A plan view showing the completed casing extensions.

That completes this weeks update. Next week I will be looking at applying the embossed plastic rivet heads.

Thanks for looking in, have a great weekend and happy modelling!

Regards,
Phil W.

Nice work and looking good

Fantastic Phil, keep them coming

Thanks Kev! Your comments are much appreciated!

Regards,
Phil W.

Thank you very much Andy!

Regards,
Phil W.

Thank you Dave for your encouraging comments!

Regards,
Phil W.

Good evening from 'The Dockyard'.

Over the course of the next few weeks of my U230 u-boat build log I will adding rivets, weld lines and draught marks.

The rivets were bought from Archers Transfers in the U.S. They come as sheets with the embossed plastic rivet heads in lines which you can then cut into strips of any length. They are applied in the same manner as wet transfers, the only difference being they are laid before you apply paint as this then completely seals them. As standard practice I applied Microsol fixative once they were in place to ensure they adhered properly in readiness for undercoat.

Archers Transfers stock a wide range of rivets in various different scales and also weld lines and other details. They aren't cheap, well they are if you're building a tiny ship or plane but not for a 1/48 U-boat!

They do a rivet set for a 1/72 U-boat but not 1/48 scale unfortunately, so it was a case of choosing the best match I could find. My final decision on what rivet spacing best suited my U-boat happened by accident. After trawling through their range of 1/35 and 1/48 scale rivet sheets i couldn't find any suitable until i looked at a HO scale [1/76] bridge rivet set. Viola! The spacings matched my measurements, so I ordered 4 packets! Gulp! 12 days later they arrived. It then dawned on me pretty quickly that 4 packets wasn't going to be enough. Oh no!

In the interim I decided to make a start with what I had. Initially it was very fiddly laying strips with only 4 rivets on, however, i eventually got the hang of it and was soon 'in the groove'.

The following photographs show the port and starboard upper bow having rivets applied. This isn't a 5 minute job, so the sheets I have will take the same amount of time to lay as my resupply order takes to arrive.

The attached photo shows the upper starboard bow being marked out in pencil to act as a guide when laying the rivet strips.

Upper, starboard bow complete.