German U-boat Type VIIB Conning Tower Gun Deck

[Steve Zuleski]

This will be an SBS on how to deal with nylon 3D printed parts and kits. This kit was not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, nor was it easy to work with. The figures are not included in this SBS, but are only there for scale reference.

There's a lot of prep work that is required before you ever touch a paint brush. So, strap in as we go inverted and slam the throttle to the fire wall, Yehaaaaaaaaa!






Getting Started

Talk about a big undertaking, this is it! Ya know, I heard it said many, many moons ago, " When yur hind quarters and elbow in alligators ya begin to wonder why ya came to drain the swamp." HA!





When this beauty arrived I realized this was not gonna be much fun getting it prepped for paint. This gun deck is a 3D print, 1/16th scale rendition, accurate and impressive from Shapeways, specifically designed by Sasa Drobac. Link is here: www.shapeways.com/shops/distefano_3dprint

Sasa has a pretty impressive line up for boat builders of all kinds and many scales, so this is a good source. However, back to my initial impression upon delivery, yikes! If you've never dealt with nylon printed 3D parts you're in for a surprise. It's a lot of work and I never did the intel search to find out otherwise, it never crossed my mind. My boof!


Prepping The Pieces For Sanding

Not all is lost, won't get done lookin at it anyway, right? The nylon print actually is better for anything that is large or has delicate configurations. But, it does have a fuzzy, or grainy appearance and does not like to be sanded unless you give it a resin coat or hit it several times with a primer. After much research I went with the XTC-3D resin filler, worked like a charm. However, as with any resin, make sure your mixes are exact or they won't dry and that tacky coat is a real bugger to get rid of. Trust me on this, I ran the learning curve for you, lol.



Once the resin had cured and was sanded with 200 grid paper the deck began to look much better. All kidding aside, this is a lot of work, so be prepared to spend days getting it to where you can paint it. In the end, it's all worth the grumbling because nobody makes anything coming close to what I needed and Sasa with Shapways was the only answer. Sasa will special design to your needs, which is what he did here. It took a bit of communication back and forth to get it right, but like I said, well worth the extra time to get what you are looking for.


More to follow, so any questions or comments, holler. Cheers, Ski.

[Leon]

WOW...That is awesome looking Ski! I'll be following along to see your progress.

[dierk]

This looks interesting!

[adt70hk]

Very interesting and a great finish!!

I too ordered some stuff by Shapeways, albeit much smaller and cheaper and you're right that the texture is a bit fuzzy in places. Also I had four of the same piece and there was even a marked difference between in quality between the pieces.

ATB

Andrew

[Steve Zuleski]

Apr 13, 2018 8:05:28 GMT -5 adt70hk said:

Very interesting and a great finish!!

I too ordered some stuff by Shapeways, albeit much smaller and cheaper and you're right that the texture is a bit fuzzy in places. Also I had four of the same piece and there was even a marked difference between in quality between the pieces.

ATB

Andrew

Wow Andrew, that's interesting, good to know about that.

Thx Leon and Dierk. I'll keep going until the outside work takes front stage. If I don't my wife will see to it otherwise, HA!


Cheers, Ski.

[adt70hk]

Apr 13, 2018 9:47:34 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

Apr 13, 2018 8:05:28 GMT -5 adt70hk said:

Very interesting and a great finish!!

I too ordered some stuff by Shapeways, albeit much smaller and cheaper and you're right that the texture is a bit fuzzy in places. Also I had four of the same piece and there was even a marked difference between in quality between the pieces.

ATB

Andrew

Wow Andrew, that's interesting, good to know about that.

Thx Leon and Dierk. I'll keep going until the outside work takes front stage. If I don't my wife will see to it otherwise, HA!


Cheers, Ski.

Ski

No problem.

The shot below gives you the best view of the issues I had.  As you can see it is fairly heavily ridged in places on the bottom one.  Although it's not that clear the top one was much better on the inside (these are 1/72).

ATB.

