just a quick update, i have done more than is in the photograph and i will update it all tomorrow or if i'm lucky later on this evening.

i have now started work on the upper structure and have now glued the two cargo frames that attach to the front and rear of the driving compartment although they are not shown here.

Great to see the subs!

First update: Subs build up quickly so these should be done in a reasonable time frame.



Ignore the black HMS Astute in the middle. Its a trumpeter kit and not relevant to this campaign however since I was already building a modern RN submarine I wanted to kill 2 birds with one stone.

Main hulls are together with varying fit issues. The 636 Kilo went together really well and needed minimal filling on the seams.

The Victorious was a different story. I had to do an extensive amount of filling/sanding to get the hull join to go away. Of course the issue was on the giant sub and not the little one.

Since taking the picture I have added the rest of the parts and am now ready to start priming and painting.

Kind of goes without saying Rory. The longer the hull, the more chance of warpage. Glad you got it sorted.

Looking good David. Did the frames need much clean up?

the frames were fine mate, the only flash i have seen is on the figures which makes me think they are produced by a third party, or they are out sourced for production elsewhere.

Nice line-up, Rory!

Good progress too, David!

Saw this and thought of you Mike - a dio option !!

Peter, I love the thought! However, I can only imagine the horror of trying to suspend the in-flight Jeep off of the flimsy trail arms. And besides, I've already committed the Jeep and AT Gun to separate dioramas. I'm Franken-figuring as we speak — mismatched limbs all over the workbench!

Please stay tuned!

We are getting there. Subs are almost done, just need decaling.

Victorious has some fairy finicky masking to do for the upper walkway area but I got it done with no major issues.



Final reveal coming soon

Lookin' good, Rory!

Mask tape pieces look like the tarps ship yards use to cover classified equipment/areas
Looking forward to the final reveal!

Finaly I opened the box of Kommandogerät 40.
I will build it in transport mode, with the rangefinder in its transport box.

Spent some time trying to find which truck Bulgarian Royal Army used to tow the telemeter(no specialized vehicles-like Sd.Kfz.7/6 or Kfz.74/Kfz.415 were delivered to Bulgaria in WWII), and found nothing...
Then checked the sizes of cargo beds of trucks, known to be used in Bulgarian AA Defense back then and came to the conclusion the truck must have been one with 4,5t load capacity(the rangefinder won't fit in any 3t. truck cargo bed).So either MB L4500S or MAN ML4500.
I have an 80% built Mercedes-Benz L4000S(Zvezda) and will use it.

I'll be using refference pictures sent to me by Carlos Martin(varanusk), one of Kommandogerät 40 Manuals(LDv.T.1352/1), info from the dedicated thread in Armorama:
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/192911
Some pictures found on the web plus Werner Müller's book "Die Geschütze, Ortungs- und Feuerleitgeräte der schweren Flak" will also be used.

So I built the rangefinder(some missing details will be added later in the build) and started working on the box, where Em-4-mR 40 was stored during transport.
Some pictures:

And here we go. All completed and ready to sail. I really do like submarines because they are so lovely and simple to build as opposed to my usual surface ships which have 100's of parts and take months. I was trying to do this as a long weekend build but it ended up taking 5 days instead of the 4 I wanted. Oh well....

Photos submitted to the gallery.

HMS Victorious S-29 SSBN and Soviet Kilo Class SSN.



Definitely the trickier of the two to make. The sub had some fit issues which involved a "lot" of putty and sanding. Colour scheme was fairly standard though the curves on the upper deck were fun to mask.




This little kit of a Kilo class was a pleasant surprise. I honestly only bought it because it was on clearance and I needed something to get me up to an amount for free shipping. But it went together wonderfully, was easy to paint (2 colours) and the more I look at it the more I like the lines of her hull.

David, I'll keep an eye on your build. I look forward to seeing where you go with it. It's a nice kit. If you hit any snags feel free to ask - anytime. - Mike

Great Builds Rory. Nice to see some subs here, thanks for joining in.

Off to a good start Angel - and scratch building right from the first whistle too....

Yes Peter,

I need that E-Messer Kasten right from the very start

Thanks, mate!

David, Oops, I posted this in the wrong spot. FYI: I'll keep an eye on your build. I look forward to seeing where you go with it. It's a nice kit. If you hit any snags feel free to ask - anytime. - Mike

Hi Mike, good to hear from you again, do you have a close up of where the PE lever attaches to the handle bars as well as where and how you attached the brake and throttle cables?

thanks in advance.

Hannants have got the kit on 'Pre Order".
Not really a fan of that "pre ordering" but I'll give it a go.

See you all soon.

Kind regards,

Robert Jan

Glad to see you're back, Robert!

Looking forward to your Krupp Protze Kfz.19 build,

When it gets on time I'll build it. Hannants is a company one can rely on. If not, I have some other Bronco kits to build.
Got my mojo and peace back on track. Been some rough months.

A little confused I got. Hannants UK is where I will order the kit. Delivery, even with this crisis, is with the speed of sound. Take my hats off for them.

Cheers.

Robert Jan

Those subs are gorgeous!

Angel, Nice work on the rangefinder and scratch-building on its transport box!

Rory, Congratulations on the sub finishes! ... I agree, the Kilo Class is my favorite.

Cheers!🍺
—mike

David, I used .015 solder for the cables. Looking back it might have been better to use smaller copper wire. I think my cables look a bit big... although they do have rubber casings so I think they will do. There are some additional cables (10 total) I did not render. I did 3 to give some sense of 'real". Big problem was this: I installed the cables but each time I tried to add the driver I had to flex the handle bars and ugh the cables became disconnected. You have to flex the handle bars quite a bit to get them into the driver's hands. Also his hands are quite big so I knocked the PE handle off and couldn't get it reattached properly.Therefore it's gone.
NOTE: The bottom picture may help you a bit.

Waiting can be a waste of time, so decided to start the campaign with this one.



Did this one before, but having no Sd.Ah's, a base will be required I guess.
Thought about that too, but will keep that as a surprise.
Gonna be a fun build.

Day stamped, May 30, 2020.


Started with the base.

FYI.
Reason I took a break is that we started a new factory. Today we moved our offices to the new location.
The whole operation, as from the initial plans took us more than 2 years.
After our short holiday over here in Thailand, on Thursday 4th of June we kick off with a company called "Total Environmental Solutions Co., Ltd."

I'm a happy man now. Time to do some relaxing modeling again.

Hope you all understand my withdraw from the forums for some time....

Cheers,