Background

The 10.5cm SK C/32 (SK - Schnelladekanone (quick loading cannon) C - Construktionsjahr (year of design) was a German naval gun used in World War II. This was the standard unshielded low-angle deck gun mounted forward of the conning tower in Type I, Type IX and Type X U-boats. The guns were also used in shielded high-angle mountings aboard type 35 and type 43 minesweepers, Elbing class torpedo boats, cruiser Emden, and old battleships Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein. The LC/32 mounting used in Type I and early Type IX U-boats weighed about 5 tons and could be elevated from -10° to +35°. Later Type IX and Type XB U-boats used the LC/36 mounting reducing weight by 10 percent by restricting elevation from -10° to +30°. During the early war years, these guns were used to encourage surrender of independently routed merchant ships or to sink ships damaged by torpedoes. The rate of fire with a good crew was 15 to 18 rounds per minute. When the Allies improved their aerial hunting capabilities, the guns were removed since they contributed significant hyrdodynamic resistance.

The Kit

Eduard kit consists of 19 resin parts and 23 photoetch parts on a single fret. Five of the photoetch parts are extras. Interestingly, the resin comes in two distinct shades of grey. The resin is packaged in Eduard’s standard re-sealable bubble pack. The photoetch sheet is well secured by a foam backing as are the resin parts. The resin parts can still bump into each other, but I was not able to discern any damage.

Construction

Overall, the fit is quite good. The gun assembly is smooth with the resin parts coming off the pour stubs easily and fitting perfectly. The gun assembly support and the base both have much larger pour stubs, but again the resin cuts easily with a razor saw. The photoetch parts are quite small with some being 2mm long and requiring 90o bends. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the parts for each major assembly. One lookout for the gun assembly is part R8’s fit to both R3 and R13. The smallest photoetched parts are the targeting visors, PE9 and PE10. They have a very small attachment pin, but it turned out not to be an issue. The only photoetched part I had trouble with was the tampion bracket, PE12. Getting the three part fold to lie down on top of each other was problematic and in the end I left it off since the gun mount has the tampion shown in resin already stored.

I had superglued R14 to PE5 when I ran into an issue. A dimension 32S1-4 monster ran off with the assembly causing me to search in vain for three long days. Giving up hope, I ordered a new kit online, expecting to use it as a parts replacement. Lo and behold, when the replacement arrived, it was in a smaller scale. It was the same Eduard Brassin kit number, but smaller parts. Frustrated, I took to the internet and found an early review that claimed the original issue was some 20% over-scale and that they had forwarded documentation to Eduard. Obviously, Eduard has corrected the concern and re-issued the kit. A quick parts comparison shows all the same parts, minus the extra visors that had been provided in the original issue (PE8 and PE9). Everything else looks like a slightly smaller version of the parts I had assembled.

Painting

I base coated the model with Tamiya Light Ghost Grey. I painted the rest of the kit with Vallejo acrylics.

The gunner supports and wheels are painted Panzer Dark Grey. The wheel handles were painted Mud Brown. I flat coated and added a Panzer Dark Grey wash and a bit of dry brush with Dark Brown.

Overall Evaluation

This kit went together quite well, even with losing the port side gunner supports, I think it looks sharp.

I am quite pleased that Eduard has redone the kit to address the over-scale concerns and will be finishing off the revised kit soon. If you are building the Revell Type IX submarine, this addition will add some snap to that model.

My thanks to Eduard and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great kit.

Highly Recommended if you get the revised version