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Hi all, I've been building this as part of a Group Build on Britmodeller, and I brought it with me to the last Dublin Branch meeting. It's still in the early stages, but Philip suggested that people might be interest in the build. I have to warn you, this is only my 3rd proper build since I got back into modelling over Christmas, so a lot of what you see here isn't going to look great, and some of the solutions might seem very obvious to more experienced builders! The whole process is a big learning curve for me, but I'm enjoying it too. There are a lot of details and photos coming up, feel free to ignore if it all gets boring! I've kinda dived straight into it ( pardon the pun ) so it's all fascinating to me, but probably not to anyone else ( my poor Wife never wants to see or hear 'U-Boat' again! :) I'll cut what I've done on Britmodeller over here and then add new stuff when I have it. Thanks... J.
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Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
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Rank: Jedi Master
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I'm gonna build the U-260. This Type VIIC U-Boat was commissioned in March 1942, had 9 patrols, sinking 1 ship, and was scuttled by the crew in March 1945 after being damaged ( originally it was thought by a mine, but it's now thought she hit a rock pinnacle ). All the crew survived and were interned in Ireland until the end of the war. The wreck was discovered about 30 years ago, and is now a very popular dive site, with torpedoes still in their tubes and the lens still in the periscope! I'm a diver, but haven't dived this wreck myself ( though I will after all of this work! ). I'm building this model for a good friend of mine who has dived the wreck several times. Once I decided to build this boat, I did as much research as I could to find out what model would suit the best. I was very lucky, I found some pictures of the U-260 taken by a crewman, and got lots of help and advice from the Britmodeller forums, on uboat.net and ubootwaffe.net. I also found quite a few videos on You Tube of people diving on the U-260. Once I knew that the U-260 was a Type VIIC, that got me looking at the Revell Kit. I really didn't want to go too big, so 1:144 was fine. But once I found some pictures of U-260, I hit a problem. There were a lot of differences between the Revell Kit and the pictures I found, specifically on the tower, which was bigger and had more AA guns on the U-260. More research showed me that U-Boats got a lot of upgrades during the war, and U-260 was 'lucky' enough to survive for 3 years, so she had her fair share of them! I started looking at the two available Revell Kits ( the Type VIIC and the Type VIIC /41 ), firstly at the instructions online, and secondly when I was lucky enough to get my hands on the two kits themselves. I soon figured out the main 'differences' between the two kits : Type VIIC : 'Standard Bow'. Slatted Deck. Turm I Tower. Deck Gun. No Schnorkel. No extra Pressure Hatches. Type VIIC /41 : 'Atlantic Bow'. Planked Deck. Turm IV Tower. No Deck Gun. Schnorkel. 4 Pressure Hatches in the port deck. So, then, I looked at some pictures of the real thing :  U-260 in Winter 1942, showing the Aft deck with the 'slatted' type of deck, which it was built with.  U-260 in Winter 1943, showing the upgraded Turm IV Tower.  A still from someone diving on the U-260, showing the 4 Pressure Hatches ( it's easier to see if you actually watch the video! ). Now I had to decide, how to build this U-Boat, which parts of which kits to use, and what could my skills handle? It seemed to me that the ideal was to use the Hull and Deck from the standard Type VIIC kit, and then the Tower, Schnorkel and Pressure Hatches from the /41 kit. That would give me a very good approximation of the U-260. More to follow! J.
