1/35 U-Boats with Crew Figures

[tmanthegreat]

I've had several posts here regarding the 1/35 scale U-Boat models I've built, but I finally decided to get some proper figures of WWII German seamen and officers to go with them instead of my stop-gap solution using painted Dragon CanDo German tanker figures. Since no one makes pre-painted Kriegsmarine figures, I had to find some kits and settled on several from U Models and Royal Models. I think I'm a fan of resin-cast figures as they have much crisper details that make for easier painting than many of those that come packed with model kits. Below are my final results... Enjoy

[Axis Nightmare]

The weathering on the big sub is superb! The crews look great! I'm not well versed on U-boats and didn't know that type 23 existed as well as the wee little ones. Those mini subs look like they would be suicide missions. Did they have much success? Where did the type 23 operate? When I think of U-boats, I think of the Wolf Pack fleet size like this one in one of my all time favorite photos. Imagine going out to the beach in the morning and finding this:



It's my understanding this huge U-Boat is a WWI model. Pretty slick technology for 1918 considering how crude the airplane and tank were. Unlike the plane and tank, they didn't change all that much by WWII. Washed up in 1919 when it was being towed to France and the tow cable broke.

[[CAT]CplSlade]

The Type XXIII was a coastal patrol vessel. It only carried two torpedoes and seldom did deep water duty. I don't believe very many were built. The smaller ones were usually used in special combat roles, not patrols obviously.

As for the subs looking so advanced by WWI, remember they got their start during the Civil War, so had more development time than planes and tanks -- although one could say they progressed much faster.

[tmanthegreat]

Thanks Axis! Appreciate the kind comments

[CAT]CplSlade is correct in that the Type XXIII U-Boat was a coastal submarine with a limited armament of only two torpedoes. As a coastal U-Boat, it was intended only for short range missions in shallow waters of the English Channel, North Sea, Baltic Sea, and the Mediterranean. They were the first of the new elektroboats that featured hull streamlining (increasing speed), higher capacity batteries and a snorkel to allow them to stay submerged most of the time. They were operational only in the last months of the war in 1945 and suffered no losses, but sank only a handful of Allied ships. My model depicts U-2336, which sank the last two Allied vessels in the European theater on May 7, 1945 - the day before the war ended! For quick reference, here's the Wikipedia article for the Type XXIII U-Boat: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_XXIII_submarine Here is a link to the brief history of U-2336: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-2336

As for the smaller subs, yeah, they were pretty much suicide craft. The U-Boat Biber was a midget submarine intended to operate in coastal waters, particularly areas of strategic importance (for example the Normandy beaches). It was a single seat sub that carried two torpedoes. The boat was difficult to operate killed more of their own crew than the enemy. Most of the Bibers that were deployed were lost, usually by swamping in heavy seas or asphyxiation of the pilots. Here's a link to info on the Biber submarine: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biber_(submarine)

The Type XXVIIB Seehund U-Boat was an evolutionary step from the Biber and drew on technical knowledge gained from captured British X-Craft midget subs. They had a two-man crew and again were intended to operate in costal waters. The Seehund was more of a true submarine and had a relatively advanced design for the time. During their deployment in the final months of the war, Seehunds managed to sink about 9 Allied vessels for the loss of 35 subs, mostly attributed to bad weather. The Seehund was almost impossible to detect with the sonar devices of the day and if depth-charged, would just get pushed about without suffering extensive damage. Several were even used by the French navy after the war. Here's a link to some more info on the Seehund: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seehund

[normandy]

Fine looking crew Tman! Great job on the painting, looks like they just climbed out of the boat.

[pickelhaube]

Very nice subs and crewmen !!