Thanks Rui.
I guess I'll have to come up with some sort of cart or rack for it, besides the kits one.

Nice start Alan!

I have been trawling my sub related litterature last night, and if the interior on the Biber was treated in the same way as the Seehund, then its a single colour looking like a middelgray.

I allso looked for trolleys and racks, some looks like goverment issue and some looks like something made locally from heavy timber - i´ll try to scan some pictures if possible.

Cheers/Jan

Hi Dave,

I saw a bit of footage the other evening shown one being run down into the water between to thin metal walkways, at least i think they were metal, unfortunately I didn't see he bit on dry land but there must have been a small trolly underneath. There wre crew either side shoving it along.

Ah, I see I have become a blog .

Having searched around the spares boxes, I don't have anything remotely like the 'taps' on the instrument panel. You get a couple of decals for the main panel and the option of adding a small sheet of PE. I'm going to use a combination of both. I wlll add some plumbing down each side and teh small electrical box behind the instrument panel shown in the pic Joe posted, but I recon I'll be stumpted on the two taps but I'll double check to see if I have enything that might work.

You need to sand down or carve off some ejection marks either side of the inside of the conning tower and I have fitted part 6a and the small PE plate underneath part 13ph.I'll see if I can fashion some dials and things to make it a bit more interesting but it is a very small space lol, lol.

AL





There seem to be two main pipes running wither side of the hull so I'll add those from plastic rod. For the external one I've drilled a small hole through the lower part of the instrument panel. The Brass Gauges I'll make from the ends of German Gas Masks and some lead wire.





Al

Hi Guys,


A bit more work on the instrument panel:

Having added the PE top I then botched some fittings from plastic tube. The seat has been installed and some more plumbing on the lower hull.

When dry I'll parint the remaining bits of the panel and added the last two decals.





Probably not worth the effort but it looks a bit more 3D now.

Al

[quote]Hi Simon and Jan,

Another point are the torpedo's. There are two different ends for them. Can anyone tell me is if one is more correct than the other. Time period I'm thinking of would be Jun to Aug 44.

The torpedoes where the rudder and depth vanes are behind the propellor are earlier G7 T1 . The later ones have the rudders etc in front of the propellors.
Have a look here http://www.one35th.com/seehund/sh_armament.htm seewhat you think

Cheers
Adam

Ahoy Alan,

Sorry for the delay in answering, unfortunately I don't have any photos looking
aft.

Also, look for an acetylene/oxygen torch kit in the model railroad section
of your local hobby shop. The knobs on the tanks are exactly the same type.

HO or O scale may be just the right size to represent the red knobs.

She is look just great this far !
Cheers,
Joe

Hi Joe and Adam,

thanks guys.

Al

Excellent job you are doing Alan. The piping to the rear of the fin is an exhaust extension with valve at the end I would presume. Do you have any idea what the two thin lines are at the front end of the fin?
cheers,
Julian

Hi Julian,

I'm afriad not, I have little knowledge of this bit of kit.

I got to IWM today and have uploaded a walkabout of the Biber which I hope will be of use.

Looking at the pics I have I was wondering if the additional welds/holes were post war where they have cut into the hull to have a look and then patched it up?

Al

Hi Guys,

What sort of fitting would have been underneath the periscope, I'm assuming it had one?

Thanks

Al

Ahoy Alan,
Here is a photo of what looks like the periscope....it seems to be very basic.




Cheers,
Joe

Many thanks Joe,

Al

Ahoy Alan,

Checked out an acetylene welding kit last night at my local hobby shop and
the knobs would be too small in either HO or O scale and are represented by
just little blobs of plastic.

However for size and detail..... 1:35 is just the right size and looks quite the
same.

A really nice torch set is included in Tamiya's Dragonwagon....I am sure
there are other sources.

Cheers,
Joe

Hi Joe,

Thanks, I've made some from plastic rod. They are not the correct shape, but they give the indication of knobs and in truth little if anything will be seen of the interior once the top is on so I've gone for the illision rather than the accuracy and the same detail with the internal plumbing it will create the idea of fixings rather than the actual thing.

If you choose to model this as a cut away then that would be an interesting and challenging project and a very worthy one for the additonal time and expense but as mine will only have the small top hatch open so illusion shold work for me.

Here's progress so far:









I need to clamp down some of the piping, add a couple of decasl to the fittings and the window glass, then tidy up the painting and join her together.

Thanks again for all the info - I do hope someone does a cut away.

Al

Hi Guys,

Well added a couple of windiows, the instrument panel, some decals and dirtied things up a bit so the two part can be afixed together at this point. Just remember to add part 5a at this stage too.





Thanks to Joe I will have a go at a basic periscope.

Al

Here is a rather mint condition Biber on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXPpdXpqM6g
Good old #90:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt_qnfBBGSo
Hope the links work
Julian

Yes they do..........................................................

Thanks for the links Julian.

Here's progress so far.







I think the next job will be to try and make the weld seems a little better and add the missing ones at the front. Drilling through PE is not fun lol, lol.

Al

Hi guys,

Well I've added a few 'enhanced' weld seems. Hopefully these will paint in OK and not lok quite so large. I also roughtened up the inside edges of the main joints as these were very smooth. I haven't carried them under the top hull until I make the torpedos and see how they fit.







Al

Coming along nicely here Alan ! Like the tubes at the front of the fin, ( wish I knew what they were for though ). Not too sure about the welding, seems rather "beefy", maybe the paint will tone it down a bit. All in all a nice job so far.
Julian

Hi Julian,

You may well be right about the beefy seems, too much armour

Bit more work.



Al

Hi Guys,

Well here we are with the torpedos set in place, just some windows, PE fittings, periscope and a few small bits to do.



Al

Hi guys,

added the small fitting to the port side and started to bend my bit of piping into place. Also so added some colour to the torpedos.





Al

Hi Guys,

Here's my effort at the contraption on the back of the sub. I couldn't fashion the odd shaped fitting/bolt just before the bend so I've added a circular one. The brass rod should be a fraction further up, more passing through the centre of the opening I cut in the conning tower but as I'll probably knock it off when painting I can alter it then but for now I'll leave well alone.

Sorry about the quality of the pic but the light is totally gone now so this will have to do.



Julian,

I've lowered the welds a bit, so hopefully painted in they will blend better.

Next up is the PE fixings for the rear - this is where the additional correction sheet of instructions comes into play:



Look like PE parts 4 & 5 need reduced by 3mm. Hopefully these won't be a pain.

The two crewmen I intend to make as a RN Petty Officer and Officer, the uniforms look similar, I've just removed the German Badges and they will find a home in the Lighthouse, as I've been looking for suitable figuers and with a set of new arms and heads they should be OK.

Can anyone recommend a Tamiya Gray to paint this in?

Thanks

Al

That is becoming a very sexy build Alan, the welds look better in these pics and your exhaust valve is magic. Have you considered using Life Colour Deutsche Kriegsmarine colours? they have several German navy greys that you could consider. "s what I used on my Tirpitz.
Cheers,
Julian

Hi Julian,

Thanks, it is probably not worth the expense for a one off build. I have some Light Grey and Natural grey and some Deep Sea Grey so hopefully I'll get a reasonably close colour form those.

The exhaust valve turned out better than I had hoped which is why I'll leave it as is

Do you know how these subs were referred to - U90???

Cheers

Al