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Type XXIII German U-Boat

Brief History

In 1943 the German Naval High Command decided to develop and produce two new submarines designs:the Type XI and Type XXIII.
Know as the "Electro Boats",they were the decendants of the Walter Pr. 476 Perhydrol boats.The type XI and the Type XXIII
were the worlds first true submarines.They were designed to
spend most of thier time under water and achieved speeds
greater underwater than on the surface.The Type XXIII was the smaller coastal version of the larger oceangoing XI.Although
design work was not begun on the XXIII until after the XI, it
saw service first.At WWII's end, 900 type XXIII's were ordered
and under construction and 59 had been launched into service,
but at the end of the war only six were left on patrol.The
most famous of these boats,the u-2336,made the last known
sinkings of the war.

The Model

I bought this model 2nd hand.It had been poorly constructed
and looked as if it had not been taken care of.The model was
manufactered by a company called 32nd parallel.
The model fortunatley had all the original instructions,
blueprints and parts with the exception of the motor.This
model could be built as a "dynamic Diver" or with a gas ballast
system.I opted to use the gas ballast system.As you can see from the picture below it needed alot of work.

I began the restoration by first carefully removing the
conning tower.Next I remover all the railings and ladder rungs.
I had to cut limber holes out of the back of the conning tower
and along the bottom edge.These were omitted during the original build.I did this using a drill,A Dremel Tool, and some small
jewelers files.

restoring & detailing the conning tower

in this image you can see that the conning tower has been removed
from the hull.the missing limber holes have been cut and mould
lines and gouges have been filled and sanded.then the piece
was sprayed with grey sandable primer.

in this image from above you can see that drainage holes
have been drilled in the bottom of the conning tower floor.
this will facilitare draining through the limber holes when the sub surfaces.It will be covered with wire mesh in a later step.

here can be seen a head on view of the conning tower.visible
is the life raft stowage compartment.

here i'm drilling out the base of the schnorkel to accecpt
the brass tubes.

here the brass tubes have been ca'ed in and are drying.

here the schnorkel is installed.note also rdf loop.

more to come