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Revell-Germany 1/72 Deutsches Schnellboot S-100 Class

By Ray Mehlberger

History

The very name "E-boat" was enough to scare even the most veteran seaman and it was deserved for the E-boat - that often quoted, but inaccurately termed vessel - was the only surface warship of the Kriegsmarine to push home frequent attacks within British territorial waters.

The Germans had experience with fast motor-torpedo boats in WWI and yet it was some years later that they developed the Schnellboot, or S-boot. For some reason, still not adequately explained, the Royal Navy christened them as E-boats, possibly standing for ENEMY MOTOR-TORPEDO BOAT.

Using their WWI experience, the German firm of Lürssen, designed and built a motor launch of steel construction for an American gentleman. It was powered by Daimler diesel engines. It was to be a prototype for the later mass production of some of the finest coastal fighting vessels ever built.

The Treaty of Versailles, in 1919, had forbidden Germany to retain, or to build, motor-torpedo boats. However, as you readers undoubtedly already know, the rise of German nationalism in the late 1920's, and early 1930's, meant that the repudiation of the badly policed treaty was only a matter of a few years away. The build up of the German fleet called for the production of "despatch boats", to be built to a modified Lürssen design and the first of these boats, S-1, was completed and commissioned in August of 1930 as UZ(S)-16.

In 1932, S-2, a slightly larger and better armed boat appeared on the scene. S-1 TO S-5 were powered by Daimler-Benz petrol engines, giving them a speed of about 34 knots. From S-6 (completed in 1933) diesel motors were used, giving the German coastal forces an operational and psychological advantage over the petrol-driven engines of the PT and MT boats of the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy.

The Kriegsmarine set up a standardised production run, in 1939, and from S-26 onwards the boats lost their angular wheel-house, it being replaced by an enclosed bridge, although several returned to the older flush decked appearance later in the war. Apart from supercharged engines, giving 40 knots plus, the standardised boats were armed with two 20mm AA guns, and two torpedo tubes (with two reloads). Later, as aircraft and MGB (motor gun boats) increased their S-boat hunting efforts, the gun fittings were upgraded to include an additional 20mm amidships plus a 3.7cm AA gun. S-701, built in 1944, bristled with twin 20mm guns forward, amidships, and on the quarter deck, with a 700 nautical mile radius of action.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX?:

The kit comes in a long (21" x 8 1/4" x 2 1/2") end opening box. I, personally, HATE this type of box. It is too easy for parts to fall out the end flaps and become lost. The box ends are sealed with just a circular piece of clear tape. Flat parts (like the windshield piece) can easily slide out past these end flaps, either side of the circular tape. A tray and lid type box would have been nicer.

All that aside, the box art is spectacular! It shows two S-boats going at full speed and being shelled in heavy seas. The S-boat in the foreground sports a black panther marking on the hull, halfway down its length, and this is one marking option in the kit.

All the parts trees are wrapped in one cello bag. However, in my kit, this bag was open at one end - entirely - and the other end was partially opened. I had about 4-5 parts floating around loose. To keep from losing them, I put them into an old 35mm film canister.

There are five light gray plastic parts trees in the kit and two full-hull halves. A piece of clear, thin sheet plastic is imprinted with windows (for the control house), and a spool of thread is included for rigging.

The small decal sheet gives markings for four different S-boats:

1. The S-boat pictured on the box art, with the black panther.

2. An S-boat with the numeral "68" on the bow.

3. An S-boat with the numeral "208" on the bow.

4. An S-boat with a shield insignia on the bow.

Unfortunately we are not told what flotillas these options represent. The balance of the decal sheet gives a nameplate (to go on the hull stand) and a Kriegsmarine flag. However, the flag has a blank white circle in the middle, with no swastika. Because this kit is made and sold in Germany the laws about displaying this symbol on box arts or decals apply. You will have to add a swastika to it to make it accurate.

None of the parts trees are letter coded, but all the parts are numbered. These numbers are used pretty much sequentially throughout the instructions. The instructions are an 11 3/4" x 8" format book. This book is 20 pages long and there are 53 assembly steps.

The book begins with a short history of S-boats, in German and English. This is followed, on the second page, with general instuctions (in numerous languages). Page 3 gives the international assembly symbol translations. Page 4 has the color code explantions and recommends Revell paints only. Page 5 is the parts tree drawings.

Pages 6 through 19 are the 53 assembly steps. Each step calls out any colors to use on parts that are done in that step. Pages 19 and 20 show the four paint schemes, which are pretty much identical except for the markings. Since all the colors are called out in the various assembly steps, earlier, these drawings are really only showing the decal placement. However, all are light gray with anthracite gray lower hulls. There is also a small drawing of how to do the radio aerial wires included in these marking guides.

The first large parts tree holds parts of the control house, railings, torpedo tube rear parts, anchor, boat hook pole, etc. (63 parts here).

The second large parts tree holds the front of the igloo-shaped control house, foredeck, hatches, main deck, cradle stand parts, and propellors etc. (23 parts here)

Two identical, medium sized parts trees holds the topedo parts, hatches, life rafts, life preservers, etc. (38 parts per tree, for a grand total of 76)

A small tree holds gun parts etc. (17 parts here)

Then there are the two full-hull halves and the thin clear plastic sheet, with the windows printed on it in black for the control house. This has to be trimmed down with scissors.

The remaining item is the spool of thread, for the rigging. This is glued to one of the end flaps in the box.

Reading through the instructions, I could not help but notice that this kit will use a lot of different shades of gray - from very light to very dark. Revell paints are not available in my area, so I will have to guess as to what I think the colors are in other brands. It should not be all that difficult, I would think.

Conclusion

This kit is a late war version of the S-boat and will look really great next to the older Airfix kit (in the same 1/72nd scale) of the early version. I could not find any mold problems in this kit and the detailing is top notch. Highly recommended.

White Ensign Models has produced a PE set to compliment this new kit. I will probably get it.

I got this kit in trade with my net friend Thor in Germany. I am told that Revell of Germany sold out the first run of these kits and is doing a second run now. So, it may be a while before we see it generally available in the U.S., but it is worth waiting for.