The progress so far

Posted on August 04, 2013 by Niek Nijsen

After more than 10 hours of research, I found out that the boat I want to build is different than most other U-boats from that time. Good thing I bought the book which has almost 250 photos in it, most of them showing what I'm looking for. Only thing I am going to do different than the real thing, is add the laughing sawfish emblem to the side, although it wasn't on the real boat during the patrol I'm building. It just looks AWESOME! Besides that, I ordered the wrong paint colour, so I had to buy the correct ones as well. Unfortunately, the 30 day return policy is long gone now...

As I am still waiting for parts to arrive before I can continue on the boat, I started working on the base platform. I've designed the whole thing in SolidWorks and made the plates with text that will be attached to it. I've also been working on the deck, since that is the only thing I can do at the moment. I've cut parts of it off (yes, I know this wooded deck was **** expensive, but it had to be done) and replaced that part with the standard plastic part of the kit. I then added the PE parts to the plastic parts, thus giving a much more realistic resemblance than an all wooden deck. More to follow!

I've found some time to work on the boat again. I started work on the deck gun and the anti-air gun. I've been cutting up the torpedo's so they will fit in the beast's belly and I've been working on the deck a little. But I'm still waiting for my parts to start working on the hull and cutting out all those flood holes...

I started building my command tower interior from scratch. And since my aft deck was bend upwards, don't ask me how, the PE part came off. But I found out that the deck is sloped anyway, and by flipping the part upside down, it fits perfectly. Only thing to do is sand it and glue the PE part back on.

It's been a busy time, but I found a few spare minutes to work on the boat. The interior lighting has arrived, as well as most other parts. Only thing I'm waiting for now are 2 parts for the hull, which will allow me to build the hull as the real boat. But it will require a lot of cutting and rebuilding of the boat. Meanwhile I decided to rebuild the interior, as it wasn't realistic enough in my opinion. More to follow soon!

After 3,5 hours of grinding and sanding with the Dremel multitool, I finally got the flood holes out and started adding extra detail by deforming the hull between the rivets (created by the enormous water pressure when submersed). Yesterday I also received another aftermarket part, this time it had the accurate flood holes for the bottom part of the boat. I'll try fitting those tonight, while I wait for the last part to arrive containing the torpedo doors. More to follow soon!

After a busy period and forgetting to take photos, I finally found time to upload a few more. The bow is now taking shape, as well as the rest of the interior components. Not long anymore before I can start closing the hull and continue with the outside of the boat.

I couldn't sleep last night, so I decided to work on my control tower. By the time it was around 02:30, I was almost done. All that remains now is adding the crew member and the ladder. Once that's done I'll post some photos with the lights on as well.

Hallelujah, I bought a copy of the official logbook of U-96's 7th patrol! This is amazing, thank you Germany for keeping your historical records!

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