Kablooey! A direct hit!
This is how the Uboote adn scenery comes apart for storage.
It is based on an actual WWI German sub but I cannot now find which one. Several allowances have been made in its building for playability and convenience. It comes a no great surprise thar it's a waterline model, but it is actually a below waterline model. You would see more of the hull. I did however build it to be partly hidden by ice. The hull is two layers of 1cm foamboard cut to shape. The deck is ribbed with 2x1 mm styrene strips. Edges are covered with masking tape. Rivets, not clearly visible, are about 100 pin heads. The tower is a piece of foam board with v-groves cut out in the curving section. The skirt is carton and masking tape. The protuding
thingummybobschen is carton and sculpted greenstuff. The periscope and snorkle are brass tubing and brass rod. The gun deck is layers of plasticard cut out with a circle cutter. The gun is scratbuitl from plasticard and copper tubing and is not very accurate. It looks ok. The whole thing was primed black and then dusted over with several layers of sea grey.
I would like to add a antennae wire, flag and tower identification number/icon (you know... the traditional fearsom sea creature with trident, skull and bones, chesty meremaid or what have you) but at the same tme I don't want to lock it down to a certain conflict. Perhaps it looks more menacing with no markings at all?
Edit:
I forgot the ice: I shaved a small sheet of 25mm pink foam down to roughly 10mm on onse side. The key is then to break it by hand to wedges and blocks and stack them on thin cardboard in a convincing manner. I looked at pictures of ice breakers but kept in mind that a sub comes from beneath. (I have no idea about the authenticity of a sub of this size breaking through ice this thick). I started with rather large pieces at the bottom and angled them slighty uppwards worads the sub. I then stacked smaller pieces ontop. I painted everyting in several layers of white because pink is the colour of the devil and will shine through like a bad lie. I then painted the broken side surfaces of the ice with greyish turqois and let it dry thoroughly. The I drybrushed the turqoise several times until it just shines through here and there. I put PVA on places where drifting snow would accumulate and sprinkled snow flock on it and by then Bob was your uncle.
