Well, lets give this a try. I've been beating the bushes trying to get the airwing for my Peter Strasser outfitted---Its the last thing that I'll be working on to finish the carrier---no luck so far with my local shops. I'm working on the added belt armor and the lower portholes now. I have my base, and my DD's---even a 1/700 S-boot as a sub chaser. More later

thinking of getting some 1/72 figs for the u-boat any ideas what to use for the rigging the "thread" Revell give on a spool doesn't look up to much

For 1/72 scale, use light weight monofilament fishing line attached with super glue. Use something like Kristal Klear or Model Master clear glue to make the insulators on the radio lines.

BB,
do you have a picture of the insulators or how to make them, its my 1st boat so references are a bit thin

I haven't seen the kit box myself to see how well they were done on the box art. Check in your hobby shop's book section or in a bookstore's history section for Squadron Signal's U-boats in Action. It has actual wartime pictures of practically all types of U-boats. Another source for pictures would be your local library's World War 2 section---check for the Time/Life series on the Second World War; they had at least one volume just on the U-boat war in the Caribean, Atlantic, Western Approaches and NorthSea. Find a picture of the type that you're building, then get you're rigging done. I would recommend against useing regular thread for rigging, unless it has been waxed to remove all the fuzz from its surface. For the insulators, use Krystal Klear or Model Master Clear Parts Cement & Window Maker #8876C. Get a small drop in a needle, and build it up into a ball all the way around the antenna where the insulators are shown in the pictures. Remember to use a black marker to blacken the antenna wires---the insulators themselves, I believe, were either white or light gray ceramic.

cheers bb,
I'll have a nosey I've got a book called u-boats under the swastika with some exellent photos BTW I've been to the german naval memorial in Kiel and visted the u-boat memioral wall there as well also got the chance to go in the boat on display there so cramped and I think this was one of the bigger boats

Mikeli:
Czech Master has two crew sets on the market and they are numbered, so it makes me think more are on the way.

If you think in terms of armor, the Type 7 boats would be Panzer 3's. The Type 9's would be late Panzer 4's and Panthers. The last full sized boats to go into production, the Type 21's, would be King Tigers. This goes as far as size and relative comfort inside.
No disparagement ment to all the Bubbleheads out there, but no Pig Boat is big enough or comfortable enough for this former Airedale, give me my FlatTop with its wide open spaces!

I've got my hull halves together, along with the Strasser's 6" casemate gallery decks. I've got the stack and the Island drying now so I can putty the seams. I will probably be starting the photoetch this afternoon, getting the fore and aft flight-deck supports positioned under the ends of the flight-deck.

My Peter Strasser's hull seams need more drying time before I can start working them. I've got the foundation of the island together---RG could have designed it better to hide the seams. The Germans got their first ideas for their design from the first generation carriers of the British and Japanese---I don't know how they intended to conduct flight operations with no position for the "Air Boss" to run things from! A few carriers I know had no island at all. It must have been a C.I.B. to work the flightdeck on one of those!
I have photoetch sets for hatches, fire hoses, and ladders besides the GMM set to work with the drawings and pictures in the book, The German Aircraft Carrier Graf Zeppelin by Siegfried Breyer. As soon as I get the gun gallerys in and the flight-deck on, I'll start getting them on.
While I'm waiting on drying, I'll start on the plane guard destroyer and S-boot. Both are SkyWave PitRoad kits---Tamiya bought the molds for the destroyer, and I have their pack also. I'll be building one of the projected last batch, a dual purpose DD with 5x128mm single gun turrets. The only difference is Tamiya's removal of the extra SW/PR sprue that has 2 He111's and 2 Ju52's on it. I'll add a ring around the Ju52's to make them Ju52m magnetic influence mine sweepers. The S-boot has both deck guns, depth-charge racks, and the armored kalotte bridge of the S-100 class with decals for the 4th and 5th S-Boot flotillas and 1 unidentified flotilla. I'll have to make the canvas spray shields from strips of paper for the S-boot and the weather decks railings of the destroyer---no one has a photoetch set out for either yet.

glued a bit of the conning tower over the weekend and then noticed a molding flaw in one area, the little bulge were oil and stuff was stored just to the front of the tower bit of an indent just above a hatch, also have a little piece to build upat the front were a seam line was once this is done its a perfect fit onto the deck the small gap att the mo is the only problem I'm also toying with the idea of drilling out the small holes on the conning tower and maybe the deck area but if I do there will just be holes every were looking into an empty hull

This is one thing that so few people seem to take into account, the Germans complete lack of knowledge on aircraft carrier design. Seems like most people just assume the German carriers would be as good or better than allied carriers. How could that have been when the British, Japanese, and Americans had been building carriers for over 20 years and had worked out a lot of the issues that the Germans hadn't even begun to work on? Even if the Japanese had given the Germans all the info they had, doubtful, it still wouldn't replace hands on experience.

