Questions for Jeff LaRue

[casey thrower]

Jeff,
I'm building the Revell VIIC/41 and had a few questions. Which boats had the metal decks? Also, what are the 4 hatches for on the bow deck? The U-995 shows no hatches that I can see. Lastly, do you plan on producing etchings for this boat? Thanks.

Casey

[JWLaRue]

Hi Casey,

Good to see that

Hi Casey,

Good to see that you're still building sub models! (I'm trying...but work keeps getting in the way!)

I'm not quite sure what you a re referring to by "metal decks"? While the design (or look) changed, all Type VII's had wood decks except for the very bow and stern. The early- to mid-war boats all had the characteristic slotted deck, while the later boats eliminated the pieces that made the deck look slotted...and resulted in decks that looked more the the wood sections of U.S. fleetboats.

The four hatches up on the port side near the bow are the covers for the lifeboat cannisters....something fitted to the Type VIIC/41 boats.

While I had originally planned on doing a PE set for the Revell, I elected to not pursue it as someone else (Modelbrass) was producing one at the time. I do not know if he is still around......

-hope this helps,

Jeff

[casey thrower]

So even though the deck

So even though the deck on the model looks metal, it's really just slotted wood and the later decks went to wood type decks that looked like the Gatos. I never knew that. The slotted decks to me always looked metal. Great. That solves a problem I had making a decision. Yea, for some reason I got back into models. I have a Vietnam PBR almost finished, A MRC Mercury Spacecraft, the French sub I finished, A USS Enterprise and now the VIIC. I took yesterday, drilled and filed the flood holes out. Man what a job that is. Guess I'm nuts. My wife said I could have one side of the book shelves for my stuff. I'm running out of room already, and we just moved.

Casey

[JWLaRue]

Casey,

The wood preservative that was

Casey,

The wood preservative that was used to treat the decks does a lot to hide the nature of the material...in some photos it does make the deck look like it's stamped metal! I've found that the best way to determine how the deck was made is to look at battle damage photos.

re: MRC Mercury - I bought two of those kits as well. Just about done (e.g. happy) with the research...hopefully building can start this Spring.

-Jeff

[casey thrower]

Casey,

The wood preservative that was

[quote]Casey,

The wood preservative that was used to treat the decks does a lot to hide the nature of the material...in some photos it does make the deck look like it's stamped metal! I've found that the best way to determine how the deck was made is to look at battle damage photos.

re]

Here is a great page with lots of photos that will help.

http://www.internetmodeler.com/2005/jan ... ercury.php

[JWLaRue]

Great link for the MRC

Great link for the MRC Mercury kit. Thanks!

[casey thrower]

Great link for the MRC

Great link for the MRC Mercury kit. Thanks!

Your welcome. Also, do I feel stupid or what? I never looked at the decking for the VIIC that I have. I only remembered the decking for my VII. The VIIC looks like wood planks where the VII looks like slotted metal. Problem solved.