DKM U-Boat Type VIIC U-552

Started by Martin555

14 updates 150 likes 226 comments

Enigma Machine

Hi Guys,

Doug This is one of my cockup's.

I have attempted to make an enigma machine for U552.
Unfortunately i suffer badly with the shakes.
It is my forth attempt so this will have to do.
Not much of it will be seen.

Martin555.
Liked by Colin H and stevedownunder and
10 comments
  1. RNinMunichBronze
    Fleet Admiral
    "Shouldn`t this part of the blog be in code. Walls have ears and all that stuff.😁"
    The Dönitz Message. Keep it under your hat MB👍

    Cipher text as transmitted
    LANOTCTOUARBBFPMHPHGCZXTDYGAHGUFXGEWKBLKGJWLQXXTGPJJAVTOYJFGSLPPQIHZFXOEBWIIEKFZLCLOAQJULJOYHSSMBBGWHZANVOIIPYRBRTDJQDJJOQKCXWDNBBTYVXLYTAPGVEATXSONPNYNQFUDBBHHVWEPYEYDOHNLXKZDNWRHDUWUJUMWWVIIWZXIVIUQDRHYMNCYEFUAPNHOTKHKGDNPSAKNUAGHJZSMJBMHVTREQEDGXHLZWIFUSKDQVELNMIMITHBHDBWVHDFYHJOQIHORTDJDBWXEMEAYXGYQXOHFDMYUXXNOJAZRSGHPLWMLRECWWUTLRTTVLBHYOORGLGOWUXNXHMHYFAACQEKTHSJW

    Original clear text as entered into the macine
    KRKRALLEXXFOLGENDESISTSOFORTBEKANNTZUGEBENXXICHHABEFOLGENDENBEFEHLERHALTENXXJANSTERLEDESBISHERIGXNREICHSMARSCHALLSJGOERINGJSETZTDERFUEHRERSIEYHVRRGRZSSADMIRALYALSSEINENNACHFOLGEREINXSCHRIFTLSCHEVOLLMACHTUNTERWEGSXABSOFORTSOLLENSIESAEMTLICHEMASSNAHMENVERFUEGENYDIESICHAUSDERGEGENWAERTIGENLAGEERGEBENXGEZXREICHSLEITEIKKTULPEKKJBORMANNJXXOBXDXMMMDURNHFKSTXKOMXADMXUUUBOOIEXKP

    "KRIEGSNOTMELDUNG [An] Alle:

    Folgendes ist sofort bekanntzugeben:
    Ich habe folgenden Befehl erhalten: "Anstelle des bisherigen Reichsmarschalls "Göring" setzt der Führer Sie, Herr Großadmiral, als seinen Nachfolger ein. Schriftliche Vollmacht unterwegs. Ab sofort sollen Sie sämtliche Maßnahmen verfügen, die sich aus der gegenwärtigen Lage ergeben. Gez. Reichsleiter (Tulpe) "Bormann"":

    [Von] Oberbefehlshaber der Marine, durch Funkstelle des kommandierenden Admirals der Unterseeboote. "

    "WAR EMERGENCY MESSAGE [To] All:

    The following is to be announced immediately:
    I have received the following order: "In place of former Reichsmarschall "Göring", the Führer has appointed you, Herr Grossadmiral, as his successor. Written authorization [is] on the way. Effective immediately, you are to order all measures that are required by the present situation. Signed, Reichsleiter (Tulpe) "Bormann"":

    [From] Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, [sent] by way of the Radio Station of the Commanding Admiral of Submarines"
    Liked by MouldBuilder and marky and

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Forward Crew Compartment.

Hi Guys,

I noticed that the figures provided for this compartment were mainly seated the only problem was the kit only supplied two stools, one for the radio room and one for the sonar room.

So some extra fold up stools had to be made for the crew sat drinking coffee at the fold down table.

Blankets and pillows made from toilet tissue and thinned white wood glue.

Made the coffee pot from a bit of sprue and wire.

Again modified the crew figures to look as if they are doing something.

Martin555.
Liked by Colin H and stevedownunder and
16 comments

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Forward Crew Compartment.

Hi Guys,

Finished the second compartment.

I have found when it came to do the final assembly of this compartment you need three pairs of hands and a lot of patience as there are a lot of bits that have to be lined up at the same time.
Admittedly i had to walk away a couple of times as the air started to turn blue.

I did not go mad with the modifications or the weathering.

Fitted red and white LED’s and made the wiring to look like pipe work.
Again the final wiring will be done later.

As i have said in my last post the figures have been modified.

Altho i placed the white LEDs in the suggested positions I am not that happy with the lighting as it dose not light up the radio and sonar rooms.

It is to late to try and change it now. (I know it will bug me until i do change it so maybe later.)

There are a couple of photos of the two finished compartments together.

Only four more compartments left to do then i will resume work on the main hull.

The Scene

The radio and sonar men are testing their equipment and the other crew members are enjoying a cup of coffee before their watch.
One of the crew is looking in his locker for his cup.

Martin555.
Liked by stevedownunder and Escrich and
25 comments
  1. RookysailorSilver
    Rear Admiral
    Love seeing a new episode in the life of your sub Martin, you have a great talent for making thinks look so real in miniature form, looking forward to the next edition😊

    Cheers, Pete
    Liked by Martin555
  2. Martin555
    Fleet Admiral
    Thank you for your comment Peter,
    Since i started this submarine i have found myself drifting towards looking more and more at dioramas on utube.
    The skills of some of the diorama makers are unbelievable.
    Also you could make a lot of them without needing a lot of room to put them.

    Martin555.
    Liked by marky

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Welder

Hi Guys,

I am starting to get the hang of modifying these 1/48 scale figures.
This little guy took quite a bit of time to do.
This is just setup to see what it will look like.
He will appear somewhere on U552 but i am not quite sure where yet.

At the moment i have just set it running from my Arduino but thanks to a good friend on this site I have a small AtTiny 85 IC that i will program for the welding flashes.
The flashes will need a bit of tweaking.

I hope the little video works so that you can see what i am trying to achieve.

Martin555.

Hmmm! I was afraid of that Martin.
That's an old Quick Time MOV format vid, which the site simply interprets as a JPG picture file☹️ I'll try and convert it. Don't hold your breath! Doug.
OK Gents, Ignore the Invalid File label, click on the file, then on the little download arrow top left. Select OPEN, with Windows Media Player, and it should work 👍

Video fixed 😊
Cheers, Doug 😎
Liked by stevedownunder and MouldBuilder and
18 comments
  1. MouldBuilder
    Admiral
    Fantastic as usual Martin, but I have one small question. Why is that welding guy trying to weld onto a LED? Just wondered.
    Peter😁
    Liked by Martin555
  2. Martin555
    Fleet Admiral
    Thank you Peter.
    That did make me laugh! and unfortunately i do not have an answer.

    Martin555.

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Look out

Hi Guys,

Spent most of the day tinkering.

I just wanted to see if it was possible for me to get this lookout moving without having wire linkage visible.

So the first thing i did was to cut his body in half lengthwise then hollowed out as much of his chest area and down one leg as possible.

Then made a small linkage that would fit inside the body.

Added some small pieces of 1mm off cut plastic to make up for the saw cut.

Glued him back together and then added his arms and head.

I won’t be using him on U552 it was just an experiment.

Martin555.

Breathe again Marky😮
We don't want any blue shipbuilders!😉😎
Liked by stevedownunder and jbkiwi and
15 comments

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