U-991 1/72 Type VIIc U-Boat - Revell

[Blastvader]

Luckily an end of war u-boat, covered in salt and rust can just about get away with the rough paint job I have!

It's not rough in the slightest it looks great! It was just that earlier in the thread you said:

I mix it with about 30% thinner, the x-20 stuff. I tried water but it's a lot mushier during chipping for me. It has to go on at a high pressure with a lot of paint flow, which means you have to be quick to add a thin coat.

I think the leveling thinner would have made that job easier. Also, I find that regardless of what thinner you're using Tamiya needs about 60/40 thinner/paint as a minimum on most colours. Doing so would have allowed you that little bit more control (you would have been able to lower the pressure substantially for one thing) and made applying the winter white a little easier

[TristanR]

I think I will try that, I don't think I've ever thinned the paint that much, so it's good to know I can. I do find XF2 flat white a lot harder to spray than most other tamiya colours. I will definitely try it with levelling thinner. Still so much to learn!

Thanks!

It is rough though, doesn't really come through on the pictures but compared to the sky grey underneath it's a lot chalkier finish.

[Blastvader]

It is rough though, doesn't really come through on the pictures but compared to the sky grey underneath it's a lot chalkier finish.

If you've not already coated it with varnish or the like (and it's really bothering you) you could always try wet sanding it a bit with 8-12,000 grit micromesh. The problem with that of course is that with the hairspray you might well end up stripping it all off....so it might not be best to do that on second thought.

But as you say, this is a well used boat, so it's probably appropriate.

[Clogged]

Just come across this build and must say how impressive the U Boat is looking! Love the detail and weathering.

[TristanR]

This september marks one year since I started this!

Anyway, some progress,
I got the 3D printed intake pipe on, Ialmost lines up, It's a little of centre with the schnorkel mast, and a little too forward, but I think I will modify the schnorkel to fit





There is more soldering to be done, there are 2 more guard rails. The top one is on another laser cut buck I made, it's a very difficult shape to do, as the railing is at a angle and flares out in the middle.

In the deck I cut the postions for all the vertical posts that make up this railing, I copied those positions and included them in this buck, you can see the holes underneath.  This way I can insert the brass into these holes and when it's all soldered together, it should just drop into the corresponding holes on the deck.

These rails sit just forward of the tower, and have a wires rails connected to the other railing, hense the little tabs that were spares on the eduard set.



Here's one installed, it wasn't a great fit but lose enough after a fight.

Underneath you can see how it's held bu the laser cut holes.


The heat transfer problem I've bee having with these wood bucks went away when I switched to this blowtorch soldering iron



here they are in place, that's a lot of railing. Got to do the other side now.

I've been further painting the deck, the photos are not showing it but the deck is a lot browner, and I started putting eduard little hinges on the hatches.
 

Did some weathering on the guns, and added whiter salt stains to the tops of the saddle tanks,

Thanks for looking!

[longshanks]

Great skills on display here, I keep forgetting this is 1/72

 

Kev

[TristanR]

I done another video, bit crappy still, as only 12% seems to be in focus, hopefully you get the idea though...

 

 

[phildagreek]

[robgizlu]

Tristan - this is turning out to be one of the most beautifully weathered models I've seen.  Once again really helpful video.  Astonishing work.  One thing I really like is the texture of roughened peeling paint - Superb!!

 

Rob 

[youngtiger1]

Holy cow, look at that deck and tower. This by far, hands down, the best sub model I have ever seen. You are very skillful model my friend. I sure will hope that you never get burn out with your wip as I'm loving it and learning a lot. Thanks for sharing your work

 

Mike

[Rob 1]

Wow, more great finishing - this is looking like it is made from the actual materials that the real thing was made from, and has been to sea for extended periods like the real thing.

[Billydick]

Stunning ... the decking, amongst everything else, in particular is impressive !

 

BillyD

[bobsyouruncle]

Amazing job you've done on this boat. I'm very impressed with all the extras you've built and the weathering is superb. Very inspirational. i'm taking notes.

