Hull Cuts and Escape Trunks

The only way to install the escape trunks was to make hull cuts below them. They do it on the real thing to remove and install equipment to large for the hatches so I did the same idea in scale. The escape trunks are only basic shapes since you can barely see through the hole once it is all installed but here they are before painting.

The aft escape hatch hole and it's hull cut. Directly below on the keel.

The doors for the sail, the escape hatches, the hatch seats and the escape trunks.

Escape trunk close ups.

Sail access door close ups

Scamp Sail Structure

Working on the sail structure, which I should have done before assembly. I had not made the decision to display the ship in dry dock until after assembling. The top two photos are of the bridge, clam shell doors are installed deck grating, fore and aft bulkheads. Third photo is the fair water access door area, deck and aft bulkhead is installed. Bottom photo shows the doors cut and filed to shape, these will need all of the backing structure added before installation. At this point I am using a "building a ship in a bottle" approach to adding this detail. One thing I will not be able to add is the bridge access trunk. There is not a large enough opening in the sail to put the pieces in.

SSN-588 Progress

Photo 1: Drydock base primed and overall view of model.

Photo 2: Stern plane mod for towed array and new 7 blade screw.

Photo 3: Overall view of towed array tube and retracting mechanism.

Photo 4: GNATS

Photo 5: WLR-9

Photo 6: Alternate View of towed array.

Photo 7: Prop Detail shot.

Photo 8: Sail access hatches drilled and filed to shape.

I served on the Scamp SSN-588 in the mid 1980s. I am building this model to match it's look during that time period.

Details of final model

Finished! I weathered it as it would appear after a long patrol. Added crew men that I modified from the figures supplied in the flak gun kits. If you look close you will notice the rivets on the hull. It did not take me as long as I thought it would to add that detail.

Shafts and Steering Gear

The tan colored pieces came with the hull, all other pieces were scratch built. Propellers were purchased. All pieces were made and located based on the master plan.

Hull and deck completed and primed

The hatches (visible in the middle picture) were made from a mold I created after building a master.

Making the deck and topside details

All of the details and the deck were made from strip and sheet polystyrene. Using the full size plan and detail pictures in various publications I started at the stern and worked my way forward.

U-515 Hull

The upper portion of the hull was either stretched out from twenty years of sitting or it was just that way from the initial molding when it was manufactured. To compensate and provide a good surface to build the deck on I had a sheet of aluminum cut out to the required shape of the deck. This was glued to a lip made from plastruct angles glued to the hull and then the whole thing was bound for several days with tape to ensure a solid seal was made after gluing the aluminum to the hull and mounting angles.

U-515 Flak Gun Selection

Most of this build would be scratch built, how ever I could not pass up the opportunity to use these Tamiya 1/48 scale armor kits to supply the flak guns. I initially chose to use twin 20 mm mounts for the upper flak platform and a single 37 mm for the extended wintergarden (lower platform). How ever my cat would end up chewing up the 37 mm gun half way through my kit bashing of it. He also took and chewed up on twin 20 mm mount and made another disappear. I cannot blame him as I should have known if I left the room door open he would explore.  

As I did further research and determined that the boat would be built as it would have appeared in mid to late 1943, the lower flak gun was changed to the quad mount 20 mm gun.

The remains of my flak guns after the cat incident.

U-515 construction begins in earnest

The back story here is that I purchased this hull kit back in the late 1980's when I was building radio controlled (RC) ships for friends. My intent when I purchased it was to make it an RC model for myself. I had started drilling and filing the limber holes in the hull and due to moves and other life events the model was put aside and stored. Since I have lived in my current home it has sat above my work bench cabinets collecting dust. I kept saying to myself I would finish it some day as a static model. Well that day came in November of last year.

The U-515

Just completed is this Type IX U-boat. It is a 1/48 scale model that measures 59-1/2" long. The hull and conning tower is fiberglass, purchased from the scale shipyard. I will go through the steps it took to build this model. The hull came with a set of full size plans (hanging on the wall behind the model). This hull and it's conning tower were based on the U-505 which is displayed in Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. My model is built to be the U-515, sunk by the same US Hunter Killer task force that captured the U-505. Research is important on building any model and I spent a good deal of time researching the specific U-boat that the model would become.

New blog on model building

A blog for me to discuss my hobby of model building. I have been building models since I was old enough to figure out what they were. I am currently interested in submarines but have built everything from pewter metal figurines to scratch built space ships based on descriptions in science fiction stories.