue wash like the german sub to blend the colour differences together- but definitely looks like it has seen some work.

 

Keith

Thank you Keith

That could be the way forward. I had planned to use a blue filter but sort of forgot again o thanks for bringing it up. That might modulate the chipping and get the result I want.

Alan