Helloo

Well my Revell Type VII has arrived and now begins my questions...

Can someone suggest some close colours for the red primer used on the type VII?
Preferrably Tamiya, but MM acryl will work as well. Would all metal surfaces both inside and out have been primed in this colour? Guess for the most part I am only concerned with the external colours though I am opening up all the drain holes and installing the resin pressure hull top.
How about the gun, and prop shafts?

The wooden deck? have no clue what colour to paint it..

I'd like to do a boat that has been at sea for awhile.

Thanks for any input.

Martyn

Hello Martyn,

It has been pretty well established by the experts that
no wartime u-boat that saw action had a red lower hull
or even a black boot above it.

Some written material states that although the red may
have been present on pre-war u-boats, it was gone by
the start of the war and stayed that way.

Here is a good link to a fellow who did extensive
research on the matter.

http://uboatcolours.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/index.jhtml

Just copy and paste in the address box causes I messed up on the auto link....OOUPs

Enjoy the reading, he pretty well sums it all up.
Have a nice day and happy modelling!

Hi Joe,

I have read through those pages, my question is about the primer used underneath the greys etc. I am looking for a match or mix for the primer colour used as the boat will have substantial paint chipping etc.

And of course... how much of the boat was actually primed prior to painting. The site mentions the red primer, I may just used hull red as a primer if I don't find a better match. I basically wish to paint the boat in the same steps as the real thing. (wel sorta)


Martyn

All I have to go on is this little bit of text in regards to the anti-corrosion coat underneath the final colour coats... :

Paint peeling - When U-boats were subjected to heavy weathering, their top layer of paint would peel off in patches. This would reveal either the older paint or the red lead preservative beneath.
There were a few different anti-corrosion paints in use within the Kriegsmarine. Ranging from DKM numbers 10 to 14, some of these paints included lead, and some were lead-free. Contrary to common belief they were not always red in colour. Some of these paints were grey, though the regulations do not provide any information on what shade of grey was to be used.

So could be red could be grey, and likely there is no way to find out which boats had which colour. As it will not be that important I'll just wing it unless anyone has amy pointers.

Martyn

These boats were probably repainted a dozen or so times if they lived long enough, so you mght want to lean towards using grey. Main color above waterline would be lichtgrau (MM has it). If you are wanting to weather it I would use a few black washes and VERY _ VERY light rusting. The deck color was called graugrun (also a MM) and the hull color generally schwartzgrau (MM) I used the enamel model masters but they should have them in acrylic too. I would go black for the interior stuff

Hello Martyn,

I have a colour photo which should help you. It shows U 302 under construction in early 1942. The spray deflector is only partially built, showing red primer undercoat. If you contact me at my email address I'll be happy to send it to you -

[email protected]

Cheers,

Dougie