Hello,

It's been awhile posting on the shipwrights website. Having built the PT 596 I found the Italeri Schnellboot is by far more of a challenge due to it's sheer size and complexity for detailing.

This time is going to be different as the Schnellboot will be ploughing through the seas with guns in action.

I have a dire need to create and work with water and nothing better than to start with the Schnellboot. There is zero knowledge of working with water. I have the AK water and snow diorama book and will use that as a template to when I get to that stage.

Without further boring everyone, here are the progress shots of work commenced.






To achieve the right effect I have had a base made up as close as to the size of the box.


A combination of Azimut and Italeri Schnellboot crews will be used for the Schnellboot. The Italeri crew will have the heads and hands corrected to make up the balance of figures to be used.

Metal barrels from Master Model will be used in all the mounts. A definite must to enhance the guns.

The Eduard big Ed set is a must for enhancing IN some or most of the details. You can get away with not using it. I found in areas for the guns and some other areas on the boat the etch will stand out.



Here is the sample images of a 2 part resin which will be used for the sea. Will experiment first with a small batch before hand to see how it handles.


One of the first plans of attack was to rectify the hole opening for the 2cm on the bow. I received a new gun mount template from Abdin who completed a super detailed Schnellboot. Special thanks go out to Abdin for the template because the sample he provided saved me a huge amount of work.

Abdin's build can be found here.
http://planetarmor.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7214

Abdin did a fantastic job on the schnellboot and I am using his build as a sort of reference point as I found there are very few boats around the web that have this extensive detailing.

Rest assured I will not be detailing this boat to the extent Abdin has done.




Most of the boat is built with parts being store in plastic containers away from dust.






Just completed the twin 2cm mount with the parts in sub sections for painting and detailing.

The Azimut gun crew have been used with Alpine and Hornet head conversions. The figure with the Hornet head will have his arm re positioned to fit on the crank handle at a later date.

Moving forward to commence the 37mm gun. There is a lot of work in this area to have the figures posed sitting on the gun in firing mode.

Here are the 2cm images





More to follow shortly...

Michael

Nice. Will be watching.

EJ

If it's not too late, the ports on top of the engine room ventilators should be blanked out - completely made to disappear! And the two cowl vents either side of the bridge should bend outwards slightly - starting about half-way up the pipe. Italeri has also put weld beads and rivets in the wrong places on the armored Kapote, as well as omitting several rivet lines elsewhere on the superstructure (if you wish to go that far with super-detailing!).

Thanks Guys.

Biggles2
Thanks for the advice. I'm not going too much away from the what's in the box, just enhancing mainly the guns and bits and pieces around the superstructure and deck.
I'm more worried about creating the water scene than enhancing the boat.

Michael

Hello again,

Back again with the next installment.

The Flak 42 gun crew are now test fitted in place.

The items are in sub assembly sections ready for paint.

The Azimut figures have 3 heads converted with Hornet and Alpine head conversions.
Not sure why Azimut gave the gun crew all the weird hands.:confused:
They all got the chop except for the dude holding the 37mm clip.

The top hand had to be re-positioned to be holding the shells on his shoulder.

Will replace the hands from Hornet and Royal models.

The arms will have to be filled in with Tamiya putty mixed with Revell Contacta professional glue applied with a 0 or 00 fine brush.

Still one more minor thing to do is to glue the Helmet holders to the inside of the gun shield. Will finish off tonight as it concludes the rear of the gun assemblies.

Moving to the forward to the bow 20mm is where all the work will be.

The gun mount will be converted to the way I percieve how it should look.

The tub ring will have the rivets applied to the outside and major mods for the inside to be addressed.
Here we are with preview images of the Flak 42.













Michael

That looks awesome!

Michael,

Your S-Boot is going to be fantastic! The crew figures are a good choice to humanize the vessel and give a sense of scale and context. (The petty officer in charge is going to be all over them, though; although they are all wearing their helmets, only half of them have their lifejackets on!)

DITTO!

Thanks guys.

I appreciate your words.

Tim,
Not sure why Azimut depicted 2 of the crew without life jackets
Good point, I may revert back to cutting the heads and hands off the Italeri gun crew and use 2 of them.
The down side is I am sacrificing the detail on the resin figures to the plastic figures. I will look at this further and may make the change as needed.


Michael

Ahoy Michael

Promising start to your build.

What is your opinion on the Big Ed Set and Master Model barrels?

Love a good S100 build.

Cheers

Sean

No, Michael, don't change them - the Azimut figures look great. It isn't your fault the skipper doesn't run a tight ship!

Hello

Sean,

I think the Big Ed set has helped. The extra detailing for all the gun mounts is the game changer,extremely happy.

Once the boat is painted I think the detail will be overlooked as the boat is that big it makes the viewers eye constantly looking around the deck at all the items.

The Master Models barrels are exquisite in detail and strongly recommend using them.

Tim,
Thanks, I am looking forward to painting the extra detail with the resin figures.

Some of the Italeri crew will be used in other areas and with a head and hand change I think they will fill the void.

At present I'm head down with painting the Torpedoes and will be posting photos in the next few days.

Michael

Hello Again,

Small steps. The torpedoes are painted in a combination of colours.
Primed in Vallejo Black primer and a combination of Humbrol, Vallejo and Gunze Mr Hobby Colours used.





Now onto the challenging 20mm in the bow

Michael

Michael,

Very nice paint work, those torpedoes look awesome.

Mark