Andrew

[Steve Zuleski]

Wow, that had to be frustrating Andrew, incredible lack of smoothness for such a small scale. I think now you'd probably find these parts in a more styrene type mixture vs the nylon type. The 3D arena keeps improving, so hopefully we won't bare the brunt of this learning curve for too much longer.

This deck alone has eatin my lunch time wise. I wish I had done better research, but onward and forward. It seemd a bit expensive for the amount of work entailed once it arrived, ug!

Cheers, Ski.

[dierk]

In my limited experience with Shapeways I find that when several options of finish are offered it 'pays' to go for the most expensive one, which is a frosted semi-transparent material.

[Steve Zuleski]

Apr 14, 2018 7:13:24 GMT -5 dierk said:

In my limited experience with Shapeways I find that when several options of finish are offered it 'pays' to go for the most expensive one, which is a frosted semi-transparent material.

Good point, I agree Dierk, but in this scale that option was not available. That gun barrel would never have survived the post print inspection, if I understood them correctly.

Also, I've seen 1/35 scale figs needing touch up too, so it comes with the territory for now. I'm just glad I'm half way thru the process, lol.


Cheers, Ski.

[adt70hk]

Apr 14, 2018 9:55:30 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

Apr 14, 2018 7:13:24 GMT -5 dierk said:

In my limited experience with Shapeways I find that when several options of finish are offered it 'pays' to go for the most expensive one, which is a frosted semi-transparent material.

Good point, I agree Dierk, but in this scale that option was not available. That gun barrel would never have survived the post print inspection, if I understood them correctly.

Also, I've seen 1/35 scale figs needing touch up too, so it comes with the territory for now. I'm just glad I'm half way thru the process, lol.


Cheers, Ski.

Ski

What was even worse was that the outside of the hull that is hidden behind the tracks was pretty smooth!!😭

Dierk

I've only bought one thing off Shapeways but will bear in mind the choice of plastic.

ATB

Andrew

[Steve Zuleski]

Building The Railing

Making the railing was pretty much a piece of cake, except trying to figure out how to keep all rails in line and correctly placed. I made a jig out of blue construction foam as a template in the desired dimensions for this scale. No, it ain't exact, but it'll do, close enough, lol.

I used standard 12/3 Romex copper wire for the top rail, 1/16" copper tubing for the mid rail and 3/32nds brass tubing for the main rail posts. Once the pieces were in place I soldered the mains. The mid rails were cut using the copper tubing and then attached using steel pins through the verticals to keep them in place.





Caution: Remember to use "lead free" solder only. I'm not sure if you can still get the old stuff, but I found some in my stash. The fumes are not good to deal with. Wez gots way too many kits to build to be using the old stuff anyway, right?

More to follow. Cheers, Ski.

[Leon]

WOW....Nice start on the railing Ski!

[TRM]

Beautiful work Steve on a most interesting subject! Nice jig for the railings...seemed to do the trick rather well!

[Steve Zuleski]

Thx Leon and Mr T. Once I get this deck done I'll get back to the figures and try to wrap this puppy up before next fall, bahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa.................ya right. It was the thought that counts, I recon.

Cheers, Ski.

[Steve Zuleski]

More Soldering On Deck

The seat supports were next in line for soldering. I used some smaller diameter copper tubing for the supports and soldered them in the appropriate locations along the mid railing. Clamping the pieces in place was a bit of a challenge, but once I got a system going it went quick.

Cheers, Ski.


P.S. How I forgot or missed adding this to my last post is beyond me. Maybe I should stop trying to do 500 things at one time, HA!

[Steve Zuleski]

Flag Pole And The Kriegsmarine Flag

Now, dealing with these tiny scratch built parts for the flag pole was a real "Baby Rump Kisser'! Pretty much every time I started to solder a piece anywhere close to something that had already been done the parts moved from the heat, Yikes! So, I had to work fast and I actually used the plumbers technique of brazing rather than having the solder already on my tip. I never claimed to be an expert at this, just tellin yall how it went, lol.

Note: Use caution when filing the slag away from your work, if you go too thin you'll be soldering again, thin joints won't hold under pressure or torque.


