All -

Here are the modified duckboards, it didn't take me long to do at all. I also finished off the extra voice-tubes as seen on Ha Ju (page 41 in the Squadron book).











I am waiting on another rivet sheet from Archer as I am ready to start replacing all of the lost detail.

Chris

Great paintjob on your crewmen Arjan, looks very good.
Chris, the duckboards really look the job here, makes you wonder why Italeri chose for PE.
The styrene strips look like duckboards, the PE pieces remind me more of the "click-laminate" floors you can buy for your house, too wide. Think I'll be buying some evergreen strips. The voice pipes add a busy look to the bridge, still have to fit all the voice pipes on my build.

Julian

Great work Chris. The plastic strips are definitely an improvement so I decided to have a go at them as well, fortunately I have the correct size in stock I also love the voice tubes. It would seem that you will have to replace quite a few rivets I shaved off the rivets on the hull sides (near the pilothouse) as well because I couldn't get the mouldcrap off without doing so. Besides some rows looked as if they had been rivetted by a drunk . I also think that some of these rivets are in the wrong place anyway (it would seem that the Italeri people copied the rivet rows of the Walter boat (an S-38b type) ).

Cheers,

Arjan

Chris love the duck boards definetly better looking than the PE. Have just got my archer rivets and Aber barrels hope to get some good progress done on mine this weekend have been busy with work of late.Chris would you be able to post the measurements for the filler caps on your boat think they look just right. Arjan thanks again for all the detail info.

I haven’t been following this very much but after spending a good deal of time starting over from the beginning all I can say is “Beautiful work.”

I saw one of these at a recent show, but already knew it would be “too big” as my wife says. She likes the 1/700 stuff much better.

Fantastic work!!

Chris, Arjan, Maybe you two "S-boat experten"can shed some light here:
the 4 slightly conical pieces of plastic with a pronounced base on the raised deck in front of the DC racks, pieces numbered 27d and 82d, are these supposed to be capstans for mooring and manhandling the DC or mines on the racks? I am rather inclined to think so but it wouldn't be the first time I'm barking up the wrong tree with this ship.
cheers,
Julian

Hi Julian,
this is a cutout from the PrinzEugen-site and I think the part 27d is named "Wintsch" or winch. But I'm not able to identify the name of the other part; maybe my glasses....
Hope, I could help you...
Cheers
Michael



Sorry, I have to correct me!
I infered the word "Wintsch" from the last letters in the drawing, but the german word for winch is written without a "t" = Winsch; so my former description is wrong!
So I took my magnifier and could identify the words -but this isn't realy an answer!

Part 27D is named "deutsch" or "german" and for part 82D it's "franz." the abbreviation for "französisch" or "french".
So I havn't realy an idea, what that means; what is so important for the use of S-boats to differ between a german or a french part / access / adapter on the deck / the ceiling of the galley of an S-boat. Maybe it's a cover of an connection to bunker something? Water or electricity with different connectors?
I hope anyone else has a clue!?

Hopefull waiting for a solution

Michael

PS: parts 85D are "Lüfter" or vents

Thank you Michael, that is what they are: capstans. (and two pointy chimney like vents).
Would expect the shape to be different, certainley not conical (the rope or wire would ride up and off the capstan when strain is put on it).
Excellent, more room for weathering.
Cheers,
Julian

Excellent work!

Hi Julian,
stop destroying the kit parts look at my edit above



Michael

Check this out Michael, someone else thinks they are capstans as well:



cheers,
Julian

Evening gents,
I mentioned these parts earlier (page 5) and I think they are smokebuoys, at least, the rearmost parts. After all the drawing says: "Halter für Nebelboje". There is a pic of the Lang boat that shows a gas cylinder type object here:

The colour illustration of the Lang boat in the Squadron book also shows that these were not winches. I think winches/capstans in this position wouldn't make sense either. I plan to use the cylinders (cut down to size) from the Italeri tool set for these.

Cheers,

Arjan

Hi Arjan,
I think you are right ... and you have good eyes - I couldn't identify the words in the drawing. Maybe racks for smokebuoys of different origin is here the answer!? (german or/and french)
... and I agree, there's no reason for winches/capstans in this position!
Let us see pics of your cylinders, you will make, using the Italeri tool set. In the moment i can't figure them...


Michael

Racks for smoke buoys, okido, pity that Italeri didn't put these among the PE pieces.
Thanks Gents,
Julian


Edit:
Check this out:
http://www.ptboatworld.com/PT_Boat_Models/Schnellboot.htm " TARGET="_blank"> http://www.ptboatworld.com/PT_Boat_Models/Schnellboot.htm
the article specifically mentions adjusting the molded on smoke generators.

Hi Michael/Julian,
I think you are right Michael about the terms French/German. French no doubt refers to (captured) stocks of French buoys which must have had a different size. Julian this is Garth's site, he mentioned it early on and he also referred to the smoke dischargers I've been wondering what smoke buoys would have been used for. They are normally used to mark the spot where someone has fallen into the sea (sometimes a smokecanister is attached to life-jackets etc. for this purpose). In this case they were probably used to provide a stationary smokescreen (as opposed to the "moving smoke screen" produced by the smoke dischargers) ? By the way I referred to this Italeri set:
http://www.modelsforsale.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=42849
The cylinders have nearly the correct diameter (slightly too small) for the rearmost "Halter" . What applies to the feet of the smokedischargers probably also applies to the feet of the smokebuoy-holders in that they should be off the deck. This makes sense because if they were bolted straight onto the deck, water might get in between the deck and holder causing rot.