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Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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More background! Looking at the kits, I soon realised that a kit bash wouldn't be easy. The hull of the Type VIIC kit would need to be widened to match the wider area of the Turn IV Tower :  /41 Kit with a second widened section of the Hull. Also, the mid deck of the Type VIIC would have to be cut to pieces to get it to take the Turm IV tower and the Schnorkel :  /41 Mid deck, showing wider section for Turm IV Tower and space for Schnorkel  Type VIIC mid deck, showing smaller Tower placement section And the 4 Pressure Hatches are on the Front Deck of the /41 Kit, so that would have to be cut out and go into the Front Deck of the Type VIIC :  /41 Front Deck showing Pressure Hatches. All this work is very much beyond my skills I have to say, and I couldn't see how to do it without ruining two perfectly good kits. All the upgrade sections that I needed ( Turm IV Tower, Schnorkel, Pressure Hatches ) really needed the /41 deck for it to work, which in turn needed the /41 hull for it to work! So I was looking at building the /41 kit on its own, and seeing what needed to change to make it more like the U-260. I was lucky to find an article that said that some U-Boats got deck upgrades when they got the Schnorkel / Pressure Hatches. A lot of the later ones didn't ( due to money ), but some did. The picture below, taken in Autumn 1944, after the Schnorkel was fitted, shows the deck, but it's in the distance ( bottom right hand corner ) :  U-260 in Autumn 1944 It's impossible to tell for sure what kind of deck it is, but I can't really see any of the 'port to starboard' lines showing the sections of the slatted deck, so it could be taken to be the more 'bow to stern' planking deck. I stress *could be*. Basically, I can't prove either way what type of deck the U-260 had near the end of the war but it's possible it was planking! That only leaves me with the 'Atlantic Bow'... Part 3 coming up! J.
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
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Well, the Atlantic Bow was basically a taller / wider bow. Some ships that weren't /41 types had them, but only the later Type VIICs built in later 1943, and as far as I can find out, none were ever upgraded. So if I'm using the /41 kit to represent the U-260, I have to get rid of the Atlantic Bow. Thankfully this isn't a big job ( hopefully even for me ). As the pictures show below, the bow in the /41 Kit is only a mm or two wider and higher, so a bit of sanding will take care of that!  Standard Kit Bow  /41 Kit Atlantic Bow  Standard Kit Bow from above  /41 Kit Atlantic Bow from above So, what does all this mean then, all this research, all this typing, all these pictures?! Basically if I build the Revell Type VIIC /41 kit, and sand off the Atlantic Bow, I've got a pretty good representation of the U-260 when it sailed from Norway in February 1945 on its last patrol. The decking *could* be wrong, but it *could* be right too, and that's as close as I can get, without destroying two models and my sanity. There are some differences between the patterns of holes in the hulls of the two kits as well, but research online has shown that many different patterns were used, even two boats built one after the other in the same shipyard could have different patterns, so I'm not worried about that! I will be doing a 'decal-bash' as the /41 Kit doesn't have a number '6' for the U-260, but the standard kit does. The only known Emblem for the U-260 was when it was with the 6th Flotilla, and it was in the 9th when it was scuttled, and the pictures I have don't show it with an emblem, so that's that taken care off. As it happens, there are a lot of suspicions that it was doing covert work ( what U-Boat wasn't! ) when it was scuttled, so having no emblem suits that too! Now, after all that research, I'm itching to build this thing. That's where I'm in trouble, brush painting this is going to be tough! But I'll do my best, once I get rid of the build currently on my desk. And at least there's no bloody canopy to mask! Thanks for hanging in there anyone who made it to the end of this. I've read so much in the last few weeks my brain was full and I had to dump it somewhere... J.
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Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Rank: Jedi Master
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Well, while waiting for the Klear coat on my Hind E to cure, I thought I might as well start looking at the U-260. There are a few of this model already in this GB, but as it's my first ever GB sure I have to include the kit and sprue shots!    I'm tempted to drill / cut / sand out all the Free-Flow Holes. There are a lot of them, so sanding from the inside might be easier, I'll have to think about it. I don't think I'll do the long central one ( above the saddle tanks ) as that's just a hell of a lot of work at this scale, especially as I'd have to leave bits of plastic between each hole to try to represent the real thing. Some of the free-flow holes are also very close together ( especially near the propellers ) so they might have to stay as is. So, once I've figured out the best way to do it, the first steps are opening those holes, washing the hull & all the sprues, painting the inside of the hull black ( just to help with light etc as the hull will be quite thin in places ) and then the first part of the assembly... J.
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
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Have decided to go with drilling / cutting the holes, sanding wasn't doing it too well. Will probably only do the larger ones, the smaller ones, at 1:144, are just too small! J.
