SPA Modeler

I've always wanted to build a cut away submarine, going back to the Washington etc.
The Revell XXI as the post war Wilhelm Bauer was on that other forum, so i thought I would give the original U-2540 a try.

Typical workbench mess.


Bulkheads with the compartment colors, and decals. lots and lots of decals.


And then the AMS hit. I have decided to build the cut away with the inner pressure hull as a part of the display. Having the decks and bulkheads come out to the outer hull just looked wrong. Luckily, Revell shows the profile of the pressure hull as a slightly raised ring on each bulkhead, so cutting down the port side of each, and the edge of the deck, wasn't TOO tricky.




Batteries, and deck light framing. Just to diminish the look of the edge of a piece of plastic. I also bonded some sections of brass tube to the underside of the deck, clamped while it dried, to hold it flat. Cut away models often suffer from bowed decks, like cut away building models.

Next, the pressure hull.

The Typ XXI is one of the most fascinating technical achievements. And the Revell kit is really nicely moulded, albeit I only own the closed version of this kit.

You already did a lot of work! Adding all those decals must have taken days!

So I searched around for something cheap, easy to cut and glue-able to make the exposed sections of the pressure hull.

I found those plastic glitter glue bottles on sale for a couple of bucks each at the clearance table of the art store. Decanted the stuff into jars and gave it to a friend who has little kids. I'm sure he just hates me right now...


Here's what I was going for.


The thing really does taper at the ends, and have a double-bubble section in the midships.


Added plastic strips for the ribs, which were external on the XXI.


We had a discussion over on FSM. Were the internal spaces, i.e. the ballast tank areas, dark?


Or light? There seems to be ample evidence for either, and after all it's not something that probably gets looked at much. But these sectional construction methods kind of show. There were three camps- black anti-fouling like the outer surface of the hull, red primer which the Germans certainly used a lot, or some kind of chromate. Black wouldn't do, since there would be no way to see the detail, I wasn't sold on chromate as an attractive solution, so...




Next, assembly.

Incredible work there GM!

Great stuff!

Bravo!!!
This should be a good one to follow


But I did notice some empty cups/glasses in the original photo... for a cool refreshing adult beverage over ice?

Wouh, this will be very interesting to follow, looking good!

- Kari

I put together the sail, and try as I might, it doesn't look right. It is just too squared of everywhere. Lots of sanding and a little putty here and there to make it have the very soft look of the original. And replace the molded on ladder rungs and handrail with a little wire.