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U-Boat ex U 2540, Type XXI, new class 241,, Wilhelm Bauer,, Y880 ,Revell 1/144


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Hi friends

Today i want share to you my recently work, a ex Type XXI U-Boat transfered to new class 241 ,,Wilhelm Bauer,,

 

Well i love to build submarines, because you come very fast to the painting and weathering job, what i really like, its my passion

 

 

Wilhelm Bauer (originally designated U-2540) is a Type XXI U-boat of Nazi Germany's navy (Kriegsmarine), completed shortly before the end of World War II. It was scuttled at the end of the war, having never gone on patrol. In 1957, it was raised from the seabed off Flensburg Firth, refurbished and recommissioned for use by the West-German Bundesmarine in 1960. Finally retired fully in 1983, it is the only floating example of a Type XXI U-boat. It has been modified to appear in wartime configuration and exhibited at the Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, Germany.[

Construction and wartime service[edit]

Construction of U-2540 began on 28/29 October 1944 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg-Finkenwerder. She was launched on 13 January 1945 and commissioned on 24 February 1945 as part of 31st U-boat Flotilla for training purposes. In April 1945 the boat went to the front after training at Rønne on Bornholm. Due to the ongoing fuel shortages at the end of the war, the boat was relocated to Swinemünde before being scuttled near the Flensburg lightship on 4 May 1945.

Design[edit]

Like all Type XXI U-boats, U-2540 had a displacement of 1,621 tonnes (1,595 long tons) when at the surface and 2,100 tonnes (2,067 long tons) while submerged. She had a total length of 76.70 m (251 ft 8 in), a beam length of 8 m (26 ft 3 in), and a draught length of 6.32 m (20 ft 9 in).[2] The submarine was powered by two MAN SE supercharged six-cylinder M6V40/46KBB diesel engines each providing 4,000 metric horsepower (2,900 kilowatts; 3,900 shaft horsepower), two Siemens-Schuckert GU365/30 double-acting electric motors each providing 5,000 PS (3,700 kW; 4,900 shp), and two Siemens-Schuckert silent running GV232/28 electric motors each providing 226 PS (166 kW; 223 shp).[2]

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 15.6 knots (28.9 km/h; 18.0 mph) and a submerged speed of 17.2 knots (31.9 km/h; 19.8 mph). When running on silent motors the boat could operate at a speed of 6.1 knots (11.3 km/h; 7.0 mph). When submerged, the boat could operate at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) for 340 nautical miles (630 km; 390 mi); when surfaced, she could travel 15,500 nautical miles (28,700 km; 17,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[2] U-2540 was fitted with six 53.3 cm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes in the bow and four 2 cm (0.79 in) C/30 anti-aircraft guns. She could carry twenty-three torpedoes or seventeen torpedoes and twelve mines. The complement was five officers and fifty-two men.[2]

Salvage, refit and new service[edit]

The four bow torpedo tubes on the submarine (Class 241)

Wilhelm Bauer (U-2540) at the Maritime Museum (2013).

In June 1957, after more than 12 years on the floor of the Baltic Sea, U-2540 was raised and overhauled at Howaldtswerke, Kiel. The submarine was commissioned as a research vessel in the Bundesmarine, serving from 1 September 1960 until 28 August 1968 as a test boat (class 241). On relaunch she was renamed Wilhelm Bauer, after the designer of the first German U-boat, Brandtaucher, built in Kiel by August Howaldt in 1850. From May 1970 she again entered service, this time with a civilian crew and served as a testbed for the technical innovations of the class 206 U-boat. After an underwater collision with the German destroyer Z-3 (D172) on 6 May 1980 Wilhelm Bauer was discharged from use at Eckernförde on 18 November 1980 and finally released from service in 1983.

Conversion to museum ship[edit]

Wilhelm Bauer in Bremerhaven

U-2540 was put on sale by the Ministry of Defence and acquired by the board of trustees of the German Maritime Museum Association and the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven. The boat was restored to its original World War II configuration after its transfer in August 1983 to the Seebeck yard, opening on 27 April 1984 as a museum ship in Bremerhaven, now sponsored by the Wilhelm Bauer Technology Museum association. It has imitation twin 30mm cannon and the bridge is not glazed as it was during service with the Bundesmarine.

copyright by Wikipedia

 

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hope you like it

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Great job!

I like your wheathering, it´s realistic and not overdone. The details are very convincing which is not easy at 1/144!

 

Volker

 

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Thank you so much guys for your kind comments. Much appreciated

 

Yes Volker youre right, its not easy to get a nice result on these little scale,  the risk is, to overdone it, i want really avoid it, especially because it was just a training Boat.

Edited by Harry Callahan
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20 hours ago, socjo1 said:

Very nicely done model! How about your own improvements or just "shake and bake (it seems not...)"?

Hello friend

 

These kit is so nicely, normally dont need improvements, but i did some, i cut out all flood slots ( is this the right english word for Flutschlitze, sorry i dont know ), it was a horrible work, also the windows, but at the windows something was happened, i have filled the open windows with Micro Kristal Klear, and to protect it for the paint job, i gave a coat of Humbrol Maskol, that was a mistake coz chemical reaction, coz the Maskol was not removable anymore, so i was forced to paint the windows black.

 

Hope you understand my horrible english.

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2 hours ago, Harry Callahan said:

Hope you understand my horrible english.

 

You understood my horrible english, I understood your english and everybody around had lot of laugh, I hope!

Thanks and best regards!

Michal.

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