Its been awhile since I have been on the site, but I have decided to get back into modeling, starting with an Academy German U-boat model. I have much of it completed already, but I am not exactly sure how to weather it so that it looks realistic. I have not weathered anything in a long time, and evne then it was a tank. Any suggestions on what I should do? I am most interested in learning what a weathered propelller should look like. I know that copper oxidizes and turns green, but what does it do underwater? Thanks a million.

Screws (propellers) were made out of brass (not copper). Here are some pictures of a screw out of the water (now it hadn't turned for about 50 years when the photos were taken... so you're looking at a VERY weathered screw):

http://www.battleshipcove.com/drydock.html

As for U-boat weathering, they saw a lot of action and sea-time during the war, so there wasn't much time for painting and preservation... They got very rusty. Some great examples of weathering techniques can be found in the submarine galleries at steelnavy.com and modelwarships.com.

As far as reference photos are concerned, check out:

http://www.uboat.net/gallery/

Hope this helps!

Todd