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
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Moebius 1:128 Seaview
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Well, the Hind is finished and off the bench ( the less said about that the better ) so now I can turn my full attention to U-260. Feeling rather nervous about ruining a perfectly good kit, I started by drilling out all the larger Free Flow holes ( the smaller ones are just too small ). I also tackled the 'Atlantic Bow', taking some of the height off the top of it, rounding off its 'pointy' nose, and also taking off some of the width. I then had to try to 're-scribe' the indent on the inside of the hull that the forward deck will sit on, as the hull itself is now at the same height of the original indent ( if that makes sense ). It's not perfect ( especially the 'indent' on the bow ) , and I'll probably fiddle around with it some more, but I'm happy with the general look of the free flow holes and the bow. I'd love to be able to sand a couple of the free flow holes that are looking rough ( the larger ones were done by drilling a few holes and then using a blade to try to smooth them out ), but have no idea how to get sandpaper into something that small ( a couple of a mm wide ), so I'll just have to make do. At this scale I probably shouldn't worry too much! For my first ever foray into changing the shape of a model, I'm just glad I haven't ruined it. And it'll be covered by filler and paint anyhow! Next will be gluing the hull and decks together properly... J.    
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview
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Rank: Jedi Master
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Nice to be able to just slap on some paint and not worry about the finish for a change. Still took an hour though... J. 
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview
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Rank: Jedi Master
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A bit of a progress report on this... Have finally started painting with my new Revell Aqua Colour paints and so far so good. Have the decks done and the upper hull as well, along with the schnorkel. Have a few bits painted on the sprues as well. Thanks to my surgery on the bow, it and the fore deck will need some tidying up so that it all fits together well, but I should be able to get it decent enough. Haven't glued down the decks yet, I want to get the thread for the cables threaded into the deck before gluing. So far I'm pretty happy with it though, I think it's turning out well for my skill level. And most importantly, I'm enjoying it! J.   
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview
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And that's it for now! I've done more work, but need to take some more pictures and when I do I'll put them here as well. Hope some of you actually made it this far and found at least some of this interesting. Thanks! J.
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview
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Rank: Jedi Master
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Well, it's only the first coat on the lower hull, and the section of the conning tower is only a dry fit, but it's beginning to look like a U-boat! J.   
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
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Rank: Jedi Master
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JASON!
Many thanks. That is one great build, and an eye-opener for those of us on IPMS IRELAND in relation to things that have neither wings nor wheels! I'm delighted that you agreed to share this, as it gives many of us our first sight of what it is to make a ship model. And a famous one at that, with kosher references and a storyline.
Keep it up, and the best of luck with it!
Philip
"To boldly go.....wherever"
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Thanks Philip! I should point out that apart from building a 'Red October' model back in the 90s, this is my first ship as well, so I'm most definitely not any kind of expert. For example, I'm just following one of the paint schemes in the instructions, no idea how accurate the colours are. That said, at least my research showed u-boats were painted all sorts of colours, so there's a fair bit of leeway. I must say, it's an excellent kit, you only have to look at how smoothly the mid and aft decks sit into the hull. The only fit issues I've had ( so far ), were with the fore deck and bow, and that was of my own doing. The Revell Paints are behaving themselves very well too. I could probably thin them more, and if I took a bit more time, I wouldn't even need a second coat for most of them. Brush marks are visible, but not too obvious, so that's not bad. Got the second coat finished last night and the masking tape off, which always improves the look of a model! I won't get near it tonight but tomorrow I'll do some touch-ups on the hull paint ( mainly around the central drain on top of the saddle bags ) and fit the rest of the diving planes etc to the stern ( you see - it does have wings! ). Then it's onto the conning tower properly. There are no decals on the boat at all, so I don't think I'll need any Klear coats, and might just do the weathering straight onto the paint, I'll see. Still haven't even decided if I'll varnish it at all, as it's meant to look pretty rough and not that smooth. Might put my usual matt coat varnish on at the end, I'll think about it. J.
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview
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Always liked the U-boots and their models and it's a good weathering exercise too.
