Here are the pics of the British S-Boote, one of them shows the German crew leaving their boat for the final time. One shows what a disembowled S-Boot looks like.








Arjan

VERY interesting photos Arjan, thank you for sharing.

This is my last batch of which you probably know three already. The darker pics are the "French"ones. Of interest here is a boat that seems to have some sort of unusual electrical equipment, a radar of sorts perhaps?










I forgot one, mines being loaded onto an S-Boot in Oostend Belgium:



Post script: I will be removing all non-model pics by the end of the day because they have a serious impact on my available photospace.

Arjan

Arjan looking at the great photos you have posted and reading the comments on the forward gun,Ive been looking at the kit parts and read an articale on the kit in a magazine and they say that it looks as though the support arms and shoulder brases are to long.This means that you can not get the correct elivation on the gun which should be able to go to an angle of 70 to 80 degrees.looks like a bit of scratch building may be on the cards. Have not got that much done on mine because of the holidays but hopefully after the weekend will get some done.
All the best for the new year happy modelling and thanks for sharing your info
Keith

Hi Keith,
Best wishes to you as well. Regarding the bowgun: the conclusion in the article you mentioned might well be true. On the other hand, I've been wondering if the problem might not be caused by some parts that were movable in reality and static in the modelkit. The Revell model has very similar elevation problems . I didn't purchase the WEM upgrade set for the Revell kit but what I gathered from pictures, I don't think they managed to solve the elevation problem either. I will be posting some pics of the modelgun tomorrow, perhaps that will show which parts cause the problem.

Regards,

Arjan

Arjan,

Again, I want to say thank you for posting such interesting photos. I am liking this site more and more over than any other ship modeling site. The people on here are helpful and are WILLING to help and share information without ripping each other apart.

Just thank you, ... Thank you ALL.

Garth

Some pics as promised, by now you will have understood that I never rush a build .... Concerning the bowgun: I marked the parts on the left side of the guncradle that prevent further elevation. Unfortunately there does not seem to be any reference material on the left side of the gun. The point where the gun pivots (marked as well) should be much lower in reality. No doubt the comments of others regarding the inadequate size of the frame parts are quite true. I also doubt if the vertical rod/pedestal that pivots in the bottom of the tub is correct. The German I mentioned earlier simply deleted this rod in his Revell model.The other guns: the only gun I fully built is the 20 mm twin (that is to say, using all available parts), I only partly built (and did not glue)most of the 37 mm gun parts because I intend to improve it at a later date. I also bent the vents today. I cut off the feet, then cleaned up the inside of the vents with a rat-tail file. Then I inserted pieces of sprue of the correct diameter (I put one that was slightly too large into an electric drill and reduced the diameter with some coarse sandpaper ). This I deemed necessary for bending them without causing damage. I also compensated for the loss of height by adding a piece of round plastic to the base of the vents. As they hadn't cured yet I didn't manage to correctly finish them off today (filling and sanding that is). I think that the tops of the vents (funnels?) should be slightly bigger (in pictures they seem to be bigger anyway) but I'm not going to worry about that. I also made yet another set of struts and I repositioned the grips on the tubelids (which is only visible in one pic).













Keith could you tell us if there were other useful pointers in that article of yours?

Arjan

That's coming along very nicely Arjan. What boat is it going to be depicting?

Garth

Hi Garth,
Unfortunately, Italeri only provided decals for the Lang and the Ha-Jü boats. On the other hand, it's obvious that these two vessels were the best documented ones in terms of photos. Building these also means some extra work, such as adding sides to the gunshields and 3 extra helmet racks. What does put me off, to tell the truth, is that there will be so many Lang and Ha-Jü boatmodels around shortly... So to sum up I haven't decided yet which one it's going to be. I'm sure there will be aftermarket sets available in a few months and probably also some sets of different decals. Obviously it would also be possible to mount a Flakvierling (I have a few Tamiya ones in stock ) to replace the 3.7 cm gun. Fortunately I still have some building to do before I have to make a decision. I ordered a punch&die set which is likely to arrive tomorrow. I can then add the missing rivets on the pilothouse. After that some painting is required before I can put the Kalotte on and continue with the build.

Regards,

Arjan

Hey Arjan,

Beautiful work on the armament.

Kenny

Arjan no other tips aside from the ones you have already talked about will keep a look out for as much more info as possible and pass on ASAP

Hmmm, then how about doing a generic boat, straight from the ways, ......... ?

I had to consult quite a few dictionaries before I understood your suggestion , but Webster's, which happens to be quite a hefty volume , provided the answer (shipway). This may not be a bad idea at all, especially since I have very little experience with weathering techniques .

