by Torben Keitel
1/350 SM U-16 (Uboat Laboratorium)
After and during some slow and demanding projects, I wanted to build something easy with quick results. U-boat Laboratorium came just right with its UB1 kit. Nevertheless, I wanted to realize something different, so I decided to change the original kit from the German version to its export version. When the war broke out in 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Navy wanted a fast access to submarines and decided to buy several UB1 type boats in Germany. The German Navy U10 became the Austro-Hungarian U16. An interesting difference between the original boat and its appearance in Austria is the converted bridge. The Austrian navy put a German-style bridge on top of the original bridge by adding a bulwark around the front. I have done the same by adding 0.3mm of styrene on top of the bridge deck. The rest of the kit was easy to handle. All kit parts fitted together without problems. One actually does not need any parts except the kit parts to finish a nice model. The kit includes Photo Etch and a full hull. I sanded the hull down to waterline and fixed it on a wooden base. The base was painted by dipping white room paint onto it and painting the surface with blue color afterwards. After that I sprayed several thin layers of gloss varnish over it. This gives one a dent as if this tiny boat is swimming in water. I added a little fisher boat from a White Ensign kit and manned the model with the LŽArsenals Resin Crew. The rigging is stretched sprue. I needed minimum research for this project, which made it fast and a lot of fun to build.
