Revell Germany’s Type VIIC/41 U-boat comes in an attractive box and comprises 107 gray styrene parts. The details are crisp and to-scale; flash is minimal, except on the railings. The parts layout is logical and makes building the boat easy. The molding includes the expanded
wintergarten with added anti-aircraft guns, a
schnorkel, and life raft canisters.
The kit provides markings and a painting guide for four different boats. The painting guide calls out only Revell colors, which requires consulting a
brand cross-reference.
Decals include squadron badges, a flag, and makings for the stand. The stand is sturdy and useful while building the kit. The decals lay down well over a gloss coat. You will have to scrounge up your own swastikas, though – by law, the kit has none.
Construction of the kit went smoothly. I needed putty and Mr. Surfacer to clean up some joints and to fair in parts, but nothing extraordinary. I did depart from the instructions by assembling the three-piece deck prior to attaching to hull; I wanted to make sure no seams showed up. Supports for the bow planes, the aft torpedo tube, and the prop-shaft strut needed a little putty and blending. I left the screws off until the very end of construction.
The conning tower went together easily enough. Take time to test-fit the parts to make certain you are positioning them correctly. The periscopes come with a movable option. I glued the periscope shears together (parts 42 and 43, and parts 45 and 47) and cut the stops off of the periscopes (parts 44 and 47). I did that to avoid breaking the periscopes off during later construction.
The railings are good, and though their flash required extra cleanup, they fit well to the rest of the kit. I recommend adding the hull rails prior before the conning tower (reverse steps 30 and 31). The guns are molded well and clean up easily.
I painted the model using a variety of Floquil, Model Master, and Humbrol paints and colored the recesses of the limber holes with ink and a drafting pen.
The kit scales out great according to my reference,
The Encyclopedia of U-Boats From 1904 to the Present, by Eberhard Möller and Werner Brack (Greenhill Books, ISBN 978-1-85367-623-9). I spent only 16 hours building the kit, and I highly recommend it to modelers of all skill levels. It was fun to build and is impressive when complete.