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U-510 Late War Type IX C Monsun U-Boat


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On November 3rd 1943 U-510, a Type IX C German U-Boat, set sail from Lorient, France, reaching Penang, Malaysia 155 days later. From there she sailed to Singapore, Kobe, and Batavia before returning to St. Nazaire on April 23rd, 1945. During her career she sank 11 ships and damaged several others. (Uboat.net)

 

I'm depicting her using the Revell U-505 1/72 scale kit and the corresponding Pontos photoetch set. Thanks very much to Jeff (B-17) for trading this out of production kit and making the build possible! Yes, the build is a lot of work but it is therapeutic. The major prep work was opening the drainage holes with a Dremel and sanding away all of the deck surface detail.

 

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According to Dougie Martindale (https://amp.rokket.biz/lib_uboats.shtml) the late war Type IX boats had the rear part of the propellor/rudder guards cut away, so I modified the kit part accordingly. You can also see I need to do more cleanup on those drainage holes!

 

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The wooden deck looks great, but I had to open every drainage hole with an X-acto knife. Every one.

 

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The Pontos set is not for the timid, but the combination of brass, photoetch, and wood is hard to beat.

 

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And lastly I'm adding the Eduard 120mm deck gun, since U-510 kept hers through the war.

 

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Until next time!

 

Cheers,  Tom

Edited by uncarina
Corrected gun diameter
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The Monsun Gruppe was formed as part of a cooperative effort between Germany and Japan to exchange strategic raw materials and to sink allied shipping. Both German and Japanese submarines operated in the Indian Ocean, and due to difficulties in identification, both forces were not allowed to attack other submarines. Forty one German submarines participated, and U 510 sank six ships of various nationalities before arriving in Penang, the base of operations. She was one of the few submarines that survived to return to Europe. (Wikipedia)

 

I've reached the milestone of adding almost all of the hull details. I'll be holding off on assembling the 120cm deck gun until I've reached the stage of addressing the Wintergarten armament. Despite all of the effort, the build has gone relatively fast to this point (though it didn't seem like it, it's been less than three weeks), and the engineering and fit of the Pontos set has been amazing. Even without the set the kit is a pleasure to put together!

 

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Here you can see where I've addressed the seam between the fore and aft hull sections, and once I have a primer coat applied I'll be restoring the rivet detail using Archer's Rivets.

 

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On to the fairwater next. New territory at last!

 

Cheers,  Tom

 

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23 hours ago, VolkerR. said:

Looks great! I am following.

Thanks! It’s great to have you aboard.

 

 

12 hours ago, Goji308 said:

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

Thanks Brian! I appreciate the encouragement.

 

Cheers,  Tom

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    Im a bit of a noob when it cones to ships and subs. Built a number if them in my youth rather badly and only one in the last 30 years. However since I live 30 miles away from the U-505. It is my dream to build her someday using this kit . So Ive clicked the follow thread button and will patiently and quietly take notes in the background. 
 

Dennis

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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Don't know much of anything non-Type VIIC, but very interested!  Great job on that wooden deck! 

On 18/05/2022 at 04:01, uncarina said:

And lastly I'm adding the Eduard 120cm deck gun, since U-510 kept hers through the war.

 

qrEpLBU.jpg

Surely you mean "120mm"? 

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17 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

    Im a bit of a noob when it cones to ships and subs. Built a number if them in my youth rather badly and only one in the last 30 years. However since I live 30 miles away from the U-505. It is my dream to build her someday using this kit . So Ive clicked the follow thread button and will patiently and quietly take notes in the background. 
 

Dennis

Dennis, it’s great to have you aboard and I hope this build can be useful.

 

17 hours ago, Johnny Tip said:

Don't know much of anything non-Type VIIC, but very interested!  Great job on that wooden deck! 

Surely you mean "120mm"? 

Thanks Johnny, that deck sure was a lot of work but I’m glad it was worth it! I’m currently toiling away on the wintergarten deck. Thanks also for the correction!

