Got an email ad from MegaHobby.com today and it showed a new 1/125 kit (here). Whats interesting is that I am currently working on "(I’m making an educated guess here) the earlier version (from 1988) of the same 1/125 kit (less the interior cutout look).
The kit I’m building is (here) labeled U-505 but its wrong because its a type VIIC boat and 505 was a XI! I bought it from EBay about 9 years ago. I’ll post photos when complete.
I’m sure Revell have improved the “engineering” on this kit and I’m anxious to buy and build it but I thought I’d at least mention to you folks and ask if there is any “value” in building the older kit as a “collectors” piece since it was incorrectly identified!?
I’ll bet your right! U-47 cutaway is also 1/125 like U-99. I have both to build but I may open to see if from same molds as the 1988 U-505 “mistake” kit!
I just checked and the old one was 125th. Looks like that kit you posted is a re box, they have the same number. The original release was 1976, that was the U-99 and the others srung from that., so they will probably be the same as the 505 kit you have. I have the U-99 kit, I built it once years ago but have bought it again to re do it, if for no other reason than I can practice painting and weathering before I tackle one of the 72nd kit.
That “U-505” kit was something of a scandal. It was just a rebox of Revell’s older Tye VII kit. U-55, of course, was a Type IX.
The whistle got blown twice: by Loren Perry, who was then the editor of Scale Ship Modeler magazine, and by the gift shop at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industy, where the real U-505 resides. The gift shop refused to sell the kit, and Revell took it off the market.
I’ve always wondered whether the stunt might have been a semi-honest mistake. It’s entirely possible that the people running Revell at that time didn’t know - or care - that there was more than one variety of U-boat.
Revell rarely - very rarely - makes improvements to its old kits. (The USS Missouri that’s in the store now is identical to the one released in 1953.) I’d be willing to bet that the kit in question is just the 25-year-old mediocrity in a nice new box. The material for a good scale model is there all right, but the newer Revell 1/144 Type VII kits are a great deal better - if hard to find.
I remember this kit of old. Revell released it decades ago as the U-47, a VII-B. I believe that the after edge of the sail slants forward not aft, which is correct for U-47. The same edge slants aft on the other Revell kits of the VII-C, which is the correct shape for U-99. However, that interior is a joke, especially as depicted with torpedoes rolling loose on the torpedo room deck. As anyone can readily see from the huge volume of photos of the interiors of German U-Boats, the Revell kit is grossly underwhelming.
That said, imagine the scratch building satisfaction of rebuilding the interior according to accurate plans! That might be worth a try!
I made that mistake Bill . It took four long hard modeling years . I gave it to my great Uncle who now lives in Bremerhaven . I sent Him all the tech sheets and photos too .
Now I just do an oob once in a while .The 47 can be made to look better with the use of chochkes but don’t expect it to fool a submariner !
That is no new molding but he old U-47 release from 1973 reboxed. A buddy of mine found one at a thrift store for a buck or two and bought it for me.
Not a bad kit with a few add-ons and some gizmology to improve the interior. I love the old days when stamps were paid by the addressee as in the Revell customer service envelope in the kit.