by Ray Hemenway
1/150 DKM U-209 (Doyusha)
This is the motorized, automatic diving and surfacing 1/150 kit. Not a very realistic scale kit. It came as the U-581, but the decals were way off. Any sub geek can pick it apart for days. That said I bought one on E-bay anyway. I thought it may be fun to try. The kit arrived and the instructions were in Chi-Japa-Korea-neese I guess, not sure, couldn't read it. The photos were universal so I went that route. Things progressed nicely until the wiring portion. If you follow the instructions, it WILL NOT work correctly. I assumed the instuctions to be correct and several do-overs and trips to Radio Shack followed. Even a "test flight" usually reserved for tedious model airplanes. Still didn't work. An important step was omitted. Throw away the instructions. Once in the trash and with a little common sense it bench tested perfectly. Warmer weather will soon allow for her Maiden Voyage.
