S.M. U-1 (a new RC project)

[DrSchmidt]

Status Quo of my build of Germany‘s first military submarine S.M. U1 in 1/48 scale. Most of the details are on, everything is filled, sanded, and covered under the first layer of primer. Rivets are next….

[DrSchmidt]

Adding more details on my U1. The conning tower got its signal horn, the little platform between the periscopes, rails and struts. Quite a job to get everything straight and parallel. The rear section was equipped with exhaust tubes and the push rods for the rudder. Finally the bow was equipped with its towing point. Starts to look like a real submarine…

[DrSchmidt]

Similar look, but very different size. Most of the conning tower you see on the U1 is the cast pressure-tight section with allot of windows to grant visibility. On the front and back of the cast section were streamined cowlings. There was no real bridge...like in most German pre WWI boats, there was a platform on top of the tower that was covered with cloth. U1 was a tiny boat, only 42,39 meters long.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

What a wonderful beautiful fascinating model Thank you for making it into a building project and sharing with us. The fairwater is fascinating too for its 'technological convergence'. Same ocean, same mathematics same shapes for same purpose 50 years later.

Damn! Good catch, Steve! My first boat, TRUTTA, was a Portsmouth converison.

[Albacore 569]

What a wonderful beautiful fascinating model Thank you for making it into a building project and sharing with us. The fairwater is fascinating too for its 'technological convergence'. Same ocean, same mathematics same shapes for same purpose 50 years later.

[DrSchmidt]

Adding more photo-etched parts: first I put down the bunker hatches....quite a few, but as these areas are pretty much flat, it was basically just measuring correctly and then glueing them into position. The starboard side of the conning tower got its door made of a pe-door leaf and two pe hinges. Then I started fabricating the steps. Thy are made of two parts, a base plate and the step itself, that has to be bent into shape and then glued onto the base....and then again, measuring, glueing. Finally some intakes: again made of two parts, the flange and the grating. The grating has a bit smaller diameter and is glued onto the back of the flange.Then the assembled flange is glued into poistion over a pre-drilled hole. Looks good!

[DrSchmidt]

It seems to come together nicely....the PE fit is quite good.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Damn! Inspiring!... guess I better get hot on mine. This winter, maybe.

David

[DrSchmidt]

I finished filling and sanding the SM U1, then I applied a 2K filler, followed by more sanding and filling and sanding. Dirty job but worth the effort. With the surface being acceptable, I started the installation of the photo-etched deck details. The method is always the same. I pe-position the respective panel using masking tape and various measurements, then I mark the pisitions of through holes, I drill the corresponding holes into the deck, and finally I glued the panel into place. Deck ist doen, next are the bunker hatches.

[DrSchmidt]

Started working on the conning tower of the U1. I plan to depict it with the main hatch open. So I milled the entry hole and glued a 3D-Printed tube into it using epoxy. Then I filled the seems and sanded everything flush. Voila, we have the entry shaft.










There are 9 windows in the coning tower. To get them all equal in size, I printed window frames, and glued them into openings I drilled into the conning tower. Then I filled the gaps between frame and coning tower using polyester putty and sanded everything flush. First 4 done,,,,









For the wash boards I copied the original approach. The wooden boards were held in place by riveted L-profiles. In 1/48 scale this comes down to 1,5 mm styrene L-profiles and 3D-printed boards. I glued those together to about 50 mm length and then the boards were glued onto the hull using epoxy.

[DrSchmidt]

Before joining the hull halves I painted the mock ups and mast boxes in a dark hull red. Then I glued the top and bottom hull together using slow curing epoxy. After that I started filling the seams with polyester filler followed by wet sanding with 400 grit sand paper. I hate the mess that makes, but things are coming together quite O.K..

[DrSchmidt]

No, never considered this class. The problem with the WWI boats is the availability of good sources. U1 still exists, there are two excellent models and a few usable photographs.

[JHapprich]

This is going to be another eyecatcher! Really looking forward to the RC'd twin...thumbs up!

Have you considered making a late large patrol cruiser submarine (Projekt 47? Boxed my books for the moment for renovations) with that very stramlined hull?

Jörg

[DrSchmidt]

Next steps before I can join upper and lower hull. As the ventilation masts will be displayed upright, one will be able to look through the open frames of the mast storage boxes. To offer a realistic view, I 3D-printed pressure hull mock ups and the tubes that stored the two spare shots of the U1. Looks weird with no deck, but perfect, when the upper hull is in place...

[DrSchmidt]

Doesn't look like much, but it was quite some work. After gluing the bulkhead into the upper deck I used my Dremel drill press mount and a cutting wheel to cut the limber holes into the hull. Worked quit O.K.. I hope that I won't have to make too many touch ups. To align the deck with the lower hull, 3 mm styrene profiles were glued to the deck and the inner part of the lower hull trimmed to give a good alignment when put together. Then I glued the control planes and stabilizers into the lower hull, as well as some M5 screw for the mounts. Finally I removed the wash boards. They will be replaced by more exact replicas later.