Full Units

I like full units when I can do them.

These troops wear a mixture of traditional and WWII German uniforms.

German helmets and stripped to the waist for heavy work.

German uniforms on the men on the horses.

The mortar crews also enjoy a quick dance to entertain the troops.

More Sub Interior

This close up of the bridge and command center shows several areas. Note the little hand wheel in the lower right corner of the photo. I put 44 men on board, the same number of troops as the crew of a Type VII C U-Boat. It's crowded.

This is the captains quarters, bunk, and desk. On the upper level you can see the armory with a few guns on the wall. I am all about the guns.

This is my engine room. It took all kinds of bits to make it.

Since my goal was to make a sub interior but not spend any money, and not spend two years on it, I glued all sorts of parts and sprue on the walls and floors of the hull to make it appear like a crowded u-boat interior.

Here you can see parts from trains, engines, halftracks, spure, sheet styrene all working together to be a sub.

U-Boats

The 1/72nd scale Revell U-Boats have a lot of small railing parts.

These railing fit around the guns.

They really make a big difference in the detail and quality of the kit. They look complicated, but they fit very easily. The molds are very well done, there was no flash, and the parts had few connections to the sprue so they were easy to remove. They also aligned perfectly with the hull parts, which was very nice.

I used photos from this Osprey book to determine the different armaments to use on the one submarine with the quad 20 mm AA guns.

Side by side these two U-Boats look pretty awesome. U-Boats often nested together like this in port so they did not take up much room at dockside. The wooden decks are well detailed on these kits.

Life Rafts and U-Boats

The conning tower for the German U-Boat Type VII/C 41 Atlantic. The AA guns are very nice.

The standard mounts were two twin 20 mm guns and one 37mm gun below. They also mounted two twin 20 mm mounts and a quad-twenty on the lower deck. I am doing one of each. Quad mount is from Eadai / Grip models.

The U-Boat crews sustained huge losses. One new technique to mitigate that high loss rate was the addition of rubber life rafts on the front hull in special compartments. These special containers are all in a row at the front of the ship.

If the ship were to go down the rafts could allow the crewmen the chance to be saved by German, Allied or neutral ships. The same icy water where the Titanic went down is the same waters cruised by many U-Boats. A few minutes in water like that meant death.

Subs

When I cut the lower hull off of a ship model, I glue on a flat piece of styrene so the hull is stronger, and it will slide along on the wargame table easier.

Revell makes a WWII German submarine model, the Type VII C / Atlantic 1941. It is a mid to late war submarine. I have a couple of them under construction in this photo.

These 1/72nd scale models are about three feet long. When only doing the upper hull, there are not too many parts on the kit.

I taped the hull bottoms to the hull sides to help hold them in place while the glue is drying.

The late war versions of this submarine had a snorkel, it allowed the submarine to cruise underwater and stay hidden from Allied attacks.

Once the glue is dried, I have to trim the edges of the hull bottom flush with the sides. My long term plan calls for two of these submarines, and one early war Type VII C submarine. And maybe some others...

Submarines have great wargame potential. Build a dock or u-boat pen and then stage commando, resistance raid or even paratrooper drop on them. Play submarine vs Flower Class Corvette.

Waterline Type VII C / Atlantic

One of the first things to do when making a waterline model out of a full hull model is to determine where to make the cut.

This is the Revel Type VIIC / Atlantic 1/72nd scale U-Boat. I use tape to mask off the line where the hull will get cut.

I use a mini-table saw for the cut I got at Harbor Freight Tools.

The saw cuts so fast it actually melts the plastic. I use an X-Acto knife to clean up the edge after I am done.

The blade on this saw looks like it could cut off your arm, but probably only a finger. I am trying to avoid finding out for sure what body parts it can remove. A big cut with the table saw does most of the work in only a few seconds. The rest is just trimming by hand. I got the saw for about a hundred dollars a few years ago. I don't use it much, but it is well worth the money for what it can do.