 

Cheers,  Tom

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U-510 sailed from Lorient to Penang on November 3rd, 1943 for her fifth patrol, rounding the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean then operating off the Arabian Peninsula, sinking two ships. From there she sailed to Penang, sinking three more ships along the way. When she arrived she had been at sea for 155 days. --Uboat.net

 

I've been slowly but steadily working on the fairwater details. First up was the hatch, an exercise in extreme photoetch. The design allows you to theoretically be able to open and close the hatch, but the interior details are incredibly fragile. I added them (just because), then glued the hatch shut since there is no interior anyway:

 

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After adding more details to this section I moved aft to the wooden sections, which I applied after once again cutting out each slot:

 

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Still a ways to go, but I'm anticipating things should move faster as I actually add parts from the original kit!

 

Cheers,  Tom

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"Kapitänleutnant Alfred Eick began his naval career in April 1937. Later he served for more than a year on the destroyer Hermann Beitzen, and he undertook 16 patrols in the first year of the war. In November 1940 he transferred to the U-boat force, where he accompanied U-176 on her first two patrols.

 

In May 1943 he became commander of U-510 and received the Knights Cross on 31st March 1944. After a successful patrol in Brazilian waters, U-510 left Lorient on her second patrol assigned as one of the Monsun boats. Eick operated for a few months in the Indian Ocean before heading back in January 1945 with a load of important goods (tin, quinine, etc.) on board. After being supplied with oil southeast of Madagascar by Krvkpt. Jürgen Oesten's U-861 (who was short of fuel herself), U-510 ran out of fuel in the North Atlantic, but managed to reach the U-boat base at St. Nazaire in France at the end of April 1945 (at that time the base was still in German hands)."

--http://monsun-uboats.blogspot.com/

 

I can only imagine how U-510 reached St. Nazaire from the North Atlantic without fuel. Rowing?

 

Progress is a little more rapid now, and I am almost done building up the top of the fairwater:

 

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Next up is the periscope housing, UZO, and other fittings. And I'll finish up this post with this photo of the Monsun Gruppe in Japan:

 

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http://monsun-uboats.blogspot.com/

 

Cheers,  Tom

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"The distances to pass between Europe and South East Asia were huge, ranging from 11,200 nmi and 12,500 nmi depending on the point of last departure and first arrival. The duration of the voyages reported from the U-boats ranged from 84 days (U 511) to 171 days (U 188). After the Japanese submarines had carried out already by and large two-way transport missions between the Far East and German bases in occupied France as early as 1942, German U-boats were reassigned for that type of mission in mid-1944 as well, since the voyages of blockade breaking German merchant vessels between Europe and South East Asia and return to had to given up at the end of 1943. Ultimately, U-boats were the last remaining means of direct communication between the war allies Germany and Japan, in particular for shipping war essential material."

--http://dubm.de/en/the-voyage-to-the-far-east/

 

I've been making some rapid progress lately, and managed to finish adding the all details to the upper fairwater except for the railings and guns. The UZO was particularly challenging, but I love the added details:

 

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And a couple of perspective photos:

 

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Cheers,  Tom

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Gidday Tom beautiful work and detail you've done.

 

4 hours ago, uncarina said:

I can only imagine how U-510 reached St. Nazaire from the North Atlantic without fuel. Rowing?

Maybe they were close enough to make it on batteries, or perhaps they dropped into the local servo for a top-up, check-under-the-bonnet and a coffee? 🙂

I have a copy of the book "U-boat Far From Home" by David Stevens about U-862 (Heinrich Timm). A very interesting story but it's been a while since I read it.

Regards, Jeff.

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22 hours ago, Goji308 said:

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

 

Thank you! I appreciate the encouragement.

 

20 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Tom beautiful work and detail you've done.

 

Maybe they were close enough to make it on batteries, or perhaps they dropped into the local servo for a top-up, check-under-the-bonnet and a coffee? 🙂

I have a copy of the book "U-boat Far From Home" by David Stevens about U-862 (Heinrich Timm). A very interesting story but it's been a while since I read it.

Regards, Jeff.

Thanks Jeff!

 

Cheers,  Tom

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Hey man, I have begin the same build (I'm actually building something else), but because the kit of the U-505 was unaviable, I have mix the kit of the U-190 (using the tower) and the kit of the U-67 (using the hull), and for the goodies, it's Eduard and CMK

 

 

 

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I planned a big sea diorama, here the link 

 

 

 

You're doing a great job mate, keep going like this!

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With pleasure mate ! And if you have any questions, dont hesitate, I have some books and articles about the Gruppe Monsun!!


And for the color of the U-510, It seems its RAL 7000 HEllgrau 50 (but I'm not 100% sur, maybe someone can confirm ?)

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