Great work Jan, my vote would also be for the patrol, keep it simple and focus on the sub and crew.

Frank

Thanks guys, patrol/test it will be - My personal favorite too ...

Early boats had 2 rows of small square steel plates on the top part of the hull front and a wooden deck with a flimsy railing made out of 4 poles with rope/wire. later boats missed these features.

My referances is somewhat lacking on this feature, but my guess is, that the deck was removable and intended for work at the yard - fitting etc. and was removed on delivery. The purpose of the steel pieces was to fix/confine the deck sections, but that the deck was otherwise just loose, so that it would not be possible to dive without the deck comming loose.

Late the steel was seemingly removed - propably at delivery, which must have been annoying since it would require touching up primer and paint.

Does this make sense - any input ?

Since I called the blog "Probefahrt" I guess I have to ad at least the steelfitting, but I think I`ll throw in the wooden decksections to make it more interesting visually - even if I miss referances on the front part. Anyone have a picture showing how it was made around the front bitts?

Cheers/Jan

Got the basic colours on, next for some effects.







Cheers/Jan

Wash and wheatering done









And the layout on the base:

And it needs a crew - its a mix of CMK, Preiser and the silver dude on the deck is from Andrea - he´s a bit out of scale being visibly bigger than the rest, but I think it will work out ok with him standing alone on the deck.





Cheers

Must be getting old, started talking to myself - anyway, I have biiig troubles uploading pictures to my gallery, but when it works i´ll update.

I have begun building up the water, I have added several layers of Acryllic Gel Medium which has been tinted in variying degress with acryllic paints - different shades of green.

The Gel dries up hard and transparant, but in this stage its still wet, and can be moderately shaped with great care using som wet tools.

Cross fingers ....





Cheers/Jan

Good to see your project under way in its' element. She is looking grand, can't wait to see her crewed and completed.

Hi Jan

Here are my comments (some late )
- The layout:
You have managed to create a very well balanced scene and those wooden pylons look great!

The Crew:
The guys look good, relaxed pose. Don't worry about the fender guy looking taller than the others... after all, we are not all standard size. And since he his a tall guy, he is a good choice to be holding the fender

Sea Color:
I like the muck color you have chosen! That is really a nice riverine kind of colour. I just hope that the tinted acrylic gel colors blend well in the final, since the first photos appears to be a very well defined break - let's see what happens!

Keep up - it is a very beautiful work!


Rui

Hejsa min ubåds-fanatiske kammerat.

(translated: Hello my sub-obsessed friend )

Looks awesome, the water is coming along really great. Can't wait to see this one in real life in April

You know what they say... Some guys are bigger than others - almost a quote from MORRISSEY

Happy modelling
João

Thanks guys, I think I am done with this one, personally I quite happy with the result.

An awesome finish on this one Jan. She looks like she is just coming in or going out on patrol. Everything looks spot on from this end. Can't wait to see what you come up with nexr.

Jan, great job. The XXIII is next thing to go on my workbench (except in 1/144). Quite looking forward to it.

Thanks guys!

Libor - its a nice boat, you can even get it i 1:144 if you like.

Cheers/Jan

Well... I will only say:

MOD MOD MOD MOD
Get it Jan?

Congratulations!


Rui

Beautiful!

Must have been sleeping not seeing this, thanks mate, MOD - got it, Mark got it too - but he´s getting old and slow so ...




Thanks, well, it looks better in the photoes than in reality - the water did act up a bit, so it wont stand too close a look, but overall I am happy with the result. If I happen to do water on a larger scale againg, I´m going to find something better that the acryllic gel and pay what it cost.

Cheers/Jan

Beautiful Scene! Bravo Zulu!
I like that your water is not blue!
Cheers,
Guido

Jan, in addition to being an accomplished modeler, you have a rare eye for composition. An exquisitely artful project.

--Karl

Gorgeous work Jan..cheers

Jan, I was never even much of a submarine builder. Rui's great work got me interested in 1/700, and your incredible work here got me interested in the larger scales. This build has inspired me to enter into realms I never thought about before. Those large Lindbergh IJN subs I want- that's all your fault!

Amazing quality!

Hi Jan,

Saw the finished product, excellent stuff. Could you tell me a bit more about the Acryllic Gel Medium you used? What specific type, drying times and is it pour on it's own or mix with something else? How did you go about sculpting the waves etc. In short all you can about making water lol, lol.

Great dio.

Al

Thanks Alan

Well, the acryllic gel - I have somewhat mixed emotions about the result, It looks great in the pictures, but closeup its another matter. I think my problem is, that i deluted it too much with water and paint - and didn´t let it dry enough between layers.

So, in short. Dont dilute it, sparingly with paint and leave 2-3 days between layers that will propably give a better result.

The stuff is relatively cheep compared with "professional" watermaking material, but allso have its limits - a thickness of 1-2 mm is realistic when done.

The gell i use is relativly thin so spreading it out is done with a spartula and when left by itself, it will settle down and even out the surface - dont tuch it unless its to create small ripples.

I have to experient more myself, and I cant garantee that the gel you get in UK is the same stuff as i get in Denmark.

Hope this helps/Jan