Here is the box for pouring the silicone mould:
The poured silicone not jet cured:
The cured mould and the first cast of “Das Boot”:
The cast next to the Revell 1/350 VIIc:
You can clearly see the difference between 1/300 ( in the background) and the 1/350 model now.
pictures of the finished model soon! I will put up a notice when the VIIc U Boat is available for purchase.
The next ship or boat is ready to go into the silicone. I will do the mould today.
I am really a bit frightened about how the air vents will show up on the resin cast. We will see tomorrow.
If all works out well “Das Boot” will be available next week.
Here are some pictures of a Cruel Seas game in progress, showing a ship provided by me  build and painted by Lewis Morgan.
If you want the ships done by me can be purchased here.
I did some more work on the Typ VIIc U-Boat lately. added the deck and the conning tower. now only a few little bits like the diesel exhausts and the deck fittings and the anchor are missing then it goes into the moulding process.
More to come!
The Type VIIC was the workhorse of the German U-boat force, with 568 commissioned from 1940 to 1945. The Type VIIC was an effective fighting machine and was seen almost everywhere U-boats operated, although its range of only 8,500 nautical miles was not as great as that of the larger Type IX (11,000 nautical miles), severely limiting the time it could spend in the far reaches of the western and southern Atlantic without refueling from a tender or U-boat tanker. The VIIC came into service near the beginning of the war and was still the most numerous type in service when Allied anti-submarine efforts finally defeated the U-boat campaign in late 1943 and 1944.
Type VIIC differed from the VIIB only in the addition of an active sonar and a few minor mechanical improvements, making it 2 feet longer and 8 tons heavier. Many of these boats were fitted with snorkels in 1944 and 1945.
Armament was 5x Torpedo tubes ( 4 to the front 1 facing aft), They carried 14 torpedoes. 1x 88mm naval gun with 220 rounds and various anti aircraft guns ( depending on conning tower typ).
Why, do you probably think, a submarine for Cruel Seas? the rules don’t include real submarine warfare as written. And Yes you are right but the “Boot” is so iconic for WWII naval warfare that i had to do one. I use rules proposed by David Manley in his rules for coastal warfare ( Action Stations). They can be incorporated or combined with Cruel Seas.
So there are quite a lot of U Boat models in 1/350 ,like the one below made by Revell, but they are not waterline and basically to small for my taste.
So I started building one from a 1/400 paper model. I enlarged the size with a photocopier to 1/300 and started cutting and gluing strengthen it at the same time to make casting resin copies possible.
The basic hull parts
the skeleton glued
adding the deck
and the sides. Here alongside the waterline 1/350 model by Revell.
You can see clearly how much longer and wider the model is in comparison .
Next step is to do the upper deck and the conning tower. I will build the tower version as on the Revell model but there will be other types of conning tower later ,too. There will be a Typ IX Boat too in the future!
I did some more work on the MS Louisa as a Auxiliary Gunboat. Named VP 1037.
Here are some pictures of the build and primed model:
The weapons are as usual from Warlord and Heroic&Ros.
More to come when painting is finished. If interested in a copy ,I Will list the ship here when ready.
Next up will be a Typ VIIc U Boat….
I finished the MS Louisa coastal collier! You can see pictures of the finished three versions below:
And a size comparison with a Vosper from Warlord Games:
My complete fleet of selfmate ships so far:
You can purchase the ships if you like just go here for more info !
Next up will be a bigger collier and a passenger liner.
Auxiliary gunboats were used by the germans during WWII in a great variety . This is the MS Louisa converted into such a vessel . These vessels were used for security and convoy support.
I haven’t thought about the armament jet, but you could definitely mount a 88 mm gun in the central position and 37mm or double 20mm guns fore and aft and an additional 20mm on top of the wheelhouse . I will put some Warlord weapons on it when i did the mould.
I did the mould and cast the first examples of the MS Louisa coastal freighter / collier.
I did three different ones.
The collier version loaded with coal:
The version with a load of crates and boxes:
And a version loaded with wood:
Here is a size comparison with an E boat by warlord:
More pictures when I finished painting them up. Next version will be a gun carrier.
This is the start of a steam ship liner. It is a generic ship and based on a lot of contemporary pictures.
I wanted to reuse the hull of the S.S. Bellota to safe me from doing a new hull and mould. should be more cost-effective this way. As you can see I work with o core of extruded polystyrene clad with paper for detailing. When you paint that later on with a diluted PVA it gets rock solid.
Here are a few more pictures:
More to come
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