Hull Detailing 1  (before Hull Assembly)

As with other boat I have built — like U-673 — I knew that a very challenging and time-consuming aspect would be the detailing of the hull. After all, there is SO much of it to work on!

Hull detailing on my U-673 boat was very intensive, the most work I had ever done to that date... but I fully expect the hull work on U-505 to be even more. Having proven that some things are NOT impossible (just time consuming), I made my wishlist for hull modifications including the following:

 

Removing the Balcongerät Sonar Apparatus

Considering the point in U-505's career for which I am building the boat, the Balcongerät -- the streamlined passive-sonar array on the leading edge of the keel -- was not yet installed. As such, I need to replace it with a regular tapered keel leading edge.

 

STEP 1: Creating a blanking plate

Items used:

  • Sheet styrene 0.040"
  • Evergreen strip styrene 0.040" sq

Make a hole blanking plate from 0.040" sheet styrene, shaped to match the hole and then bent to match the curvature of the hull.
Add small strip styrene "shelves" to support the plate to make it level with the kit hull.

 

STEP 2: Making the keel leading edge

Items used:

  • Evergreen #258 rectangular tube
  • Milliput epoxy putty (silver-grey)

Cement 4 pieces of rectangular tube together as shown (2 wide, 2 high); this gives a keel end of perfect dimensions!
Cut to an overall length of 1.6"
Lay out the curvatures to mimic the keel trailing edge. Use French curve to ensure identical left-right curvatures.
Cut to rough shape using Dremel tool w/ cutting disk, then rough sand.
Fill cavities with Milliput epoxy putty.

... then sand to shape.

Stern

Flood Hole Templates

I chose to install the Eduard #53108 set, which contains very thin (0.0025") PE flood hole templates.
Since these templates were so thin, I would not have to cut out large sections of the hull and graft the PE pieces in place.
Rather, they could be glue directly to the hull with CA glue... AFTER appropriate sections of plastic were removed so the holes were not blocked.
I expect that due to the ultra-thinness of the PE template, only a very minimal amount of putty will be required to blend it onto the hull.

 

 

Lower Flood Doors

From the Eduard #53108 set, I am installing the numerous lower flood doors.