Heyhey, a while ago I was approached with one of those paint-schedule-shattering "emergency" projects. It's a 3d printed German WW2 U-Boat (Type VIIc) for the popular cooperative boardgame U-Boat / U-Boot. The 3d-printed monster replaces the cardboard U-Boat "playing field".
The experts among you probably noticed that there are big holes in this U-Boat. This is so players can allocate their seamen across the model. One of the key aspects of the game is bascially worker allocation. Each player takes on the role of an officer (captain, first officer, navigator, chief engineer) and each of them has a number of men to allocate to do jobs.
I have to admit that I haven't played myself yet. Since April we've been trying to find a date to do so, but life gets in the way. I hear though that it's excellent and great fun. Not easy, takes some time to learn the ropes, but extremely fun to play.
The model (close to 1 metre in length) comes in 5 separate sections. The tops can be taken off, the tower is a separate part as well. Antennae, snorkel, periscope, etc. is a plastic part from the original boardgame, just like the deck gun and the AA gun. The model is designed in such a way that these original plastic parts (usually going in the cardboard model that comes with the game) fit the model. I looked up the size of the original boat and the model comes in at approximately 1/72nd. The single parts come with magnets, so the boat pretty much snaps together.
After a ton of research (las time I'd done a WW2 submarine must be close to 25 years ago. It was a German U-Boat by Revell, incidently also with interior, albeit 1/125 in scale if I remember correctly.) I got to it. I keep mentioning how impressive I find the work and research of 'proper' scale modellers and it was no different when I dove (no pun intended) into the world of submarine modelling. I didn't know it was that big a thing and so remarkably well researched. I learned a lot.
When I snapped back to the model at hand I first was stunned by all the little errors the model has (of course
). No point in complaining though, and first and foremost - no time. Remember, I had one week to do this thing. So I started sanding the hull, muttering curses about bloody 3d printers. ;-)
In fact, the gentleman who's done this model did a remarkable job with designing this. I hear he's in talks with the game's publisher to make his model an official add-on for the game, which is a cool thing.
Anyway, I sanded away at the hull to get it somewhat smooth. Then gave it a nice coat of spraypaint, then sanded again, rinse and repeat. I know that there are 'special products' out there. I know that you can do that whole acetone fumes thing. Alas, no time. And if time pressure's at hand, I prefer to go with methods which I know that work and for which I got the tools hat hand.
I didn't even bother trying to sand the interior details. Not worth it. So yeah, a few days later....
(in this one you can see how I tried to suggest the deck's planks on the model's rough-but-completely-even surface)
The paintjob's loosely based on U201, which is a very popular boat among modellers due to the camouflage painted onto the upper hull. Just makes it look more attractive.
The interior was a fair bit of work too. It required a lot of shading and working with all the printed detail (of which there is a lot, right down to loafs of bread, spoons and ladles hanging from the galley's wall, posters, a radio in the captain's cabin, etc.), trying to make it 'stand out' a bit more than the pretty rough printing shows. Plus: I wanted to get it at least somewhat right. So I read a lot, looked up what the interior of surviving boats looks like, etc.
What surprised me (and which I'm somewhat proud of, mostly due to my own dumb luck) is how somewhat well the faux-wooden plinth came out. The ship sections come printed along with that. Originally I wanted to keep it black, but the reddish faux-wood really adds to the look of the model I think.
Last but not least the game comes with 16 (4 per player) individually sculpted crewmen figures, which even fit the size of the boat (if you deduct the bases they come with). These I painted as well in the end:
(note the rightmost of the blue-based chaps, displaying some SICK new dance moves he picked up on shore leave)
Within the time I had and the way the model is made I tried my best to make this look _correct_. If you find incorrect bits - nobody's perfect.
But I do take my research serious, especially if it's about things I had NO idea about. It was really interesting to read about all of this stuff. In general I find painting organic things, people, animals, etc. more interesting, mostly because it's harder I think. But working with this model kinda made me want to do more with submarines.
Anyway, I hope you find this interesting. I sure did, simply because it was so different and every now and then I like a tight deadline, just to see if I can do it. I'm happy to report that it worked out this time (so far it always did, but a bit of deadline-panic never hurt anyone.
) and that the feedback I got from the gentleman I painted this one for was overwhelmingly positive.
Hope you like it too!
Welcome, Guest. Please 
April 26, 2024, 10:57:08 AM