[TristanR]

Thankyou all for the comments, I'm happy to report that I am back on this.  Got really busy recently, but thing have settled down enough that i was able to begin thinking about finishing this.  I have to build a structure around the schnorkel:




I build a side baffle wall for the recess, also behind it is the mounting for the deleted deck gun.







Here's the baffle work under the deck, with forward torpedo loading hatch.



Some 3D printed hatch lids for the ammo containers came in, also the rear lamp.



Messing with rigging.  My 3D printed isolators have bent a bit, 
i might try to straighten them ib warm water.  I think I will use EZ-line for the rigging, to keep the wholw thing in tension.  I a pain though.



Cheers!

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I think this is the best U-Boat model I've ever seen.

[phoscar]

Hello,
It's amazing, it's a museum piece, I'm admiring.
Great congratulations.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

So glad you are back on this; simply stunning.

[TristanR]

Thank you for the comments guys, glad you are still with me! 
It's good to be back on it, there is our local model show in april so I'm making it my deadline.  It doesn't look like I have done all that much, but I've slowly been washing the saddle tanks with watery light grey paint.  I want the tops pretty light, and it's very effective to build it up in many layers, there is about 5 or 6 thin washes, with heavier wash around the welds and hatches I scribed in.

 

Some of the chipping is out of scale, so I figured I'd try some fine vertical streaks. I tried some colured pencil, some caran dasche watercolor pencils, But it wasn't quite a match for the lifecolor rust I have been using so far.  So I swtiched back to lifecolor and found a longish brush with a good point (sometimes you have to go through a few brushes for this).  with a bit of practice you can flick thin, vertical streaks pretty well,  having a longer brush adds a bit of spring which soaks up some of the wobble from your hand.

 

You can see the slightly oranger pencil work around the doubled slot to the centre-right of the picture.  There is a horizontal strip feature just under the slots, and underneath it, at the bottom of the white is a slightly greenish umber, that is also colored pencil.  The streaks a drew on were wrongish, so with water, I washed them out leaving this greenish stain, whch although a mistake I quite like it.

With the salt washing, I'm always striving to hide brushstrokes, even if it means washing it all away.  Because the surface is so matt, a small amount remains.  Tide marks are a giveaway, so I usually try to wash away all of those.  Right in the middle there is the sloping lap joint I added. It collects all sorts of wash debris, and over time the build up looks better and better, it's even crept up to the rivets a bit, maybe even resembling barnacle build up.

[longshanks]

Beautiful work

 

Kev

[Parabat]

Quite exceptional, sublime weathering, you can virtually smell the sea just looking at this!

[beefy66]

A very convincing rust finish 

 

beefy

[TristanR]

Thanks for the comments guys, nearly there.

last big job is the under-deck plumbing.  I haven't decided what hatches will be open or not, so I will build a bit of support around possible open hatches.  The wood deck is so thick I can't really use them as open hatches, but I can leave some missing perhaps.

This side of the snorkel hatch is pretty much boxed in now.


But the other side is probably more visible, so I will add some support ribs in 1mm strips

 

This is the hatch around the torpedo loading hatch.  I think this is supposed to be boxed in


So I build some sidewalls, its a bit of a mess but does the job.


The capstan retracts under the deck.  I made a 90 degree box frame and brass rod running forward to the anchor windlass in the bow (if that's what it's called).  My 3D printed capstan sits on another brass rod, and fits into a brass lined tube glued to the top of the box frame.


When the deck is on the capstan slots in here, the brass has a nice friction so I can slide it in and out.


Yessss.

Cheers!

[longshanks]

The fine work continues .............

 

Kev

[TristanR]

OK time to paint these underdeck areas.


An undercoat of hull red and flat black,


 Then hairspray, for chipped sky grey.




On with some rust washes.





I took the boat to my local IPMS meeting, and saw it in a well lit room at a distance, for the first time.  I was struck how toneless the hull looked. Up close it's got a lot going on but from a distance it needs contrast.  To fix it I will apply some black oil streaking.  Just little dots, blended with a dry brush.

Before

After


I think I need to be carful not to overdo this, and maybe not be quite so uniform in streak distribution.

here's a shot of the tower attached without any decking.


Cheers!

 

[longshanks]

Stop it !!

 

Every time I see this

 

Kev