Revell's 1/144th Type XXI U-Boat
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 Ahhh,
I love a good lead in article! Last
month, Paul Schwartzkopf reviewed ICM's new Type XXIII U-Boat (drool,drool).
In the article, he questioned why 1/144th scale? Well, a good possibility
was Revell's 1/144th Type XXI boat of several years ago. So we'll take
a look at this one, and see what we get. (Editor's Note: You'll find Paul
Schwartzkopf's full build article of the ICM sub in
this issue as well.)
History
The type XXI was a revolution in submarine
development. Folks, this was the “grandfather”of all  modern
boats. Suddenly, the guns and other external “Noisemakers”
were gone. The hull and sail were cleaned up, and for the first time,
she was faster underwater than on the surface (projected to be 17 knots).
The Torpedo loading was automatic, doing away with the time consuming
manual method. The schnorkel was designed into the sail, not an afterthought
addition. Although we weren’t at the teardrop design of today yet,
hydrodynamics was an extremely important consideration in her design.
If all this wasn’t enough, she was also designed in prefabricated
sections. In this manner, a production line assembly could be used to
put more boats in the water quickly. The original design was started in
June, 1943 , with a planned maximum output of 30 boats per month by the
end of 1944! The Type XXI was designed to be the “Ocean-going”
Boat, with it’s smaller brother, The  Type
XXIII, being the Coastal and Med-area boat. The production plans put in
place by Albert Speer envisioned a total of 40 boats per month, mixed
between the two types. Needless to say, this would have presented a serious
problem for the Allies. The first Type XXI, U-2501 went into the water
on May 12, 1944. By the end of the war, 119 boats had been produced. But
many of these suffered production faults, or the crews were in training.
At the end of the war, 10 boats were in Norway, ready to put to sea on
operational patrols. In the event, only U2511, under the command of Korvkpt
Adalbert Schnee, went operational. Obviously, this is not meant as an
encompassing history. I heartily suggest those with further interest in
these boats read Anatomy of the ship - Type XXI, by Fritz Kohl
and Eberhard Rossler, or the finest book I have ever found on U-Boats,
The U-Boat - evolution and technical history of German Submarines,
by Eberhard Rossler.
The Kit
 So
what do we get with Revell’s kit, #5081, dated 1993? You get approximately
45 parts that will give you a Type XXI U-Boat that is a monster even in
1/144th scale ! This model will measure out to approximately 21" long
when completed. That is a lot of plastic in 1/144th. Revell actually released
several versions. One was the full hull version shown here, another was
the Wilhelm Bauer, a modernized version of the type used by the Federal
German Navy.
Over the years, I’ve read several
reviews slamming this kit for detail problems. The worst I could not live
with, was the exhaust ports. I simply rebuilt these per plans in the Anatomy
of the Ship book. Other than that, it looks like a type XXI to me. But
granted, I’m not a “rivet counter”. The assembly went
together without undue problems. The detail  fanatics
can go crazy with this boat. Depending just how accurate a model you want,
the basics are there for you. Some modifications I added were as follows.
The ladder rungs going up the side of both sides of the sail were added
from surgical steel wire. The raised bollards were added from tube stock,
and detailed with plastic stock. The drain ports were drilled out, and
the towing hook was added from wire stock. The TDC was scratchbuilt, and
added to the command position for surface action. Actually, this boat
comes alive with careful painting and highlighting. U-Boat colors are
a never ending battle with all modelers. I chose to use a dark grey from
the water line down, light grey for the water line to the deck, and the
sides of the sail. I also used a mid blue grey for the deck and top of
the sail. Several photos I’ve seen showed this scheme, but no definitive
color photos or color numbers have ever surfaced to my knowledge.
 With
the crisp details of the molding, washes and highlights make this one
come to life. These boats were getting minimum maintenance at the end
of the war, and really showed it. All limber holes and vents were highlighted
with black acrylic gouache to bring them out. Pastels were then added
to show drain run offs. Minor rust streaks were added with acrylic gouache
again. The entire boat was then shot with Future to seal the colors, then
flat to kill the sheen. The figures were DML, modified from the flight
deck crews. Although Revell gives you markings for 3 different boats,
I chose not to use them. Most of the photos I’ve studied show no
markings at all prior to the end of hostilities, your choice.
 So
there you go. This is a fairly simple model, that will really benefit
from careful finishing techniques. Being in 1/144th scale, it gives one
a large boat, that in the hands of a master could really be a jewel, but
you’ll have to settle for mine for now.
After seeing Paul’s review, I’ll
have to track down a few Type XXIII’s. The comparison between the
Type XXI and it’s little brother, the Type XXIII, would make an
interesting display. Till next time...............Enjoy.
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