Wiener Modellbau Manufactur 1/72 SM U5/U6 Holland
type U-Boat
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The Boat
Probably the most famous Austro-Hungarian U-Boat of the Great War, SM
U5 was initially commanded by no-one else but Captain Georg von Trapp,
who later became hero of the Hollywood “Sounds of Music” popular
musical.
This submarine, designed for the k.u.k Navy by American John P. Holland
and built in Whitehead shipyard in then-Austrian Fiume (now Rijeka in
Kroatia), from the first days of the Great War was used in the patrol
service on the Adriatic Sea, but the real wartime operations began in
April 1915 Italy joined the Entente in the war against the Central Powers.
Soon, 27th April, von Trapp managed to sink French battlecruiser Leon
Gambetta, 5th August Italian submarine Nereide, and 8th June 1916 another
cruiser, Italian Principe Umberto. In May 1917 submarine was heavily damaged
by unidentified mine explosion during the exercises, but before the end
of the war returned to the service. U5 ended its life in 1920 in Italy.
U5’s twin, SM U6 was less famous and less successful. It sunk
only one enemy warship, the French destroyer Renaudin, and ended its life
self-scuttled 13th May 1916 after being stuck in the anti-submarine net
in the Otranto Straits.
The Kit
This kit, designed by Peter Plattner, modeler and architect from Vienna,
is a first class one – everything, starting with the box, is not
only precisely and carefully designed, but also very elegant. The colorful,
glossy box contains small instruction booklet which, besides detailed
building instruction, includes also four pages of historical data and
even four period photographs of the submarine. On the back of the instruction
booklet there are two views of the finished model in full color.
The kit is a true multimedia one. Main parts, carefully packed in the
box filled with styrofoam “popcorn” for safety, are precisely
cast in the grey and light yellow resin, smaller details and decks are
photo-etched in brass, and several other parts are brass-made: set of
wires for railings, and two beautiful propellers, cast in real heavy metal!
Quality is very good, and the kit won’t be very difficult to build,
except the usual problems with glue: resin nor brass can’t be glued
with “normal” modeling glue, cyanoacrylic or resin glue must
be used.
Finally, the kit is in 1/72 scale, you know, U-Boat in 1/72 scale –
really big thing, almost half meter long after finishing.
The Decals
Small sheet of the decals is included, containing big white numbers
for conning tower (both “5” and “6”), small black
names of the both U5 and U6 and two red-white-red sets of the stripes
for the bow.
Conclusion
Really unique, wonderful kit. Not for the beginner, but also not very
complicated in building, due to rather large size and good design.
For every serious WWI navy fan it is a real must, if only he can afford
it – as the kit is pretty expensive (about 150 Euro). But the price
is in reviewer’s opinion fully justified with both size and quality
of the kit. Finished model will look really impressive, almost half meter
long, in the elegant blue/green finish, with Austro-Hungarian red-white-red
colors on the bow.
Many thanks to Peter Plattner from Wiener
Modellbau Manufactur for review example!
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