Goji308

Hello. I’ve been away for a bit while I’ve been waiting for the new airbrush needles to arrive. I most likely could have used the old needle, the bend was barely noticeable and I watched a few videos how to repair it. I tried to roll it out on a rubber pad while twirling it. It may have helped but I decided on waiting for a replacement. I have also had a few family members (aunts & uncles) with some health issue which has taken my mind a little off my project. Any how I’m back. I played around with some brass wire before I left. I purchased a low wattage soldering iron but still need to do a little more research on the flux and the type of solder wire for this fine work. More to come soon. Thank you Dmitriy & VinnBiss for the kind words and comments.

As I await my replacement airbrush needle in the mail, I am doing some minor modifications on existing parts. I decided the Capstan supplied was lacking the detail I had hoped for so I cut a few pieces of styrene from the sprue frame. I hand filed one of the slender round pieces into a square shape for the material for the top. I used a piece of welding rod from work to replace this deck detail that’s was pretty warped on the sprue.

That Photo Etch brings the bling. Your progress looks great. Keep up the beautiful work.

More progress made putting parts together in sub assemblies. I’ve added more PE and am I am going forward with the supplied stock deck. I added magnets to the weapon’s bases for custom placements and orientations. I added a base layer to the deck. I highlighted a few of the planks randomly by adding a touch of white to the base color. I added a thin coat of varnish and after it dried I added a few different deck washes. I lightly went over some of the high wear areas and removed the washes blending the dark and light areas. Will do a better more detailed job of that later. A little experiment with brass wire. Regrettably it’s probably not a fine enough wire for the 1/72 scale. Once the deck dries I’ll add an effect which hopefully will serve as a worn down rubber “Alberich“ coating. More to follow….

Some mornings are rough with my 14 year old. He has a habit of staying in bed on school days after I wake him up. We have a fairly tight schedule. So I have been known to leave my iPhone in his room set for 4 minutes with the Das Boot Ring tone. Aaaallllaaaarrrmmm!!!! This usually does the trick. More Photo Etch. I managed to reverse the handles and tops for the on-deck watertight storages. So after about an hour of work I removed the PE and put them back where they belong on the correct storages. Note: Both halves of the conning tower still separate. I found some printed odds and ends in my drawer. Further comparisons with their stock counterparts. The printed version of the Attack periscope base is more detailed than the stock one. I will remove the periscope and replace it . I like the Photo etch the most here.

Fantastic job! I love the scene you created with all the parts. Keep up the great work.

Mick: thank you for the mention. JT: Ahh. yes, fabulous movie. I do own it. I have only seen it a few times over the years though. I think I’ll watch it again tonight with a bowl of Poki. I will pay close attention to the dialog.

I blew the dust off the airbrush and primered the inside of the hull flat black. I tried my luck with Photo Etch today. After a few hours of calm music and a little eye fatigue I enjoyed the tweezer work and the Contact adhesive manicure. I have faith it gets easier the more you do like most things.

Uncarina: yes I have seen that article before but I am very glad you shared this with me. It’s been a while since I’ve read it. I will definitely revisit this. Dmitriy: I agree these 1:72 Uboats are impressive in definition and scale. I am running into space issues at home with my previous two builds. I do have a 1:48 scale uboat to build soon. I think a 1/32 might be out of the question. My wife would intervene plus the cost of the model would be beyond my budget. I thought I did have a letter “C” in the title. I think the problem is a left a space after the “VII”. Thanks for the mention, I’ll try to fix that. Johnny Tip: my German is weak & rusty. Thank you for posting in German though. I do try to figure it out before asking my wife or google to translate it. Thanks for the encouragement.

Tom, looking real good! Keep up the excellent work. ~Brian

A few days ago I was having an electrician come over to install some LED lights in our garage where my work bench is located. I moved the model into our house temporarily in our home office which I assumed would be the safest place for it. After getting home from work my wife mentioned she accidentally knocked it over and handed me a ziplock with several pieces in it. Luckily it was nothing major and I refitted the pieces back into the model and later filled any minor seams. Close call. I have sealed/ conditioned the deck and sanded very lightly. I still am undecided on which deck I will ultimately use; the styrene provided deck, or the real wood deck. I was very surprised how detailed and featured the Revell stock deck is. I will be be working on both decks in parallel till the “One” stands out. After reading ahead in the instructions the snorkel attaches to a snorkel housing that is built into the stock deck/ one piece. So… if I want to use the wood deck I need a housing. I could ether remove it and destroy the styrene deck and attach it to the wood deck … or I could try to make one from scratch. I have not made anything like this before from scratch but it actually worked well. I am glad I tried it. It was a little rickety until installed.

Today I took one of my sons to a San Francisco giants baseball game. Beautiful day at the ballpark. We were treated with a cool fly over during the National Anthem. After we got home, I like to think I was as careful as a surgeon removing the deck from the wood blank. There were a few contact points that needed several passes from the scalpel to free. There was a small split in the deck so I added wood glue from the backside and made sure I got a little in the split. I also added a little extra glue on the backside and added a small piece of paper to reinforce it. Problem solved. I also tuned the middle alignment fingers or key making sure there was no light passing through and they meshed evenly bringing both halves of the deck together. I proceeded to sand the deck to fit paying attention to we’re it was overly snug. Lastly I sanded and tuned the whole deck to length. Last thing I want to do is get it all ready for final assembly and have it resist falling into place.

Over the last day or so I have been steadily going through and been prepping, filing, sanding and installing prop shafts rudders, the snorkel assembly, and misc details. I can’t believe I did not remember to anneal the PE mesh at the top of the snorkel before trying to bend it. Yes, I snapped it in half by accident. I Took a break and revisited it 20 minutes later. I put both pieces under a flame for a few seconds and bent them to shape. After that they bent smooth as warm butter. I am pleased the way it came out rolling the PE fragments over several drill shanks despite the setback. I textured the plate area on the hull with my dremel rotary tool and sanded it down for a smoother look. I’ll also lightly sanded the rivets for a more subtle look that compliments the scale of the Uboat.

Thanks Tom, yes, I like the look of the hole openings vs the indentations or hole suggestions. Makes them a little more punctuated. I have been adding some of the PE parts to the hull. Some of the parts needed extra attention blending them in and getting rid of mold lines. This is my 1st experience using PE and it’s been quite fun. I brought a few pieces of acrylic home from work, makes a great bottom material to cut against. So far I use my Tamiya styrene glue to soften the plastic. Then I press down the PE part. Then I finish it off with a dab of extra thin CA. Pictured below you can see the shaft support housings finished, lots of filling, gluing, and blending. I had to fill the divot under the flange arm foot for the support. Blending in mold lines.

Uncarina, Yes, I have visited that website in the past. Lots of great details and info there. Great U-boat resource. Thanks for sharing. VolkerR: Thanks for the reply and the follow. I hope there will be something useful for you to takeaway in this build. Congrats on the Platinum edition in your stash. I have the very same Plat Edition kit in my stash too. I am new to PE an there is a lot of it in that box. Today I caught up the opposite hull and finished all the holes, and “flutschlitze” flood slots. I also started filling in a few factory holes in the hull which will be covered by Photo Etch parts. Nothing new and ground breaking.