u boat colours

karlos

do I paint the lower hull red lead or is overall grey the colour of the day, any ideas Question

pingu1 · Guest

Hi, Karlos, and welcome!

Generally, U-boats were painted in very dark grey (not hull red) below the waterline, and medium/ light grey above the waterline. The very dark grey extended to the tops of the ballast tanks. Humbrol 123 is a good match for this colour, but is semigloss, so will need to be coated with matt varnish when you've finished painting your model, which is good practice anyway.

With the upperworks, we have a problem. Some were painted light grey, others dark grey, but there were no official regulations about which paint was used on which boat at which time. Shipyards were supposed to contact the German Admiralty, who would tell them which colour to use!

The light grey was close to Humbrol 166, and the dark grey Humbrol 145.

U-boat decks were covered with wood planks. These were made from cheap wood, not teak, and so were painted with a black protective covering. This quickly weathered first to very dark grey charcoal colour (try Humbrol 32) and then, as the paint wore off, dark and medium brown bare wood (colours of your choice) became exposed in places.

There's quite a bit more to the subject than this, but this should be enough to get you started. What kit are you building?

Cheers,

Chris.

karlos

cheers for that, i am building a mark viid minenleger by revell , it is not a bad kit most of the parts fit reasonably well no major probs there, just got to sort out the rigging and paint , job done

jzsauronzj · Joined: 06 Nov 2009 Posts: 6

There were also quite a few U-Boat Type VII-C that were painted is a camoflage pattern above the water line. Also, there were 10 Type VII-C Uboats that the Germans coated with a rubber surface in an attempt to throw off sonar. One of these the US Navy Scuttled in Chesepeak Bay after the war. They were a very dark grey. All of them had the poor wood decking coverings that were almost black. Also, keep in mind, if you wish to be authentic you will have to make the swatika flag yourself since no kit of any german WWII Military Machinery Kit has andy of the proper original markings that bare a swastika

Dave · doing conversions Joined: 06 Jul 2008 Posts: 196

http://www.uboat.net/ try this site for all u boat research. Smile

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Is it supposed to do that?

jzsauronzj · Joined: 06 Nov 2009 Posts: 6

Is it suppose to do what? If you mean does did the rubber coated hull deflect sonar, yes, as a matter of fact, it did so very well

Dave · doing conversions Joined: 06 Jul 2008 Posts: 196

The Rubber coating was not a great success mainly due to the bonding methods failing to keep the rubber sheets in place, also the experiment could not be carried on due to a rubber shortage in Germany. Shows very clever thinking though doe'snt it? Smile

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Is it supposed to do that?

jzsauronzj · Joined: 06 Nov 2009 Posts: 6

I forgot about the slippage in the secure points of the matting. Initial tests were very good. Under practice with constant movement, the plates did lose integrity thus making the sonar profile expand.
Out of curiosity, do you know if the couple of U-Boats that were given partial mercury ballasts were ever recovered?

Dave · doing conversions Joined: 06 Jul 2008 Posts: 196

I do not think so the one off Norway (U 864) is in two halves and is causing pollution concerns sparking a plan to raise it and remove the mercury,I have no info about the location of the other wrecks.
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Is it supposed to do that?