Hi everybody,
The figures come from Azimut, a Parisian shop. The owner created about 10 years ago the very same Schnellboot at the same scale and released a 10-crew set to go with it. Since Italeri has issued the kit, plus the LWS from Mid Productions, he's now selling off his stock!
You can visit his website on:
http://www.azimutproductions.com
The crew can be found on
http://www.phpshopxml.com/azimut.shop/CID/9cbba5f834003d884343e2476e3a58c8/function/itemSearchResultPageDisplay/shopSearchType/itemTable2/shopSearchData/KDF%7CAZI%7CECH%7C135" TARGET="_blank"> http://www.phpshopxml.com/azimut.shop/CID/9cbba5f834003d884343e2476e3a58c8/function/itemSearchResultPageDisplay/shopSearchType/itemTable2/shopSearchData/KDF%7CAZI%7CECH%7C135
Unfortunately there's no picture, only the price...
The other good news is that 'U-Models' also released some sailors lately, from various countries including Germans, which will certainly help to give a livelier touch to our models!
http://www.phpshopxml.com/azimut.shop/CID/9cbba5f834003d884343e2476e3a58c8/function/itemSearchResultPageDisplay/shopSearchType/familySubFamilyCode/shopSearchData/KDF%7CUMS135" TARGET="_blank"> http://www.phpshopxml.com/azimut.shop/CID/9cbba5f834003d884343e2476e3a58c8/function/itemSearchResultPageDisplay/shopSearchType/familySubFamilyCode/shopSearchData/KDF%7CUMS135

Cheers... and good weekend to you all.

Robert

Thanks Robert, I've just ordered a set

Cheers,

Arjan

Spent the week at Plymouth on S130 and thought I would put up some pics for you guys. Some exciting news is that we have found a series of US drawings giving the exact upper and lower GA's for the S38B variant. These were made from a salvaged boat in 1945 and will now allow us to retrospectively correct the S100 drawings we have produced.

First up are inside and outside shots of an original hatch - not sure about the glass




Next are the original filling points for fuel and oil, the slotted caps are threaded




A view of the still working rudder mechanism under the tiller flat


Finally a shot of Arthur, the Zobel class S-boat from 1960. Although 140ft long most of the internal stuff is interchangeable and is being removed for reuse

Great work everyone. Almost makes me what to super detail a 1/72 S boat.

Thanks for the interesting shots Brian. Especially the hatch close-ups are very useful. Could you tell us if the S-100 drawings you are working on will be published in the near future? I have no doubt I'm not the only one who would like to purchase a set.

Regards,

Arjan

Nice shots Brian - thanks for posting them!

Had a lovely day in the 'man cave' with a quiet house. I finished the targeting computer and other sundry bridge details. This was one of those days where everything worked the first time

Some shots of the targeting computer based totally on photographs.




Added those ammo boxes holders to the sides, they aren't totally correct but they do the trick. The ammo boxes are Verlinden from the spares box. I also added a machine gun to put into the pintle. I also added the small box (with some sort of instruments) that shows up in pictures.




With this done, I have now clipped and cleaned everything off of the main sprues. All that is left to assemble are the guns.

Chris

Once again fantastic scratching Chris, this will look fantastic when its all painted.
Looking at your last picture I wondered if anyone had figured out what that strange PE frame is that gets fitted to the rear bulkhead of the wheelhouse (or even if it really did exist).
Julian

Hi Chris/Julian,
Nice work Chris! I've nearly finished detailing the targeting computer as well, it's fun to see the differences in our observations. My biggest problem is the wiring, it's just impossible to tell which wire goes where. Yesterday I started correcting/detailing the guntub, this is also quite a bit of work since everything has to be scratched. The vertical support in the middle is complete fantasy, the gun pivotted on a horizontal bar instead. There are quite a few rivets to be applied as well Julian, the consensus so far seems to be that the part you refer to is a chart rack (Keith, Garth and myself )

Cheers,

Arjan

Awesome work, Chris. You are a real source of inspiration and I'm starting to emulate you!



Thanks and carry on the good job.

Robert

Hi Chris,
nice work and pics!
... but the racks on the sidewall of the bridge I think, they are two wide in comparison with the original ones. MG34 and MG42 on S-Boat are not belt-feed, so there was no need of ammo-boxes.
The smaller racks (on the sidewall and next to the torpedo tubes) are sized to hold double-drum-magazines for the weapons:





Michael

Hello Michael -

Thanks for the tip about the ammo drums - easily rectified and hopefully easily sourced - I knew it was going too well

Arjan - how is the horizontal mount on the gun tub fitted? Is it set to the ring itself? I have another question as well: the instructions place the ready 20mm clips mounted directly to the gun shield, but pictures on some earlier gun mounts show the rack mounted to the pedestal - which is correct?

Chris

Thanks Michael, I had been thinking about the Gurttrommel as well but I didn't know for sure. I couldn't imagine that the racks were intended for these but then I had forgotten about the double ones. Hi Chris here are some pics. The underwater pic shows the horizontal bar I mentioned. I hope you can work out how it is fixed (suspended from two metal supports on the sides that rest on the ring). The Italeri rings are not correct either,I enlarged the hole in the deck, scratched three new rings, two horizontal ones and one vertical one but I will make some pics this week because it's a bit hard to explain.. As can be judged from the pics there are two rings with rivets (the vertical ring has rivets on both sides and the horizontal ring on top of the deck also has rivets (see the second pic), and there are rivets around the "dooropening" as well . The vertical ring doesn't rotate (unlike the Italeri one), nor do the horizontal ones for that matter.




