by Barry Lesht
1/200 DKM U-505 Type IXC (Nichimo)
I used the Nichimo 1/200 Type IXC kit as the starting point for this representation of U-505 as she used to be displayed outside of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. The boat has been moved inside to a new gallery and the periscopes and radar antenna are no longer in their extended positions, but I liked the look with them visible. I modified the kit by extending the wintergarten and by removing some of the molded detail to better match U-505. I planked the extended wintergarten and bridge with HO-scale 1x2 basswood strip. I used stock photoetch for the main deck rails, but fabricated the rails around the bridge and wintergarten from brass wire. This was my first attempt at soldering brass wire and I'm afraid it shows in the occasional solder globs. I scratch built the 3.7 cm and 2.0 cm AA guns using hypodermic tubing for the barrels (#32 for the 20mm), strip styrene, and scrap phototech material. The splinter shield on the 3.7 cm is 0.005 styrene reinforced with some strip. I built the radar from scrap photoetch and brass wire, both soldering and gluing with CA. I used #6 and #7 tippet (0.005 and 0.004) for the anti-fouling cables and ground wire. The insulators are drops of white glue (which I found hard to get sized consistently). The running lights (hard to see in the photos) are bits of colored plastic from a model airplane detail set. If you have a chance to visit Chicago, a trip to the museum to see U-505 is well worth the trip.
