Walking the plank

[mylo]

Hey all,

I'm still somewhat confused on the construction of U-Boat decking. On some boats, the decking *looks* like its metal plate with elongated holes cut in, yet, I'm sure from what I know of the decking, it was all made out of wood with a water resistant treatment added to it (originally black, but faded to a brown quite rapidly). On some boats, it looks like wood planking only, with none of the elongated holes. When I examine some photo etch detail parts for sub kits, the decking is very detailed and intricate, yet, isn't it just supposed to be wood planking ?, what is all this detail ? Was the planking on boats somewhat unique to each boat in much the same way that flood hole patterns had a tendancy to be anything but standard ? Maybe there is some sort of metal framework that the wood planking was secured to that accounts for some of the different looks and detail ?.....all these questions.

I hope someone can help clarify.

Thanks,

Mylo

[JWLaRue]

Hi Mylo,

Most of the decking

Hi Mylo,

Most of the decking on the Type VII's was wood. The very fore and aft sections were metal....those would be the areas without the slots. Some fo the boats were painted with the fore/aft deck sections painted the same light gray as the upper hull.....that's the easiest way to find where the wood/metal line is.

The early- to mid-war boats all had the pretty much the same deck 'design' with respect to slots, hatches, etc. I'd have to go back over my collections of photos to see if there are any differences, perhaps due to the different yards that built them. At a point during the mid-war period, the construction of the wood decking was simplified by not installing the spacer blocks between the long length of wood decking. The spacer blocks being what created the round-ended slot effect in the deck.

-hope this helps,

Jeff

[mylo]

Jeff,

I was hoping I

Jeff,

I was hoping I could count on you for an explanation.

In other words, I'm not wrong in saying that decks DO have different ways in which they were built, and therefor, look different. ....I knew I wasn't just seeing things.

My question more directly is, on my type VIIc/41, which is obviously mid/late war, the decking is not going to have that slotted look, but instead, have the long plank look. Is this correct ? To say it another way, is the current decking on U 995 in Laboe Germany the way it would have been during it's use by the Germans in WWII ?, or has it been modified since then during it's post WWII use or restoration ? I have reference photos of current U 995 decking, but am wondering if it's authentic WWII ? From my research so far, I'm thinking that the current decking on U 995 IS accurate in terms of how it would have been during WWII yet according to my Fritz Kohl plan set, the deck is slotted. I'm thinking Fritz is in error here.

Do you have any reference photos of any VIIc/41 taken during WWII to prove/disprove any of this ? I'm currently working on my master mold for the upper deck for my build, and I want it to be authentic looking. I don't totally trust current U 995 photos as being authentic WWII, for obvious reasons given the history of this boat.

Thanks big time.

Mylo

[JWLaRue]

Hi Mylo,

The quick answer is:

Hi Mylo,

The quick answer is: it depends on the boat and when it was built. (or modified/repaired) Boats were built with slotted decks and boats were built without the slots. Both are accurate. (btw: Fritz Köhl's drawings do have inaccuracies in them, but his representation of the slotted deck is very good.)

I will need to check, but I *think* I have seen photos of Type VII/41's with both types of decks. Part of the challenge in all this is that we cannot (or should not) always trust the captions that accompany photos......too many of them are wrong.

I have a German publication that is specifically about the U-995, so I will take a look through it to see if there is enough good evidence of what deck is correct.

You probably stated this early on in your build thread, but is there a specific boat that you are building? That's one way of helping to pin-point what the deck should look like.

...more later!

Jeff

[mylo]

Jeff,

No, I have not

Jeff,

No, I have not identified a specific U-Boat for my build. I was hoping to just get away with building a "standard" type VIIc/41, but that is becoming more and more of a challenge the closer I get to completion.

I'm going with the non slotted decking for my build in the way the decking is depicted on the current U-995. *When* I build a type VIIc (early version), I'll put a slotted deck on that one. These types of topics can be debated forever it seems with both sides of the coin being correct.....or incorrect.

If there is anything that I've learned in the last year about U-Boats, it's that they are filled with inconsistencies, modifications, "uniqueness", and were anything but standard in construction.


I appreciate the input.

Mylo

[steveuk]

Mylo I just found your

Mylo I just found your thread here about the planking.

