Miniature Scenery: Let’s build a U-Boat

Miniature Scenery teilen die ersten Schritte zu ihrem U-Boot Projekt.

Teil 0,5:

Let’s build (another) boat… part 0.5

Well, new year, new stuff. We have a bunch of new releases coming up, including some additions to our range of space battles wreckage and something of a more spikey nature. While all that is being prepared /tested/painted and wot-not, I thought I’d design another (slightly more Modern) floating thing.

References have been gathered, measurements derived and basic work has begun.

So lets have another guessing game. It shouldn’t be too difficult, so no prizes. What am I working on?

Cryptic clue:

There is absolutely no way this will fit into a 22″ hatch….

Teil 1:

Let’s make a U-boat. because reasons.

Righto. to work. U-boats are a bit like dinosaurs. Thin on one end, much much thicker in the middle, and then thin again on the other end. Shouldn’t be too difficult.

So, Why a U-boat?

1: U-boats are cool.

2: I’m not aware of a currently available, accurate U-boat in wargaming scale (more on scale later…).

3: it’s WW2 German. Which is popular.

4: U-boats are Cool.

The Plan.

A waterline model appropriately scaled for popular ww2 28mm skirmish games with a good degree of accuracy (well, as good as I can reasonably obtain within the restrictions of the materials) and two levels of detail. A standard kit, and an add-on for maximum mousemuffiness, albeit with a slight reduction in playability.

The model will be lengthy. But narrow. A tad over 1200mm long and about 110mm wide at 1/56 scale. The model will separate into sections for easier transport though.

Let’s begin….

Teil 2:

Let’s build a U-boat. Part 2

I mentioned earlier that the final model will be divided into a number of sections for ease of transport. In addition to that, the format we use for our kits limits the length of parts to about 320mm so this also works from a parts practicality point of view.

Having said that, I think I’ll make the stern section one piece for strength and simplicity.

I’ve also made a start on the bow section with a start on the framing, giving an idea of how I expect this all to go together.

I’ve had to make a decision to do an early U-boat with the deck gun and smaller conning tower. This won’t completely preclude doing a later version at a later date. It would mean a n entirely new deck and conning tower though.

Teil 3:

Let’s Make a U-boat. Part 3 : The middle bit.

Okay, so this is a type VIIc u-boat, in a typical early war configuration. Which means Smaller conning tower, deck gun and net cutter on the bow. Many early boats were converted to a later war style by replacing the conning tower with a larger version with more anti aircraft and deleting the deck gun and Net cutter. Of course, boats built after about the middle of 1941 were constructed this way from the outset.

Anyhoo, Conning tower.

Pictures show the underlying structure and general layout of the Standard model and is somewhat simplified. I’ve designed it so the deck features can be removed easily so figures can be placed more readily in the otherwise cramped bridge. The More detailed version will have way more tiny bits to dress things up a bit, as is my wont. More on that shortly.

I’m a little concerned about how to create adequately detailed guns at this scale, but I’ll deal with that later.

Link: Miniature Scenery FB