1/35 Kriegsfischkutter

[Arjan]

Some months ago I started converting a vintage 1/36 Graupner Elke kit I had bought at the Kleinanzeigen auction site. I had also bought the recently released 1/72 Special Navy plastic kit for measuring parts and upsizing them to 1/35. I have also collected a lot of KFK reference pics (internet and ebay) and some weeks ago I managed to buy a reasonably priced copy of Herwig Danner's KFK book also at the Kleinanzeigen site.

There are quite a few "Bauberichte" of 1/35 KFK models on German modelling sites but this is easily the best one :

https://www.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/mitglieder/modelle/kfk/

This model built by Herr Lothar Wischmeyer is really outstanding and much more accurate than most other builds. Apparently Herr Wischmeyer also provided scale drawings in the past but I doubt if these are still available anywhere. I don't even know if Herr Wischmeyer is still alive for that matter. Should anyone have a set of his drawings and willing to sell them I would be very grateful.

Some pics of my progress so far. I bought some 1/35 KFK parts at Wikinger Modellbau but on the whole these are rather disappointing and require much work to make them more accurate. I haven't glued the various parts on the deck for ease of painting later so they may not be aligned perfectly in the pics I've made.

The 1/72 Special Navy model kit I use for measurements is quite accurate and the biggest mistake is the door on the port side of the Kartenraum. In reality the chartroom only had one door on the starboard side. I removed the  incorrect door and replaced it with some polystyrene parts I made :



My 1/35 build :









To be continued.

Arjan

[Sprotte]

  

[Darius]

Hallo Arjan,

sehe ich es richtig, dass das Boot zum Weihnachten 2025 in Dienst gestellt wird 

Schöne Arbeit.




Darius

[Arjan]

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen but Christmas is out of the question I'm afraid  . I have to scratch built far too many parts so progress is slow. Last year I built 3 new 1/35 rc model boats. On average they took me about 3 months per model but all three were rc conversions of existing static 1/35 plastic kits. So I didn't have to build any of the parts myself,  I only had to install rc hardware and try to keep the weight of the models down as much as possible. The MAS and LCM3 turned out to be good rc models but the Russian Tupolev G-5 still requires some improvements. Some pics of my Tupolev G-5 model :








My Italeri Royal Navy LCM3 model :











My Italeri MAS model :










Gruss,

Arjan

[t-geronimo]

Great! 

[Arjan]

Progress on my 1/35 KFK build is so slow I decided to paint some 1/72 figures for a change. All these figures wear grey leather U-Boot coats and trousers and to tell the truth I doubt if these were worn by the more humble sailors of KFK crews. I do have some pics showing S-Boot crews with these leather suits though. Unfortunately, the two figure sets I bought contain more officers with binoculars than ratings.







Gruss,

Arjan

[Urs Heßling]

hi, Arjan,

your model  

Progress on my 1/35 KFK build is so slow I decided to paint some 1/72 figures for a change. 

I do have some pics showing S-Boot crews with these leather suits though.

Even in the Bundesmarine, S-Boot crews wore "everything suitable" to keep warm and dry

Unfortunately, the two figure sets I bought contain more officers with binoculars than ratings.

In NATO-speak "too many chiefs, no indians"  

greetings, Urs

[Arjan]

In NATO-speak "too many chiefs, no indians"  

greetings, Urs

  

Gruss,

Arjan