Once again, the rhythm was kickin and I got er done. The rope loop was a real hoot to get lined up just right and the disc up top for the swastika is made up of several copper discs soldered together for the appropriate thickness.

The flag was printed from an online photo and resized. The red color appears a bit faded, but that will actually work out just right. I made the rope to scale using three strands of heavy sewing thread by twisting them tightly, then I added a thin layer of good 'ol Elmer's glue all over it. I kept this new flag rope stretched out until it was completely dried. While waiting for this to dry I made small loops with the original heavy thread at the top and bottom of the flag portion that will be attached to the pole. Then, when the rope was completely dry, I ran it through the loops and mounted it on the pole. I will have to go back and paint this rope, maybe a medium tan tone, but it's pretty much complete for now.







Ok, here is the results so far. Everything seems to be in place and ready for the steps and wood work. Sorry, the flag mounted photo will appear later.

Thanks for watchin.  Cheers, Ski.

[dierk]

Splendid work!
Nice brass solderage, as well!

[Leon]

Great work on the flag and brass work Ski!

[adt70hk]

Brilliant.....simply brilliant.......

[Steve Zuleski]

Thx Gentlemen! Seat on the way.


Cheers, Ski.

[ossie262]

Steve

I just love the work you have done on this model
it looks fantastic
Ossie

[Steve Zuleski]

Thx Ossie, more to follow soon.

Cheers, Ski.

[406 Silverado]

Very impressive brass work. This is gonna look awesome.

[mustang1989]

Terrific brass and detail work.

[Steve Zuleski]

Thanks Rob, thanks Joe. Here's a bit more, see belowwwwwwwwwwwww......................

Cheers, Ski.

[Steve Zuleski]

Adding The Tower Steps and Side Railing

This process was much easier than fighting the upper railing. I used the 1/16th copper tubing for the side rails and soldered in the supports, then added steel pins, drilled the holes and plugged them in. The steps, however, were a bit more involved.

I decided to go with Evergreen's styrene tubing simply because I had it in the appropriate scale and it was much easier to work with. Using the "Grab Handler" I heated the tubing at the joints and "slowly" bent them to the required angles. I then drilled the ends and inserted the steel pins and glued them in place on the sides of the gun deck.

Be careful when using any heat around this styrene tubing. Once all the deck work was done I washed the entire build down with mild soap to get rid of any residue from soldering and gluing, then used a hair dryer to quickly dry it off. Ooops, dopey me had it on high heat and you guessed it, I had to redo a complete side of steps! Ah, I needed the practice any way.

And there we have it.  More to follow soon and thanks for watchin.  Cheers, Ski.

[406 Silverado]

Some fancy bending lol. All are uniform and straight.

[Steve Zuleski]

Apr 19, 2018 13:12:57 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Some fancy bending lol. All are uniform and straight.

Thx Rob. Ya, it was a bit of a hoot getting a routine down, took some finagling. The Grab Handler is a mighty friend. I did get plenty of practice after I accidentally over heated the one side. Talk about an hour wasted to "re-do" something, lol.

Also, I forgot to mention heating the ends of the steps before inserting the pins. I heated it slightly and then mashed it against a block of steel, made my welding marks with little to no effort.

Cheers, Ski.

[Steve Zuleski]

Take A Seat, Relax. Wood Planks


One feature on the U-Boats was seating for the crew to take a break on the "smoking deck". From what I've read the planks were wood and some boats didn't have any, but more than likely they were removed due to damage, etc.

In the photos below you can see how I clamped the planks in place for pinning and securing them. After the bass wood was cut to fit I used sewing pins to secure them to the railing supports. I drilled a slight recess into the wood to get a flush fit on the sewing pins. I then flipped the tower over and soldered the pins in place and trimmed the excess. Then I went back and lightly sanded the plank with 600 grit sand paper. This process was fast and easy.







Got the flag mounted for perspective. It may be a bit big, but who cares, looks good to me, HA!



Next up, sanding the gun and mount. Cheers, Ski.

[dierk]

Looks the canine's danglies Steve!