Revell 1:125 VII-A U-33

[Valkyrie]

In the early hours of 12th February 1940, HMS Gleaner, on an anti-submarine patrol in the freezing Firth of Clyde, detected a U-boat on a secret mine laying mission. Admiral Karl Dönitz himself saw the U-boat off from Wilhelmshaven but just 4 days later it would be on the bottom off the town of Maidens in Scotland. From Enigma rotors to mysterious crew members, this is the story of U-33.

U-33 was the first of the type VII boats and the kit will need to be made into a type A from this type B.

 

As we are in the grip of a similarly harsh winter as was the case this night in 1940, it must have been harsh entering the water in these conditions. This photo shows the characteristic Type A with rear torpedo tube on the deck with freezing ice in Wilhelmshaven. I will need to make this torpedo hatch.

 

 

 

[Valkyrie]

A little after midnight, kptlt Wilhelm Von Dresky ordered U33 to progress on the final leg of her journey to breach and lay mines at the entrance to the Clyde Naval Base. A similar mission some weeks before by U32 failed after her commander deemed it too dangerous, Dönitz quickly relieved him. U33 was given the task and many of the crew joked that it was a suicide mission. Indeed, a lavish banquette was thrown in their honour the night before they left Germany.

At about 02;55 Gleaner detected engine noise of the submerged u-boat and searchlight sweeps caught the periscope and spray briefly. Von Dresky set his boat shallow on the bottom believing Gleaner to be a cruiser and would pass overhead. A series of 4 depth charges rocked the boat and some damage was done, not only to U33, but Gleaner had lost all detection capabilities as the blasts were so severe. The crew pleaded with their captain to make for the surface and run for it in the darkness, one eel loaded in the on deck rear torpedo tube ready to dissuade any pursuers. Unknown to the crew and commander of U33, they would at that have been able to slip away undetected. They remained on the shallow bottom and Gleaner, now with capability restored, found 33 on the bottom and pounded her once more. Damage this time so great, Von Dresky ordered to Surface, rig scuttling charges and distributed the Enigma rotors among 3 crew to be distributed into the sea on leaving the boat.

Charges exploded killing the man who set them, chief engineer Schilling. U-33 her commander and crew in the freezing water gave three cheers for U33 as directed by Von Dresky and she slipped beneath the waves to where she rests virtually intact in relatively shallow water just off the Scottish coast at Maidens.

Most of the crew succumbed to the cold, including the commander, the rest were given hot baths, thick blankets and cared for. On checking one crewman of U33’s soaking clothes, a RN sailor discovered 3 Enigma rotors in a jacket pocket. The sailors who perished, along with 2 other German bodies at that time unknown, were buried in Greenock, then transferred in the 60s to Cannock Chase. One survivor, returned to live in Ayrshire after the war. In 2002, he layed a wreath at sea above the spot of U33’s current and final resting place. 

[Valkyrie]

I had hoped to get out to take a picture of where the action unfolded in the sinking of U-33 this morning. Snow capped mountains of Arran, fiery frothy Firth of Clyde and clear blue sky on a bitterly cold morning, as would have been on the 12th February 1940. It’s just on the limit of the travel restrictions here, so it will be next year for the photo at the same time of year.

 

On to the kit then. It is an old mould and depicts U99, a famous boat in itself commanded by Korvettenkapitän Otto Kretschmer who nailed a golden horseshoe to his conning tower or sail as it’s also called. U-99 was scuttled SW of the Faroe Islands in 1941. Crucially for the U-33 project, U-99 was also built at GermaniaWerk in Kiel and although separated by 66 boat numbers, they are actually very close to each other in succession in builds. 
When considering any U-boat build, the yard can actually be key as many characteristics can be builder specific such as free flooding vent style, placement and count, fog horn position to even paint colour. U-33 being the first ever type VII had a lot of unique characteristics which I will try to include, such free flooding vent position, number and style. U-99 is the closest large scale kit that comes close to this.

 

There is a Hobby Boss Type VII A in 1;400 which is on its way as we speak from Germany. 
 

 

The Revell kit looks nice but sadly lacks any hull panel lines. I have seen others who go to the lengths of stretching sprue to add the detail. I will see how I get on with drilling the accurate U-33 free flooding vents and then decide what to do. 
 

Here is a comparison with Revell’s 1:144 VIIC/41 kit im also working on in a WIP. She is really a practice run for techniques and colouring for U33 but eventually I’m thinking she’ll be painted as an Arctic boat.

 

Next now, research into the flood vent pattern for U-33, I know there’s lots of holes that will need added.

[Cuppa_joe]

Nice touch with the story, keen to follow along!

