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If you have suggestions on how we can improve this product or have topics you’d like to see in future FSM Direct packages, please contact us at [email protected] FSPDF032 FSM Direct DDOWNLOADABLEOWNLOADABLE ARTICLESARTICLES The best of Modeling the Second World War FSPDF032 THE U-BOAT PERIL Building a Type Vll-B U-boat in 1/125 scale pack" Diving into details aboard Revell's "wolf sub pack" James modeled Revell's "wolf sub as a Type Vll-B and paint ed it in an early-war scheme. Heavy weathering shows that U-boats spent most of the time on the surface. BY JAMES T. GREEN along and I'll show you how to than one application may be nec build a better U-boat. essary. Hull and main deck. The long, If you leave off the bow-mount ON LEAVE after returning home slender hull of a sub requires extra ed cable cutter, as I did, fill its from Desert Storm, with time care to avoid warping and big, ugly mounting hole, Fig. 4 (page 18). I on my hands before returning seam gaps. With this in mind, reworked the kit-supplied main- to my unit, I looked for an easy kit leave off the main-deck details for deck rails, so I filled those mounts, D- to divert me from my usual 1/48 now. Trim and clean the aft tor too. However, do not fill the scale jets. pedo tube before installing it to shaped mounting hole for the pin I went out and bought Revell's minimize seam repair later, Fig. on the lower right front ofthe con 1/178 scale U 505, thinking that I 1. Drill out the diesel exhausts ning tower. Also, leave the holes would be able to finish it in a week with a pin vise and glue sty on the stern for the cable tripods, end - but it wasn't that simple. A rene sheet behind them, Fig. 2. the gun-deck holes, and the hole trip to the library turned out to be Cut off the locking tabs of the for the valve. the first leg of a longer modeling main-deck pieces, Fig. 3. Gluing a Use sandpaper, files, and emery journey. slab of styrene on the under boards to smooth fills and remove There'll be some changes made. side braces the hull amidships; the unwanted details, but take care After looking at references I ruled extra strength keeps it from pop not to eliminate limber holes and out building an accurate U 505 ping open later when you sand other desired details. On the main straight from the box, for several seams. deck, remove the locator ribs for reasons: The kit depicted a Type Test fit the main deck carefully, the tower and fill the many ejec VII-B sub, not U 505, which is a trim it to fit, then flow super glue tor-pin marks. Remove the display- Type LX-C; the hull and conning into the seams, letting capillary stand mounts from the keel and tower needed weld-seam detail; the action draw it along the joint. Ap the raised plate molded on the bow bridge deck lacked surface detail ply pressure on the hull sides until (where a decal of the ship's hull and certain fittings; ladders and the glue sets. Before gluing the number was supposed to go). Also, handrails on the tower didn't look conning-tower interior panel and remove molded handrails and lad real; and the guns and deck rails tower halves, test fit them to en ders from the conning tower, but needed work. Additionally, mea sure the bridge deck will fit later. leave the larger set of life pre surements showed the kit actual Now you're ready to fill joints servers, Fig. 5 (page 18). ly was closer to 1/125 scale. and smooth rough spots. Instead Scribing details. You can scribe gel- Nevertheless, the hull molding of putty, I fill seams with Duro with any sharp instrument; I use and profile were appealing, and type super glue, available at any an old knife-edge file with a the conning tower invited detail, hardware store. Again, flow glue chipped tip. Keep your photo ref - so I resolved to continue. Follow into the seam to fill the gap more erences and drawings where you © 2009 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form 16 without permission from the publisher. www.FineScale.com THE 0-ROAT PERIL The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat I per/7. - Winston Churchill Great Britain - and, ultimately, the Allied war effort in Europe - depend ed on Atlantic shipping for its vital supplies. Those tenuously stretched life lines were nearly severed by Germany's U- (untersee) boats. The Allied powers entered the war susceptible to submarine attack, part ly because of Great Britain's misplaced faith in the London Submarine Agree ment of 1936, in which Germany promised to warn and evacuate merchant ships before sinking them. This noble pledge went glimmering less than 10 hours after Great Britain declared war on Germany, when a U-boat sank the British passenger liner Athenia - without warning - on September 3, 1939. The U-boats seemed unstoppable. German Adm. Karl Donitz devised the pack" "wolf strategy, in which subs swarmed to attack a convoy. For the next three years U-boats - usually lurking on the surface, their low profile almost invisible - racked up a terrible tally. After the fall of France in 1940, Donitz based his operations in Lorient on the Bay of Biscay, greatly increasing the time his subs could prowl before returning to port for fuel. When the United States entered the war at the end of 1941, U-boats plagued the North Amer ican East Coast. American resort operators, fearful of losing vacation business, resisted blackouts - and ships outlined against city lights made easy targets. Worldwide, sinkings reached a monthly peak in May 1942 when submarines sank 144 Allied ships - many within sight of American beaches. However, Germany's high command rated its navy behind land and air can see them as you work. Trace forces. Production of U-boats lagged behind Donitz's demands. In the mean weld seams with a soft-lead pen time, the Allied convoy system improved. Merchant ships were better orga cil. After drawing these guides, use nized (no small feat), and their escorts became more effective. Small aircraft a flexible straightedge and start carriers bridged the gaps in air cover; depth-charge techniques improved; and scribing. the advent of radar made it possible to locate U-boats on the surface. Go slow and be patient. As you In the end, Germany paid a high price for its plunder. Of the 863 operational define the lines with each passing U-boats, 753 were lost - along with 28,452 of the 41,300 U-boat sailors. stroke you'll be able to drop the straightedge and finish the lines freehand. How much seam detail is retractable loop antenna, Fig. 5. 1 depth, hold the tower securely, and enough? That's up to you, but it's drilled 3/i6"-deep starter holes in start the drill inside one ofthe pre- best to keep it simple. Scribing the top of the duct, then milled a drilled holes. Pull the tower across every line won't look right. Clean slot for the antenna loop using a the base, cutting the slot out to the the new lines with a stiff tooth dovetail bit in a drill press. other hole. After the slot is done, brush and give the subassemblies Note how the drill is offset to change to a larger bit and drill out a final wet sanding. allow the tower's front to clear the a center hole for the antenna shaft. Antenna mount. I used the con edge of the drill-press base and Bridge deck. To detail the sur ning tower's side-mounted venti avoid damaging the locating pin. face ofthe kit-supplied bridge deck, lation duct as a housing for the Adjust the drill press to the desired I thinned it before gluing it in the (Left) Fig. 2. Bore out the exhausts and Backing sheet in place back them with sheet styrene. Bored exhaust Fig. 1 . Paying attention to the aft torpe (Above) Fig. 3. Slicing off the tabs on the do tube now saves filling and sanding deck pieces improves the fit; sheet styrene work later. restores the joint's strength.