Allied Warships
Check out our new extensive section on all the Allied Warships during WWII in all theatres of the war.Over 21,000 ships
This would be a quite fair kit if someone had not decided to make it motorizable. The kit design compromises required to accommodate motorization have a negative effect on the accuracy of the kit. This review is written under the assumption that one wants a display kit which accurately shows a Type IXB, not a motorised toy.
The kit has 63 injection-molded parts in light blue (deck and tower), black (hull above the water line) and red (hull below the water line) with additional components for the ballast and motorization in metal and rubber.
The break between the upper and lower hull is at the water line, facilitating making a waterline display model. The lower hull around the screws and rudder is where the motorization has the most effect. The kit has only a single center screw, instead of the correct twin screw, and the rudder configuration is not accurate. It would take significant work and modelling skill to convert this area to the correct configuration.
The deck plates come in three sections (forward, amidships and aft) and are of quite thick plastic. The edges of the deck sections are not bevelled, causing a noticeable dogleg break at the edge where the real thing has a single angled transition.
The tower is an early pattern, without radar, Schnorchel or extended wintergarden. It is marred by a hole meant for the dive angle lever (which is crudely concealed as a "radar antenna", for no type of radar the Germans ever used), and the whole trailing end is missing for the last ¼ inch or so.
The kit provides simple, one piece 10.5 cm, 3.7 cm and 2 cm guns.
There are also holes in the hull deck forward and aft for switches, and some transverse slots in the hull, which are of no discernible use and were not present in the actual boat. These all need to be blanked off, filled and sanded.