[Valkyrie]

Well, as a guide I had purchased the Hobby Boss type VII-A, seems to be the only one of the market. Not cheap but bought from Germany rather than chance it cheaper from China and she arrived today well ahead of schedule.

A top opening box reveals a tiny but super detailed kit of every incarnation of a Type A possible and with photo etch for railings and decks! This means I can make kits to represent U-33 in all her guises from Commission in pre-war 1936 through her 3 very interesting Spanish Civil War schemes, splinter camo, and also depict her through the Kriegsmarine modifications from rear deck gun, no rear deck gun replaced by AA rear conning tower AA gun, winter garden and conning tower changes and even her winter changes in 39/40 when Hitler came to greet the boat home in September 39, to her full re-fit and re-paint for her fateful 1940 mission to Scotland.

 

[Valkyrie]

A WIP within a WIP. I have made a start on the Hobby Boss Type VII A which will be an aid on a number of things for the main build. I will be making a few of these 1/350 Type VII As depicting U-33 throughout her career from Spanish Civil war through to her sinking. The model will be key in assisting with colour scheme and the all important rear deck torpedo tube. 
33 went through a host of modifications and re-fits and paint jobs but this one will depict her in late September when Admiral Dönitz and Hitler greeted the boat into Wilhelmshaven after her successful 2nd patrol.

On that occasion she wore the same as the surface fleet with Hellgrau 50 upper and Dunkelgrau 51 hull.

The Hobby Boss Kit is nicely detailed and the addition of a gold solid etch stand with type VII A U-Boat is nice.

[Valkyrie]

Having bought these Hobby Boss kits for a guide on type VII As I noted the destruction manual was wrong. Type As only had a single rudder...an easy fix....

 

[Valkyrie]

Here is U-33 fresh in her tamiya extra finery grey primer.

This will also be a paint experiment and I’ll be using the Lifecolor Kriegsmarine sets. While set 2 is specific to u-boats, set 1 carries the main colours for the surface fleet, which U-33 would have worn in Sept 39. 
 

 

[Valkyrie]

I’ve had the magnifying glass out, not counting rivets but flood vents. The size, type, amount and positioning of vents, together with colour scheme and modifications tend be unique across U-boats and U-33 has loads of differences. Just about to paint my mini U-33 and noticed that when Hitler welcomed 33 back to Wilhelmshaven she still had the rear deck gun and old conning tower and winter garden. So this version of U-33 will need to be in her final 1940 scheme, rather than Sep 39. I think i will need to dig out her pictures clean from her 2 month winter re-fit to see what colours she had.

 

[Valkyrie]

Here is the basic scheme of U-33 as she would have had for her last patrol. Top side is hellgrau 50 (Silbergrau) with Dunkelgrau 51 the slightly darker on the bottom. The last photo taken shows the topside grey of U-33 as not shining as if white so rules out Hellgrau 50 version 1. Dunkelgrau is the obvious choice for the hull. 

 

[Knb.1451]

That's a good looking boat! What are your plans for weathering

[Valkyrie]

Thanks for looking in. I will highlight the flood vents and very slight rust on them and a couple of other areas. As she was only at sea for a week when she was lost, albeit in a harsh winter, she’d still have had a relatively dark deck and slight weathering.

For the 1/125 scale...I’ll base on how this little one turns out

[Valkyrie]

Impressive little kit the hobby boss VII-A in 1;350...I wish I’d used the photo etch for the deck rails instead of the plastic. You can see the difference with the winter garden which is the photo etch from the kit. The flag is Eduard metal otherwise it’s OOB. 

 

 

 

[Valkyrie]

Build speed for U-33 in 1:125 has been slow while the work on the entire project has been furious in terms of research. Yesterday every shred of information from the U-boat archive in Germany arrived for U-33 and I have been looking at that ever since. 
While there are so many references and books documenting U-33, most of which I now own, the U-boat archive material should be definitive. The main thing I need to know is what features she had when she was sunk in February 1940 after a large refit the previous winter. One revelation from the U-boat archive is that during this re-fit she got new diesel engines.

 

Some more interesting details or stories about 33 include she was carrying spies, peace envoys and even a team apparently searching for the Holy Grail! There is also a strong narrative that actually her mission was to sink the Hood or that U-33 was part of a plan to trap a U-boat lured by the presence of the Queen Mary. 
 

It’s a striking story!

 

Tomorrow however I think we are ready to begin on drilling the flood vent pattern that U-33 wore.

[Valkyrie]

With Mrs Valkyrie off out with her pals this evening, I thought I would get a good night at the bench. The Revell U-99 type VII-B is quite close to U-33. The 9 bow vents on U-33 were easy enough to depict using 9 of the 11 on the Revell kit. One filled in each side with the middle 9 opened up.

The main vents we need to add quite a few.