BTW have seen a book about U-boots in Easons a few years ago. I think that it was amazing, there were original drawings, lots of photographs and profiles and all, never bought it at 60quid, because I thought that this is too much of dosh for something I would get just out of interest.... Still regretting it.
Good luck with the build Jason and the more you do with the kit, the more you'll learn.
Filip
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Thanks Filip... The weathering is probably the part I'm most worried about. I have very little experience, and I don't want to ruin anything. But there's no point building a 'clean' U-boat either! I'm hoping the Rust and Soot parts of the Tamiya Weathering Kit will do the job for me! J.
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview
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You still have the 2nd boat, so you can build that one first and try all the messy stuff on that one.
Filip
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Ah, but unfortunately that second kit isn't mine, it belongs to a friend who loaned it to me so I could compare! So it'll just be trial and error ( like most of my building ) and I'll go easy at first so at least I won't over do it! J.
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview
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Some more progress on U-260... After painting the whole deck one colour, I found out online that the very front and rear of the deck was normally painted the same colour as the upper hull. This was because these sections were steel, not the wood decking painted with wood preservative. So, after a bit of testing, I got some cotton buds and Revell Aqua Colour Clean and stripped back the paint on those sections. Then I repainted them with the upper hull colour. I also finished the rear diving planes / rudders / propellers...  Up until now, all the pieces of plastic I'd been working with were fairly large ( 2 pieces for the hull, 3 for the deck etc. ). But I was quickly brought back to 1:144 scale with a bang once I started on the AA Guns! As I'm used to 1:72, it took me a while to get my head around the 1:144 scale when I started on the guns; I didn't realise at first that those two flat sections on the main gun were seats! :) Here's the unpainted main gun, all 9 pieces of it. This was the first part of this build where I had some inherent fit issues. Nothing major, just fiddly...  Next was the conning tower, another section that was made up of a lot of small pieces and had some fit issues. It still needs a few more bits attached ( radar etc. ) and still needs to be painted on the outside as well. It's still dry-fitted to the deck in these pictures :   So that's where I am now. Next steps are finishing the painting on the Conning Tower, getting it glued in place and then moving on to painting the guns and then doing the railings etc. Getting there slowly, coming into week 3 of this build now... J.
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
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Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview
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28 02 11 Hi Jason. With regard to weathering: it might be a good idea to gloss coat it before you begin to weather it. If you make a mistake, it's easier to wipe it off from a gloss-coated finisheD without damaging the paint work underneath. Once done, you can then matt cote the model to tone it down a bit. If you don't gloss coat it and make a mistake or decide to change the weathering applied, you could damage the paint job and it's just more difficult to effectively weather a model. If using enamels, this might not mater so much, but you are using acrylics, it is importnat to gloss the paint work. And I am sure others better informed will chime in on this. Nice owrk on the model so far. Enjoying the build ( and the research pics) very much. Liam
Mesa called Jar-Jar Binks. Mesa your humble servant. I don't know. Mesa day startin pretty okee-day with a brisky morning munchy, then BOOM! Mesa gettin' very very scared!  I am the Rules Police. It's better than being the Thought Police.
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Hi Liam, Thanks a lot for your comments, glad to know this thread isn't just boring everyone! I was already beginning to decide the same thing myself about weathering. I plan to weather with the Tamiya Weathering Kit, and I'd heard that some varnishes can wash away the weathering, so I wanted to test it first. I put some weathering on another model ( which already had my usual finish of a Matt Varnish ) and then I put more Matt Varnish on top of it, and the weathering stayed on fine and looked ok. Then I put some weathering onto a sprue with some paint on it ( but no varnish ) and when I applied the Matt Varnish it washed away some of the weathering. So I was thinking that I'd do a varnish - weathering - varnish combination, but had been leaning towards both varnishes being Matt. Your suggestion has made me realise that maybe it should be gloss varnish - weathering - matt varnish. But I'll do some more testing as well, as the weathering on a gloss varnish might wash away too easily when there's a matt varnish brushed over it! And there was me thinking I wouldn't be puting Klear ( my usual Gloss Varnish ) anywhere near this model as there are no decals going on it! :) Thanks again! J.
On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B
Completed builds
Click here
Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview
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