Model Fleet: Update 5/15/09: More U-505 (& similar Type Ixs) Pics

Update 5/15/09: More U-505 (& similar Type Ixs) Pics

Posted by Matty on May 16, 2009, 23:21:07, in reply to "The PRIZE: The Capture of U-505"
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For a while now I have been working on preparing the following pics, captured from the Victory At Sea episode, Killers to the Kill.

First up, this mosaic from a brief clip of the after-capture, "prize flag" pose, noted earlier:

Click on Image to Enlarge At higher-resolution (though smaller field-of-view), this one shows some features - e.g., the railings - to better advantage than seen earlier.

Then, there is the following (remarkable, IMHO) mosaick, composited from a sequence filmed still during the early stages of the capture, as U-505 heaved up and down in the swell, as seen from (undoubtedly) USS Pillsbury:

Click on Image to Enlarge U-505 looks like she is broken into discrete pieces because of two phenomena. Firstly, not wanting to lose any of the foredeck-, limber hole or wintergarten railing detail, I did n't "fuzz" out the ends of each segment (where the swell was breaking over the boat). Secondly, as Pillsbury heaved up in the sequence (relative to U-505), the center section appears to drop down - and then, note, the aft wintergartin appears to heave up again - so that the various sections appear disjointed. Notwithstanding, many interesting details of the real McCoy can be seen here.

The next two pics are of a similar, but not quite identically-fitted Type IX, under punishing air-attack:

Click on Image to Enlarge At left, the quad-mount flak battery (as opposed to U-505's single-mount) takes a direct 20mm cannon shell(s) hit(s), while at right the strafing continues forward, with multiple hits along the sail. The movie sequence on DVD is truly awesome to watch.

I am still working on a detailed mosaick, like the one above, compiled from this sequence. However already these shots clearly depict the highly elongated lower wintergarten; exactly as fitted on U-505, at the time of her capture.

Cheers,

-Matty