IModeler at the Movies – “Das Boot”.
This is the 1/72 Revell German Type VIIc kit finished as U-96, the inspiration for the movie. I built it pretty much out of the box with the exception of the swordfish decal which came from a German producer named Peddinghaus. They offer an extensive selection of U-boat markings. The rigging is EZ Line, and the deck gun lanyard is string. The kit's large components are beautifully molded and fit together well. The smaller pieces, such as various railings were cracked and broken in my example. These were repaired with plastic tubes and rods. I painted it with Humbrol enamels and Tamiya lacquers to roughly match the Revell paint call outs. Most of the weathering was done with Zvezda acrylics. I originally wanted to build this in 1/144 to go with a Flower class corvette that I picked up, but realized that the only Type VIIc that was available at the time was this monster! Thanks to David for moderating this group build. It really expanded my modeling skills. Now to figure out where to display this 36 inch behemoth!
Alarm! A great build this is!
Thanks Robert. I tried to get the weathering right based on historical photos and closely watching ships that I see coming in and out of Mobile bay.
John @j-healy...Wow...just WOW. I had been waiting on this one. Never was a huge fan of U-Boats in the past but this one has changed my mind. Great finish!
Liked!
Thanks James. I’ve also come to appreciate submarines more after building this. I might do another German boat in 1/144 and some modern Russian types in 1/350. Some of the Zvezda kits look interesting.
Wow, it’s a delightful model by all accounts, perhaps one of the most well made and balanced submarine model I recall seeing made. I still have the DVD from the original movie, which I didn’t see until the early 90s on TV. I liked it so much I needed buying the DVD years later. Thanks for posting this one since I barely saw your build thread (Shame!)
Thanks Pedro!
This is an amazing build John, and a great movie. I remember watching the movie. It was in German and I had to read the English captions below since I don’t speak German. I think it made the movie experience even more realistic. Another good sub movie is U571, but I personally like Das Boot better.
I’m sorry I missed it as you were building it. I just finished reading the build log you posted and it is very good. I especially like how you rebuilt your hand rails using plastic rod. The weathering looks spot on too.
I’ll bet this one takes up some room on a shelf ! The display stand is very cool too. A friend gave me an old Revell sub model from the 1970’s. It’s still in the box and I’ll have to take another look at it now.
“ALARM “ !
“Liked”
Thanks Louis!
Looks fantastic - nice touch on the weathering. A real stand-out!
Thanks Greg!
Never been much of a submarine guy, but this is a museum-quality build. When the world moved from VHS to DVD, Das Boot was the first DVD in my collection. Great movie, great build!
Thanks Matt!
Well worth the wait. I looked back at the build log on this and it was time stamped one year and four months ago. You can see by the comments just how much this is appreciated.
For me, it's the painting that really makes this special - as I said in the WiP - I've tried several techniques in staining and never quite felt satisfied with it. I think it's either a 'feel' thing or just hours and hours of practice and patience. You see a lot of model subs over-cooked with weathering, but for me this is right in the Goldilocks zone.
At 36 inches (almost a metre for our European friends) this is going to be a real eye catcher - I'd love you send a pic of her in place when you find a spot for her.
'liked' 'liked' 'liked' 'liked'
@j-healy