The most potent weapon of the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) during World War II was the submarine, or "unterseeboot." Britain's prime minister, Winston Churchill, confessed it was his deepest worry.
"Wolf packs" of U-boats were the main threat to the Allied convoys, and without the supplies coming from North America, England might not have withstood Germany's onslaught. Eventually, escort carriers and long-range patrol aircraft introduced effective countermeasures, and most of the German U-boats ordered to the North Atlantic never returned.
Revell Germany's 1/72 scale U-boat Type VIIC breaks new ground. The large box displays an attractive painting of a U-boat cutting through stormy Atlantic waves. Inside the box are light-green sprues and large hull halves packaged in separate bags, along with string and paper flags and pennants. The hull exhibits raised weld lines, recessed flow-through vents, and a 16-piece deck gun. Optional parts are provided for five different configurations, and a display stand is included. The decal sheet has markings for U-69, U-82, U-202, and U-552.
I started the project by studying the detailed 28-page instruction book and making notes on which steps pertained to the particular sub I chose to build.
Building the model was easy, but there were a few snags. The torpedo tube assembly (parts 14, 15, and 16) did not fit between the hull halves without a lot of reshaping. I had to fill sink holes on the dive planes and rudders with gap-filling super glue. All the small add-on parts for the lower-hull were painted separately for better coverage. I glued the long hull seam together in short stretches to ensure a good fit and a smooth seam.
The instructions advise gluing the center deck section and its supports to the hull before adding the fore and aft sections. The deck sections were a tight fit on the hull, and I used small bar clamps to hold the decking down while the glue set.
The conning tower would also have been challenging to paint after assembly, so I made several subassemblies, painted, then carefully joined them. I had to fill a sink mark on the front of the lower section (part 74). I left off the life preservers shown in step 39 because they were rarely stowed on the conning tower during operational runs.
I made my model as U-552 early in its long 15-patrol career. It sank 32 ships, including the destroyer USS
Reuben James. U-552's end came when it was scuttled in May 1945. I painted my model with Humbrol matte light gray (64), satin blue (134), and Floquil weathered black. The dancing devil decals on the conning tower were put down over a Testor Metalizer sealer gloss coat. I also created rust stains with pastel chalks.
I used rubber cement to close the paper flag. The swastikas were missing from the flag, so I found small ones on a spare 1/72 scale aircraft decal sheet. (Displaying swastikas is banned in Germany, so they are commonly missing from kits made there.) I hand-brushed Testor Model Master RLM 23 red to clean up the white cut edge of the paper flag, then oversprayed the flag with clear flat.
The finished model matches the measurements found in Heinz J. Nowarra's book
German U-boat Type VII. Another good reference is
www.Uboat.net.
I spent 29 hours completing this model, and its detail and three-foot length is impressive. I'm sure there will be aftermarket decals and resin accessories coming, and with them you'll be able to make any configuration of the Type VIIC U-boat. Now, I think I'll put the model on top of the TV and watch
Das Boot again - and again.
- Tom Foti