The Germans sent a cadre of Stuka and Bf-109T pilots and technicians over to Japan in 1938-39. They received training on Vals, Kates and Clauds ashore and aboard the Akagi at sea. When it became apparent that war was coming in 1939-40, they were recalled and assigned to TraggerGruppe 186. One navalized Stuka was hit by Polish flak, and the pilot jettisoned his landing gear in preparation for a water landing. He recovered and made a belly landing at his base---an interesting air-to-air shot.
The Germans, when it came to carrier development, were great believers in copying from the work of others---a practical, common sense approach to solving problems. They had ideas to create a Tutonic version of the Akagi, but due to Hitler's meddeling (his idea to give an aircraft carrier the gun armament of 2 light cruisers!) and breaking of his word to Grand Admiral Raeder that there would be no war before 1946-47, there just wasn't time to get all of the bugs worked out and get them and the rest of the projected Z-Plan built and operational

Interesting bit of history there Bluebear. I have a BF109T in 1/48 scale that I have yet to build. Be nice to build somtime on a flite deck base.

Regards,

Garry

I have a copy of a picture from a Russian source that shows the flight deck, looking aft from just forward of L2, as it was after the German demolitions teams were through. Both elevators were blown up and out of their shafts, and bits and pieces of all manner of junk are scattered about the deck.
Just as the Americans applied stain to their carrier decks and most of their wooden decked ships, the Graf Zeppelin had a medium-dark blue-gray stain applied over its mahogany flight-deck sheathing, so, a Verlinden Japanese flight deck section with the catwalk and gun gallery replaced with German weapons and accessories would probably work. Another option would be to build it up from scratch from fir strips sanded smooth and plastistruct. It might be interesting to have a Bf-109T with its wings folded coming up on one of the elevators

BlueBear - I was just over at Modelwarships.com looking for some AAV-7s to put with my Landing Ship Dock when I saw that White Ensign make german WW2 carrier aircraft in both 1/350 and 1/700. I do not recall everything they had, but I do remember the Fiesler Fi-167, which was to be the torpedo bomber.
Ranger

Hello there,
The Fi-167A was intended in the original planning to be the Recon/ Torpedo Bomber, and it had excellent, almost STOVL handeling, but the max speed that the thing could work up to would have left the thing dead meat for even a Fairy Fulmar. It was cancelled when work recommenced on the GZ.
I was thinking of fitting out the airwing of the Peter Strasser with navalized Ju-87D long wing Stukas for the dive bombers, Fw-190F-8/R14's for the torpedo planes and late model Me-109G's for the fighters. I wanted to put 1 or 2 FA-223 Drache SAR/COD helicopters on the deck too, but WEM doesn't list them in their catalog anymore

bit more work on the conning tower tonight staring to look like a sub, looking forwards to friday tamiya mag is doing a build up on this baby

I got some more putty work done and some work on the hull of my Peter Strasser. Positive attitude check---I don't like the island, negative attitude check---I hate the island, short attitude check---****!#@@%!! the island! Some engineer who never had to build the thing decided to make the thing out of 3 parts---left and right sides and the top. Naturally, the tops of the sides extend up to form the sides of the island decking right beside deck hatches and deck reinforcement for the #3 2x105mm turret, zig-zagging up down and around where there was no panel line to hide the stupid things!
More later when the pulsing veins in the sides of my neck go down.

added the deck to the hull tonight will need a bit of filler around it in places conning tower is almost finished also added the dive planes tonight fingers crossed I'l have the hull finished tomorrow

Did some more work on the Lutzow. Assembled the secodary turrets, the high angle AA guns. I painted them the hull color, then attached them to there mounts. Next I carefuly painted them white or black to match the camo lines on the hull and superstructure with a small fine brush. After this I Assembled the catapolt then attached it in place. Next comes the PE ladders and some of the railing on superstructure walkways. Its starting to look like a ship!

Cheers,

Garry

I'm having a little trouble with the Warspite's paint job. I've built all the bridge and superstructure sub units. When it came time to paint them the craft acrylic I'm using for the light gray is too thick to either brush paint or airbrush. I've tried thinning it but I haven't gotten the mixture right let. I'll have to keep experimenting.

I'll get it yet.

You might try Model Master Acrylic Royal Navy colors, I'm useing their Kreigsmarine colors on my beasty.

conning tower complete just got to clear up the glue around the holes were the rungs went in then ready to paint have started to apply filler to the hull not sure to either paint as a nice show piece or weather what you think?

The only time a sub doesn't have some rust on it is when the paint is still wet #:-) The last time I was up at the Trident triad in Bangor, Washington, they had the soft-patches open in the hull and sail of the USS Nevada. Where the rubber coating had been removed, there was already rust showing. If you want to have your boat leaving one of the U-boat pens, then easy does it with rust---if your boat is at sea or just coming in off of patrol, then just like a surface ship, it would probably look like something the cat dragged in, especially in high wear areas like the free flood holes along the outer hull. Check your reference pictures