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Airfix 1/72 scale "E" boat.


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Built that back in 1977/8 around when it came out ( my Uncle used to buy me the largest kit on the shelf for Xmas ) . Really fancied building it again , but the prices in the UK are seriously crazy for such a old kit. Look forward to seeing what you make of it . Sea or Stand ?

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On 1/9/2023 at 10:58 PM, PanzerWomble said:

Built that back in 1977/8 around when it came out ( my Uncle used to buy me the largest kit on the shelf for Xmas ) . Really fancied building it again , but the prices in the UK are seriously crazy for such a old kit. Look forward to seeing what you make of it . Sea or Stand ?

I got it second-hand at a model show.  I'll put it on a sea base fer sure.  I reckon if you did it again, it would look better than the one you did back then.

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OK...   now that the plastic has aged enough, I can start.

The first German S-boats were built by LÜRSSEN.  Despite the war and many years later, LÜRSSEN is still making boats.  However, now they are making luxury yachts.

Today, upon lifting the hull parts from the box, I noted the color...   not white, not tan, and not gray...  but somewhere in there.  Made me think that the previous owner was a smoker for some reason...   Nicotine stained plastic...   but i know it wasn't.  And it's much harder than any styrene I've handled recently.  Could be more interesting than expected.

Instead of the standard two-half hulls surmounted by a deck, this kit has two-center-halves topped by the deck and supported by a lower hull.

I always start with the bow.  So, after positioning the center halves I ran a generous amount of Extra Thin down the bow and held it in place for 40 seconds.  This is my no-fail procedure with parts that look like they're gonna be troublesome.  However, it failed as there was a slight in-turn right at the bow.  But I didn't want to shorten the bow area and alter it's shape.

So, I broke out the black CA and CA kicker.

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I imagine if I was the 12-year old of my past, I would have tried to build this kit with no more than a tube of Testors cement, and a few bottles of Testors or Pactra enamels.   And I would have been frustrated trying to hold it together long enough for the parts to stay in place despite their natural inclination to do otherwise. 

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Each piece had to be fought into position.  So, I put way the Extra Thin and used a lot of CA and kicker.

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More than I used on any other model.  But, the fit wasn't too bad...   just needed some persuading.

The kit has nice clear plastic for the portholes.  But they have to be installed before you close up the hull...  So, I have decided to cover the portholes with Micro Crystal Clear at the very tail end of the build.  Here, I have painted the interior of the area with portholes.

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Even the top deck had a very...   let's say un-flat shape and had to be wrestled down bit by bit and locked into place with black CA.

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Once that was in place, I began to file and sand the areas where it was required.  I didn't do anything to the very center of the hull.  There are some raised detail I want to see if I replace with spare PE parts.

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Finally, there were areas of the upper deck that hadn't been glued into place yet.  So, I ran some short beads of it and lagged them down with tape.

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Does anyone know the color of the deck on these things?

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19 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Gaz

Some mighty impressive 'plastic persuasion' with the liberal use of Black CCA and kicker. Surely you have the E Boat kit under control and well underway.

  

Thank you, Peter.

14 hours ago, Bomber_County said:

Good start Gaz, even at 72nd this big. Be cool to do the 1/35 ……..

Thank you Phil...   I would love on in 1/35.  But i would have to have it as a late-war version as the early ones had little firepower and were up gunned carrying a lot of barrels.

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On 1/16/2023 at 7:29 AM, GazzaS said:

And I would have been frustrated trying to hold it together long enough for the parts to stay in place despite their natural inclination to do otherwise. 

Nice work on that dinosaur Gary. We had rubber bands, when I was a kid and I knew how to use them and not only to snap someone in the head in school :D.

Cheers Rob

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17 hours ago, DocRob said:

Nice work on that dinosaur Gary. We had rubber bands, when I was a kid and I knew how to use them and not only to snap someone in the head in school :D.

Cheers Rob

Seriously dude...  I didn't have rubber bands, masking tape, hobby knife or anything.  I never really thought of it...   but I never realized we were poor until people from school brought us food for Thanksgiving.

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11 hours ago, PanzerWomble said:

Take it you know the masts were ditched very early on in the war ? depending on when you are doing yours .

I found this resource doing the S-100 last year, seems legit & lotsa pics, although you have to navigate around a bit .

Hals und Beinbruch !

Die Schnellboot-Seite

Umm...   no, I didn't know.  But since I'm doing prewar, I can keep the mast.  I would like to do a later version...   but these things were up-gunned as the war went on and were bristling with gun barrels.  And I really have no decent plans or images to show me.   But don't show me...   I don't want to buy any more AM.

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1 hour ago, CANicoll said:

Wow, now that is some persuasion!  And patience to make it work.  Looking good Gary!  Black CA?  Not sure I've heard of that.

Chris

Black CA is rubberized to give more strength and flexibility.  I like that you can see it when you use it as a filler.

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Welcome back.  Work continues though at a sluggish pace while work and laziness combine to take up too much time.

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I spent a lot of time filling, filing, and sanding to get all of the hull pieces into a nice, seamless condition.  Even the scallops at the bow required filling and shaping to get them right.  Those scallops have always been one of those cool shapes that make the German S-Boat more attractive than the rest.

But I'm still not happy with it and have ordered some half-round rod.

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See the narrow strake under the blue arrow?  There should be one that goes around the rest side of the vessel on the gunwhale (between the two red arrows).  While I was wrestling the deck onto the hull, the fit was rather ambiguous, and I may have sanded off too much.  I added some strake behind the scallops (left-pointing arrow), using square Evergreen strips, but then realized it still looked wrong.  So, instead of using more square stock and ending up with an uneven looking strake, I'll replace it with half-round.  I'll do that to the bow strakes as well.

TBH, the fender just below the line of portholes should come all of the way to the bow.   But it's just a problem I don't want to wrestle with them.

The gray on the hull looked lighter in the bottle...   So, I'll be using that color as a base for further modulation.  I don't even know if any of the major paint manufacturers make Kriegsmarine colors.  Fricking spell check...  I get curious and see what spell check thinks a word should be.  For "Kriegsmarine" spell-check wanted to put in Margarine.

And the Cherry Ripe?  Australian Candy.  Imagine a Mounds bar with cherry flavored coconut.  Very nice.

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