Here are some pics of U boat decks to help you..

click on image for full size
slotted decks


straight planked decks

[mylo]

Steve,

Thanks. Fantastic deck photos,

Steve,

Thanks. Fantastic deck photos, in particular, the "surrendered Type VIIc/41".

Mylo

[warpatroller]

Mylo,

I agree with using the

Mylo,

I agree with using the general late war elongated wooden planked decking on the VIIC/41, as is depicted on the Revell VIIC/41 model which also is currently seen on U-995. The earlier style decking is more commonly seen and goes better with the regular VIIC.

The VIIs in general had variances like Jeff suggests. If you are attempting to model a certain boat, then if accuracy is desired researching that particular Uboat makes sense. It also is important to settle on a time that your depicting your chosen boat, as depending upon what time of the war it is, the boat's appearence can be significantly different.

On the other hand, if your just wanting to depict a typical VIIC/41, then who is to know or say EXACTLEY how it should look... This would allow you to research a few C/41s and impliment the details that you prefer to have on your model, as long as they would be possible on such a boat.

Although...if your going to go with just a "standard/typical" VIIC/41, then how are you going to handle the boat's emblem, as it was pretty rare for a boat NOT to have an emblem (even if it was just a german town's insignia, instead of the more well known personal and flotilla emblems). Adding an emblem though, could be considered as choosing a particular boat lol So no longer is it just a typical or standard boat. There is little info available on some boats and others there is quite a bit. With an obscure boat, you can get more creative with appearence and most if not all people will not be able to say your depiction is correct or incorrect.

There were far less C/41s built than Cs though. It could be worse if you were building a C you'd have almost 600 boats to choose from. I have a C in my closet and have yet to choose a boat for it to become lol It can become a problem when you have too many choices! Building a Type IIA for example, narrows your selection down substantially, to only 6 boats.

I believe there were approximately 91 C/41s built and most of them had that late long planked decking. The C/41s that had the early style deck were probably among the first C/41s built.

Steve

[mylo]

Steve,

I'm doing two complete

Steve,

I'm doing two complete models.

The first is going to be U-995 as it currently is in Laboe Germany.

The second is going to be U-997 as it was with the 13th Flotilla from June 1944 to the end of the war.

I've got 4 other boats, ....maybe I'll do a cammo one. Are you familiar with a VIIc/41 with a cammo paint scheme ?

Mylo

[warpatroller]

I can't think of any

I can't think of any particular C/41 off hand that had a cammo paint scheme.. The cammo schemes most commonly appeared on boats operating in the Mediterranean Sea. I would think at least a few C/41s did some time in the Mediterranean at some point. The pictures I have in books of cammo boats are primarily VIIB, VIICs and some IXs.

Books often mention the Italian blue-grey splotches over a light grey upper hull and sail for Mediterranean boats, but other cammo techniques were used in addition, that had bands of cammo and solid patterns.

A friend of mine has subscribed to a new Uboat magazine that comes out of Germany I believe. The magazines had some photos of Type IIs and XXIIIs I had never seen before. I'll ask him if he has seen any C/41s with cammo in them.

Steve

[mylo]

I'm sure I've seen pics

I'm sure I've seen pics of VIIc/41s that did Arctic duty with cammo schemes. Likely based out of Trondheim or Narvik I would imagine. That's why I was thinking that U-997 might be one of them.

Mylo

[raalst]

some link i found about

some link i found about that new german magazine

http://www.modelshipwrights.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=2856

in this review there is also a link to the publisher.

[hakkikt]

Is it possible that different

Is it possible that different versions of the Revell VIIC/41 exist? Your U 997 sports one of the coolest camouflages ever seen on a U-boat, IMHO

This is the version that is on the cover of the box sold here in Austria, reviewed in an article in a German online modelling magazine:

http://www.modellversium.de/galerie/5-s ... u-997.html

[tsenecal]

hakkikt,

ROG makes two versions of

hakkikt,

ROG makes two versions of the 1/72 type VII:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wt ... &search=Go

[mylo]

Did that "squiggly" cammo ACTUALLY

Did that "squiggly" cammo ACTUALLY exist on any U-Boat ? I've never seen photo evidence. I do think it is unique and quite cool looking, but is it authentic ? Can anybody support this cammo scheme with documented proof ?

Mylo