Construction U-552 Type VIIc Trumpeter 1:48 [ COMPLETED BUILD ]

[Henk Liebre]

April 21

A few small advancements, on the bow.

 

[Henk Liebre]

A nice and clean cut, without breaking anything

 

[Henk Liebre]

The 'transparent' part milled out the spaces for the next 5 modules, and adjusted and glued

 

[Henk Liebre]

Everything sanded and placed dry fit

 

[Henk Liebre]

Bow doors attached

 

[Henk Liebre]

And primed with a primer to highlight the imperfections

 

[Henk Liebre]

May 21

Open worked hull Panzer Gray primer sprayed

 

[Henk Liebre]

And the inside

 

[Henk Liebre]

4 of the 6 decks are permanently glued

 

[Henk Liebre]

Rear side sprayed in the first layer and mounted dry fit

 

[Henk Liebre]

The stern section, while matching the main hull perfectly, should be fitted last, following Trompeter's instructions. The stern section is basically the locking mechanism for the entire hull, sandwiching all internal modules / compartments between the opaque and clear sides of the hull.

On the PE kit (designed to be as accurate as possible with the prototype), one deck piece overlaps the intersection of the main hull and stern section. This means that this PE piece can only be placed after gluing the stern to the main hull.

To finish painting the hull, the stern must be permanently glued to the main hull otherwise it will not look good and the seam will be slightly visible on both sides of the hull.

In the light of the above, and in an attempt to maintain access to the hull, I have thought of the following:
The four glued deck parts are painted on final color

Ditto both hull halves

All modules are placed last with the wiring

I need a standard where the wiring continues with a conversion for switches, etc.

In short, plenty to do.

 

[Henk Liebre]

I have to say that this PE deck from RCSUBS changes the model significantly. It gives a different flavor to this huge model, shifting the dominance from plastic to metal and turning a simple (albeit large) plastic model into something much more valuable and unique.


Despite the tremendous amount of work to properly install this PE kit, I just can't imagine having that beautiful submarine with the simple and so coarsely formed plastic deck supplied by Trumpeter. I see a lot of really nice models of that kit on the web, but very few people take the energy and time to install this particular PE kit. In my humble opinion, this is the best PE kit out there for the Trumpeter kit today. I am always happy with the precision and accuracy of the different parts and how they fit together.

 

[Henk Liebre]

More PE parts ..

 

[Henk Liebre]

Deck 5, can be placed later as experiments with Primer sprayed (Mr Hobby Middle Stone and Dark Earth and some Black)

 

[Henk Liebre]

Last week applied

Mig Chipping fluid and sprayed with Vallejo Air Medium Sea Gray (71.304)

 

[Gebirgsmarine]

According to the instructions, a torpedo is attached to the ceiling.
I added the hoist and chains
View attachment 231815

Looks like the sailor is playing with his mobile.
Very good build!

 

[Henk Liebre]

Looks like the sailor is playing with his mobile.
Very good build!

I made a piece of paper in his hand, but it is not visible in the picture
(picture of his girlfriend) LOL

 

[AIT471]

I would love to see your lighting setup explained, If you could?

 

[Henk Liebre]

I would love to see your lighting setup explained, If you could?

Of course no problem.
I have sent you an email

 

[Henk Liebre]

The starboard side of the hull is see-through, port side would have made more sense
This is one of the biggest misses of the Trompeter kit, presenting an open side on the side that is closed
As I am not using the transparent parts I expect to leave the port side open