Arjan

Hi Chris,
look at the pic in the Squadron-book, page 45 / bottom left; thats the rear of the 2mm twin from HaJü and Lang: here the ready 20mm clips are mounted directly to the gun shield. Maybe on other boats other versions were mounted, but for HaJü and Lang it's clear.
Cheers,
Michael

Hi Arjan -

Excellent pictures, many thanks! More bending and scratching (sounds like me getting up in the morning) ahead of me I guess I assembled both the kit mine rails and the Cammett depth charges this afternoon. The Cammett set is excellent - very easy to assemble. I believe that I will fill all the holes and paint both sets - then use white glue to affix the Cammett set, despite the apparent inaccuracy because it looks so nice sitting there. But, if a decent set of mines comes along I can pull them off and install the kit mine rails.

Michael - were the machine guns MG42s, MG34s or MG81s (from Luft. aircraft using the dual drums)? Or is the answer whatever was available - just like the PT boats in the Pacific? I did pull off the wide ammo holders and made a set of narrower ones - I just need to decide if I want to put single cans or dual cans there.

Chris

Hi Chris,
the german MG15 (regular an aircraftweapon, but later in the war the Luftwaffe needs heavier machine guns and they were replaced; some were rebuilt as infantry weapens with bipod and shoulder butt attachment), MG34 and MG42 are able to use the double-drum containing 75 rounds total; ammunition was fed by a spring forced spiral, not by a belt inside!
I havn't found the real dimensions of the double drum but I think, they will be suitable to the S-boats racks on the bridge walls and near the torpedo tubes.
This racks are too narrow for 250 rounds ammo boxes and too wide for the single drums containing 50 rounds. So the double drums are a good answer to our difficulties.
Till now I havn't found double drums in 1:35, maybe some MG-set encloses them?


Michael

Thank you Michael -

I just ordered 2 of the Tamiya German weapons set (3511) - they are inexpensive and have a tripod mounted MG34 which I will modify. There are drum mags included and I will modify a couple to the dual configuration to at least have a couple in the holders. I am hoping that Quickboost will release a detail set for the Revell of Germany 1/32 JU-88 that may include the drums - or borrow some from a frien who has the kit now.

Chris

Hi Chris,
Giving a closer look to the pic Julian posted earlier, it looks to me -- at first sight -- that the shape of the rectangle box that projects outside the hull (A), if I take into account the slight perspective, rather than to be simply flat as represented on your piccies on page 12, had a more likely sloping sides shape (B). But again, it is only a personal feeling as I have no further detail concerning this piece. Hope it helps...

Robert

Hi Robert,
Have a look at this pic:

Chris: the old Tamiya Sd.Kfz. 251 Ausf. C kit and the Kettenkrad kit contain a double drum magazine (one of the advantages of being an old fart).

Cheers,

Arjan

Thanks Arjan again for your help. I lighted up the pic to see better and it seems my guess wasn't exactly correct, but don't you think it might have had a sloping side going from bow to stern?

Best, Robert

Hi Robert,
You may be right but it's difficult to judge. I stick to my original idea that the bottom side is chamfered. In this lightened version of the pic it would seem, however, that two fasteners/hinges can be seen on the left side of the contraption. Or is this simply because I want to see them After all my experience is that one always sees what one expects to see or would like to see...

Arjan

Arjan -

I looked over the gun tub instructions and wow - you were not kidding! It almost looks like the frame is upside down. I think I'll start with the rear guns instead......

Chris

Hi Chris,
Here are some pics of the first steps... Perhaps a bit premature but you'll get the general drift anyway. Also two pics of the Kalotte to show what the Archer beads look like (not brilliant pics and the same goes for the paintjob). If I were you I would add some of these beads to your Kalotte as well. To my surprise I've just received my Azimut figures (I only ordered them friday ) so their service is brilliant. I'm amazed at the quality of these figures, incredibly sharp detail, wonderful faces etc. The set contains 10 figures and I paid € 60 including postage. I think this is a real bargain and in view of the quality I can highly recommend them.






Cheers,

Arjan

Postscript: I have by now taken some measurements for those interested. The three rings are made from 0.5 mm plastic card. Deckring: dia in 3.7 cm/ dia out 3.9 cm (perhaps you should make it 4cm because I feel it's slightly too narrow). Vertical ring: length of strip some 11 cm (you will have to cut a bit off), width 7 mm and dia in 3.6 cm/ dia out 3.7 cm. Bottom ring dia in 3.15/ dia out 3.7. For those not familiar with making plastic disks or rings, simply use a pair of two-pointed compasses to cut them out. This is very simple and because the plastic is so thin it will only take some minutes.

Hi Arjan -

Excellent work and I really appreciate the pictures. The measurements will be a great time saver as well. Those weld beads look very nice, I have been quite impressed with the Arher rivets thus far - a great product

Chris

Thanks Chris. I would like to hear your opinion and that of the others about whether or not there are hinges/fasteners to be seen on the "outboard connector", or am I delusional? I noticed there is a minor problem with the Azimut figures in that it's not always quite clear which arms should go with which figure (there is no illustration, just rather faint or non-existent numbers on the sprue). Fortunately I came across this link (the Italeri kit is offered together with the Azimut figures). The boat has been painted in an "interesting" camouflage scheme Fortunately the figures are depicted as well so now I know which arms should go where. The paintjob on both the boat and figures is not of the highest standard :
http://images.kitlink.com/Products/images/Salepics/Schnellboote.html

Arjan

Hello Arjan -

It makes sense that there would be hinges, but I can't place them. The figures look nice and animated - careful painting will bring out the details.

Chris