Cheers,

Arjan

The Italeri field toolshop set, have one those in my stash if I remember correctly. Anything is better than the undetailed things Italeri supplies with the model.
Julian

Edit:
See which cilinders you mean Arjan, yes, would look good. Holder made from scrap PE would finish it off nicely.

Hello all -

Keith - the filler caps are 6x9mm (I used a Tritool template for the outline).

Been working on fiddly bits this weekend. Am I the only one to be frustrated by having to clean up mold marks?

I wanted to share what I did to make the extra helmet 'holder' on the twin mount gun shield. First I copied the entire photo etch sheet and then cut out the frame for a helmet holder:



Then I folded and rolled the paper and glued it directly onto the gun shield:



Once I had it where I wanted it, I soaked the paper in thin superglue - making it a solid piece:



Chris

Hi Chris,
Thanks for the measurements, I'm sure Keith and I are not the only ones to appreciate this. I like your idea to use "treated" paper for thin parts. I opened up the two rectangular communication ports in the bridge (a pretty misguided thing to do) so now I have to make two thin lids with raised edges. The paper technigue might well be the answer here. I worked on the mould marks for hours on end (trying not to damage the rivets) and I thought I had managed to remove them. When I had sprayed the hull-sides, however, I discovered the marks were still very noticeable... So I removed the paint and all the rivets in the area and tackled them once more. Now I'm waiting for the appropriate Archer rivet set (88016) to replace them. The same goes for the plastic plates that go on top of the screws, I thought they could no longer be seen.....

Cheers,

Arjan

This should get the rivet makers excited :
http://www.sockelshop.de/catalog/conversion-kits-rivets-bolts-c-73_23_77_339.html

Now that is a lot of rivets !

cheers,
Julian

Hi Julian,
Nice overview of what is available, I assume, though, that you are still no rivetconvert . I must say that I'm pretty pleased with the Archer decals. Especially when you have to add lots of rivets as is the case with the Italeri kit, the latter are perfect. You can apply dozens in an hour , spacing and lining them out presents no problem since they come on a carrier film. Applying metal rivets must be much more demanding and time-consuming, you will have to use superglue for one thing. Spacing and lining them out evenly must be very difficult. Plastic and pe- ones no doubt also require cleaning up which won't be easy. To return to the Italeri kit, I mentioned I opened up the communication ports. This was a bad idea because the Italeri Kalotte panels are so close to these ports that the lids can't be properly opened (probably because the panels are way too thick). I relocated the port port some two milimeters to the right (in reality it was also much closer to the compass) but even that doesn't really provide enough clearance for the lids to be opened properly. A shame really because I had managed to make some nice lids

Arjan

I forgot to mention yesterday that I also scratched the rectangular objects near the the tip of the Panther's tail. These were not only present on the Lang and Ha-Jü boats but they can also be seen on other late S-100 boats. My guess is that they are connected in some way with fuelling, that's why I think they must have had lids (unfortunately pics are not sharp enough to be sure about this, nor can any hinges or fasteners be identified). I used a piece of plastic card of 2mm thickness on top of which I glued a 0.25 mm "lid". I think they are approximately 5mm wide and 9mm long (since the bottom side is chamfered I made the lid 8mm long).

Cheers,

Arjan

Hi Arjan,
No, haven't converted to rivets yet, have been scratching some smoke dispenser racks instead of the rather shapeless blobs of plastic Italeri supplied.
Do you mean this little box that seems to project outside the hull?

Not sure if this is for re-fueling, would surely be easier to put the fuel line through the railing.
Still, I have made some monumental mistakes about what the German designers considered logical on this build so maybe you are right
Cheers,
Julian

Hi Julian,
Thanks for the image (I'm not terribly good at computers). In many ways these boxes remind me of the sockets that can be found on caravans (for plugging into the mains supply instead of using the battery), but they seem to be too big for this purpose. I've also been thinking about the compressed air-tanks of the torptubes. I assume there wasn't an onboard compressor for (re)filling these so perhaps this is what these "ports" might have been used for Perhaps someone has any better suggestions ?

Arjan

Hi Arjan and Julian,
I assume, that these boxes are not covers for refueling adaptors; maybe they are covers for so called "Außenbordanschlüsse".
That means access-points to receive electricity (or water) in a harbour without using the inboard generator; in this case I would prefer electricity; but on the other hand, an electricity-access exposed to splash water?
Or it's only a cover for an inboard installation, that has to be attached flat on the wall to conserve place (for the torpedo tubes?).
But till now, I couldn't find an answer on pics or drawings!
By the way is there any assertion to the two pins just above the box and a little higher on the side of the kalotte! I Think this are brackets for MGs - and there's a handhold, also missing in the kits and Cammetts kalotte!

Michael

Hi Michael,
Since most of these boats were docked in bunkers, and electricity must have been readily available there, an outboard connection to the mains supply may well be the answer. You are no doubt right about the mg34 mounts as well but these were probably not generic features present on most S-100 boats. A point that has been missed by Italeri and Cammett is that two of the vertical panels on top of the Kalotte should overlap. It's quite clear, however, that no two boats were exactly the same. I wonder if you also noticed that Ha-Jü has the observation platform (on top of the chartroom ) in an unusual position (slightly to the right of the centre instead of on the port side as is the case with Lang). As I remarked earlier, Ha-Jü also has an extra (or, at least, noticeably longer ) vertical panel on top of the Kalotte. To tell the truth I love these "spot the difference" games

Arjan