The quality of the plastic, resin and photo-etched parts is up to the standard of the latest MPM releases, but this is the biggest injection moulded kit from the MPM group to date.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

 

 

Construction

Although there are not many plastic parts, basic construction was not easy on Chris's model because the big hull halves were warped in almost all directions. This problem was corrected by gluing the hull in sections, starting from the bow and progressively moving back as each section dried. Twisting, clamping and plenty of Super Glue resulted in an acceptable outcome.

There is still a bit of a corkscrew attitude to the hull, but it is hardly noticeable now.

Construction was also complicated by ambiguous drawings and vague directions for parts placement. The kit provides six illustrations and side elevation drawings, all of which are different. This can be confusing when it is all the reference that you have!

The resin parts all fitted well, as did the photo-etched parts. However, I did replace the ladder rungs at the front of the conning tower with bras wire bent to shape, as the photo-etched parts looked a bit too flat to me.

Even with the resin and brass parts, you will still need to scratch build a fair few details yourself. Some of these details include railings, masts and antennas.

 

Painting and Markings

The U-Boat was painted with the Aztek metal-body airbrush fitted with the fine, tan tip.

The upper hull received a coat of Tamiya XF-54 Dark Sea Grey.

The lower hull was painted using a 60/40 mix of Tamiya XF-54 and XF-24 Dark Grey.

All woodwork was represented using Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow.

Weathering was achieved with XF-64 Red Brown and XF-1 Flat Black, and by using a combination of both.