Not that it matters too much to me, since I have now delved into the Amati kit. But during this most recent spell of insomnia, I came across this listing on ebay:

[cgi.ebay.com]

Trumpeter is notorious for knocking off molds by superior quality firms like Tamiya. Anyhow, it is interesting because the listing says the scale is 1:144. I do not know of a kit in that scale. The listing does not indicate whether the kit is for a Type VII or IX. The box sort of likes more like a Type VII, but I would not put faith in the rendition on the box. I am wondering if ithis is a knock off of that horrible Academy kit in 1:150.. Anyhow, as someone who follows this niche market, I was wondering if any contributors had any experiecne with this kit. Even if I were still in the hunt for a kit that is right for me, I dont think I would buy this one...

On another matter, it might interest readers to know that my Amati u-boat is going well. The side and deck panelling is in place, and I am currently drilling out limber holes. Someone kindly sent me some templates for these. The first row of holes were not as uniform as I would have liked; I am thinking of touching up the edges with putty to make the holes in this first row more uniform in size and alignment. But I am now on my third row, and these new rows look much better. I am also inscribing the weld lines with a hobby knife along the side of the hull. I must say it has taken me over three, maybe four hours to prepare the templates, paint over them to mark where on the resin to drill, drill the sides of the hull, and then cut the rest of the limber hole with a hobby knife. And I have only three rows on each side, without, mind you, having finished the contours with a swedish round file for shape and uniformity! Tthere are two other areas that need drilling besides this portion just below the torpedo tubes. At this rate, i reckon it will take me at least twenty hours just to complete the tasks of drilling limber holes. My point? THis AMati kit is surely a marathon. The hobby dealer who told me it took him 50 hours plus was just lying about that; provided that he did a professioanl job, $ 1000 would have been a steal (which is what he said he sold the finished production for).
Anyhow, before taking on the limber holes, I had inscribed the trobedo tubes and the limber holes btwn them. THose are going to require some touch ups with a round swedish file and maybe a tad of putty here and there, but they look very good. I have noticed that some productions have omitted these altogether... In the meantime, I am considering whether I should try to alter the tower provided to a Turm II configuration per u-48, pr whether there is another u-boat VII b or c with the Turm I that, unlike u-47 at Scapa Flow, had the anti aircraft gun mounted on the wintergarten.

Well, hope all is well with you readers. I invite anecdotes or conjecture about this kit I mentioned earlier. To me, at least, it looks a little dubious...

Best Wishes

Einsamer Wolf