A U-Boat In Ireland

[DrSchmidt]

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lcYaiOqiiq8/TkpR7XthGXI/AAAAAAAAAM4/7p6EJC3imYY/s640/P1000429.JPG

[The Boattrainman]

Thanks, Dr S, my exit tube should be a bit wider but I was stuck with the dimensions between the rudder mounts on the inside.

I think that's the Laboe U-Boat, my understanding is that it's not reliable for a given U-Boat, as it's been changed for public use and there are other non-standard changes.

The rear tube is probably the same on most boats.

Rob

[The Boattrainman]

The stern of the Robbe kit is wrong, too rounded.




A new stern piece is made from 3mm styrene and stuck to the back, with a small round piece stuck to the outside.




More round pieces are added, they are the only shape that can cope with the complex curves.




The whole stern are is covered in car body filler.............




............ then sanded to the new shape..............




...............more hobby filler is added, the round styrene is visible between the filler adding strength.




Final result.




The Boatrainman

[DrSchmidt]

The laboe boat was indeed changed in certain respects, e.g. to prevent it from rusting to pieces. But I think the rear torpedo tube is pretty accurate, but welded shut......

[DrSchmidt]

If you look at the side view, you can see that the torpedo tube has an outer hatch that slids inwards (circular dashed line) into the stern dive bunker. Behind that the torpedo tube has a muzzle door.

http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-570/U-570GeneralPlanA.jpg

[The Boattrainman]

Wow, great plans, just what I needed.

The rear tube outer door is at an acute angle, I'll have to modify what I've done.

Thanks my friend.

Rob

[DrSchmidt]

You're lucky, as I currently work on the stern section (rear torpedo and e-machine compartment) of my cutaway VIIc and have the info available.

[The Boattrainman]

One thing I've had to absorb in the last few months of studying Type VII U-Boats, is that with approx. 700 boats, no two are exactly the same.

Perhaps this is the fascination with the subject, but given they were built in several different yards, over many years, with numerous in-service modifications and design changes to the conning towers, all one can do is say here is U-Whatever , at this time with these features. The artwork that appears on the conning towers is a field in itself and was highly distinctive to each boat.

Another issue which I still find incredible, is that as well as the above, Type VII's are not 'symetrical', the port and starboard sides are not the same in terms of flood/drain slots, even the very larger central drainage slot is longer on one side than the other!!!! There is ample photographic evidence for this.

There are some features on this kit which have to be modified to get a reasonable likeness (especially the easy mods) and others which can be ignored (this model is around 29mm too long for 1/40 scale- no one will notice). I've seen some stunning builds of basically very flawed models, where had the builder spent even a few evenings work, a much closer to the original model could have been achieved.

So to try to skew the U47 hull around to U557, a start has to be made on this area.

This is a picture of both the kit supplied and upgrade set for the flooding holes above the torpedo doors.




They are both wrong for U557, I've just stuck a piece of 1mm styrene around this area, a torch is placed inside the model to indicate where the hull is cut out




U557 had a row of twelve paired round holes which extend further back, and are much smaller that than those supplied, progressively drilled starting with a tiny 0.5mm drillbit.




A very easy fix which transforms the nose of the sub.

Luckily, this feature is the same on the other side.

The Boattrainman

[DrSchmidt]

Found a good one......the hatch is welded shut, but the shape is accurate.

[trout]

I was wondering if it was like a Type 9 door that rotates upward to open.

[The Boattrainman]

What intrigues me is how the rear tube was used, there was no answers in the book Iron Coffins, just a reference to the Captain getting a shot away...........!

I can get the idea of lining up a target using the front tubes, but surely lining up the rear tube was counter intuitive, or was it used to get a torp away when going away from a Convoy Group?

I think there were torps developed later that did a Z pattern in the water when launched so that it gave a better chance of hitting a target when fired into a group of ships, and there were developments towards ones that honed in on the targets prop sounds much later in the war, so the actual aiming of the rear torp may have been moot. I just don't know!

Rob

[HardRock]

just a reference to the Captain getting a shot away...........! When I was a young Captain all I could think about was getting a shot away!

[The Boattrainman]

Ba - dum Tish!

There's a fair bit of both types of getting one's shot away in the book.

Interesting read, as it's written in the late 60's it's free from a lot of introspection and self analysis that would be in a modern book and he's unashamedly proud of the Kriegsmarine's capabilities. But it's tough going in parts between the damage done to allied convoys and then the almost complete destruction of the U-Boat fleet in 44-45. A sad book in many ways...................good pics though.

Rob

(PS Hope you still get the occasional shot away, down periscope)

[The Boattrainman]

A much tougher task is the flood drain holes around the forward torpedo doors.

The upgrade mask is wrong for U557, it nees another double vent on the top row and two single small vents added to the row between the doors plus the doors lengthened to match the start of the vents.




The fix for this was to split the mask into sections and make the alterations to each piece, here the top row gets two additional slots.




By chance one of my files was the same size as the holes.




Now there are some fixes which you plan and make meticulous alterations to get a finished result. Not so this time. Fixing the altered masks in place was a four day journey into modelling hell, with bits of plastic and piles of filler required to get them all aligned. The inside is a horrible and embarrasing mix of filler pieces and plastic supports, there was just no option for neatness given the complex curves and the fact the mask had to be set lower than the Robbe mask on the hull resulting in 1mm, 2mm and even 3mm thicknesses around the piece. A nightmare.




At least I got both sides aligned!

[The Boattrainman]

The bow is finished with the remnants of the net cutter which was removed at the time the model is set from square plastic rod and 1mm holes and the open fairlead.




Plus the hole in the nose using a short brass tube and the fixing point for the forward aerial.




The aft section gets the closed fairlead from a half round piece of tube.




The Boattrainman