Arjan

I'am very hapy because i have already ordered my S 100 just before Christmas, and now I'm waiting for "big box" I would like to convert my S 100 into RC boat with two SPEED 480 motors. I find all the infos from this topic as very interesting and useful

Hi Wojtek,
If you are going to make an rc version this link may be interesting for you. It's in Dutch but there are plenty of pictures:
http://www.modelbouwforum.nl/forums/bouwverslagen-schepen/72708-bouwverslag-1-35-s-100-schnellboot-italeri.html

Arjan

I must confess that I never visit the Dutch forum I mentioned in the above (mostly because they tend to approach a shipmodel from a different angle than I do). On page 4, however, Roel van Essen gives some interesting historical info about the effect rudders and propellershaft-bearings. According to him a special type of tropical hardwood (guaiac(num)/lignum vitae) was used for some of the shaftbearings. Apparently this type of wood was frequently used for bearings in prewar days. One of its characteristics is that it oozes an oil-like substance when subjected to friction. He also mentions that this wood became more important to the Germans when the allies started bombing the ballbearing works in Schweinfurt (Germany) .

Arjan

postscript: For those who are getting impatient there is someone who finished the kit a month ago:
http://www.plasticmodellbausaetze.de/

Once (and IF) I get another job, OR my old job back: I'm going to buy one of those 40 inch PRO MODELER (right company?) R/C PT-109 semi-kits that I always see on Ebay. Granted the details aren't that great.

BUT - to run it in a pond out behind a beach I go to on Cape Cod just for [auto-censored]e and giggles - it'll be fine ............... right?

Hi Arjan

thank you very much for this RC link, it seems to be very interesting, maybe Dutch it's for me slightly tricky part but partialy reading, partialy guessing i can read a little bit... of course pictures are the most interesting... I was thinking about two 480 motors or one 600 instead of three 400 motors, but we will see

Thank you very much once again

Wojtek

Hi Wojtek,
I'm afraid I don't know anything about rc hardware and translating the text into English would take me too much time . To tell the truth I'm getting more and more disenchanted with the model in terms of its historical accuracy. The pictures of the Lang boat show that there were no helmet-racks on the rear of the pilothouse of the type that Italeri provided, in fact I don't see any. The same goes for the Ha-Jü boat although there is less photographic evidence in this case. The photo of the two boats on page 27 of the Squadron book also seems to confirm my suspicions that something is terribly wrong with the dimensions of the torpedo tubes (in reality there was far more space between the tubes and the pilothouse). I have a hunch that the diameter of the tubes is far too big. This would also, at least partly, explain my problems with the tube lids. I also fear that the minerails are completely wrong for this late type of boat (there are pics of these rails mounted on 1940 boats). Since minelaying had become the prime task of the S-Boote in the last few months of the war, I feel that the longer, curved rails would be far more appropriate. I realize most of you will find me a boring rivetcounter but I do feel that the PT model was a far more accurate representation of reality (of course there was more reference material on the latter). If anyone is willing to share S-100 pictures (possibly of S-205 or 206) I would be delighted. Yesterday I discovered one of S-205, I hadn't seen before.

Arjan

I joined the Dutch forum mentioned earlier yesterday in the hope of finding some more info. I obviously came to the right place because one of the members, Manfred, provided a really fantastic link on the Zwilingsflak. I hope he doesn't mind my sharing this info with you:
http://www.ship-model-today.de/sd132.htm

Arjan

Howdy,
I have been following your build with much interest, as I am building the same thing. I bought another to convert to a S-38. I just found this site.
http://www.wochenschau-archiv.de/suchergebnisse.php
You have to register, it is free. Type in Schnellboote and there are 3 movies. Please keep up the great work. Ryan

Hi Ryan,
Best wishes to you and all the others. Thanks for your great link. Pity I'm not a technical man so I can't make any screengrabs. It will no doubt require quite a lot of extra work to convert the kit into an S-38 version. The German whose work I admire also made a similar conversion of the Revell kit. Don't know if you noticed this Baubericht:
http://www.modellmarine.de/index.php?option=com_alphacontent§ion=11&category=189&Itemid=59
I found a German forum on which his handywork can also be admired, he calls himself Murdock the Krokettenkapitän here. There are also a few S-Boot pics:
http://www.modellboard.net/index.php?topic=6082.0

Yesterday I started assembling the torpedoes as my p&d set still hasn't arrived. The propeller blades are terribly fragile and two blades snapped off while cleaning them up (so I spent some time on my knees in an effort to retrieve them from the carpet). To my surprise pics show that the blades of the two counter-rotating propellers should be in line. They also reveal that the slot and hole detail is not quite spot on, but only a mope would worry about that. The rivets on the tailplates are missing as well. What is more worrying, however, is that there is not enough clearance between the front propellerblades and the fins of the torps.

Regards,

Arjan

WOW! And I thought the modeler who built my S-100 did a great job... That Murdock just blew mine away.

The previous link to Murdock's S-38 conversion should work now. Personally I think this job is even better. By now I have also discovered that the Italeri torpedo cradles are of the early kind ,whereas late boats had simplified versions (this includes the Lang and Ha-Jü). The location of the smokedischargers is also wrong for late boats because they would interfere with the long, curved mine rails. The position of the 20mm ammo-lockers was also different on these two boats (and the same probably goes for quite a few of the other fittings as well). To sum up, if you wish to build either version, forget the Italeri plans and study the available pictures.

Arjan

Hi Arjan ,
I was on the S-130.co.uk/ site. They are going to make a conversion kit for a S-38, this will be thru Cammetts. I have e mailed them and they hope to have this out in early '09. They also have planned mines and depth charges plus short and long rails. Ryan