Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: garston1 on February 08, 2009, 08:35:42 pm
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Me and dave301bounty were at Woodside ferry in Birkenhead this afternoon looking at the new display that's opening on Tuesday of U534, and it looks pretty good. There's a new shop that sells lots of different types of model sub kits and loads of WW11 books, as well the new museum part that's got all of the interior items, enigma machine, personal items from the sailors plus the Uboat itself. well worth a nose.
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An excellent visit and is officially open to the public as from today and for the first time a chance to see clearly the interior of this extraordinary U-boat . Apart from the boat there is a well thought out exhibition area and shop. The exhibition/museum is also open from 10-30am last admission 5.00pm including Sunday.
(http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff272/Turrets1/U-boat.jpg)
Bowwave
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Do you have any more pictures of the exhibit Bowwave?
I consider myself lucky to be one of the last visitors to the 534 when she was in Birkenhead so I would like to see what they have done with it now. A lot of people, including myself, were very apprehensive to see the u-boat, after surviving 50 years on the sea bed, to be cut up into sections but if doing that makes it more accessible to more people then maybe it was worth it.
I guess it's time for a trip to Liverpool! By the way can you tell us exactly where it is?
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I can understand the decision to cut it up to encourage more visitors. Visiting HMS Ocelot at Chatham entails clambering through a set of access hatches as per the pic below. Not easy for a lot of people, particularly those older ones who may find the vessel of particular historical interest. Less visitors=less income.
Colin
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Do you have any more pictures of the exhibit Bowwave?
I consider myself lucky to be one of the last visitors to the 534 when she was in Birkenhead so I would like to see what they have done with it now. A lot of people, including myself, were very apprehensive to see the u-boat, after surviving 50 years on the sea bed, to be cut up into sections but if doing that makes it more accessible to more people then maybe it was worth it.
I guess it's time for a trip to Liverpool! By the way can you tell us exactly where it is?
Hi Bunkerage The U534 is now at the Mersey Ferry terminal at Woodside Birkenhead. If your approaching from the M53 take the A-41 turn off to Birkenhead and it will take you right to Woodside , good parking and the exhibition. hope this helps . :-))
Bowwave
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I Have photos of this ,when she was being readied for the cut and move ,,when they moved her out and before they cut her there was this good chance and i got some good pics ,also as they were cutting ,got some , very clever .The boss man gave us a very interesting talk on what will happen ,and he allowed us to photo the work ,,if i can get these shaped to go on mayhem ,i will put them on ,but i will have to get Mr Garston to help me .
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Thanks for the information Dave
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An update of the newly opened U-534
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a few more
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and a few more
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last couple
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P.S, note the man without the head!
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YEH.
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:-)) WOW ! Garstone thank you for your excellent phots', I felt that I was actually there, the unit is well laid out and displayed and I think that I will make an effort to visit it in the summer.
Once again thank you. bigH
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You missed the model !!!!! Excellent photos though well done O0
Bowwave
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you're right, I might pop down tomorrow and get some of it. (It was a bit good wasn't it?)
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Lovely shots Garston1, many thanks for posting them for us. I am still not sure about it being cut open but they have obviously done a very nice job of displaying it and made it accessible to all. I guess I get the best of both worlds having been able to go through it before it was moved.
I definately need to go and have a look now!
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Any Idea of prices ? or is it free, also is there a website .
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£5 admission see link http://www.uboatstory.co.uk/
Stav
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£5 admission see link http://www.uboatstory.co.uk/
Stav
Cheers
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Decided to pay it a visit today EXCELLENT it is,dont go at the weekend too busy !!!!!!!!!! Screaming kids running around annoying everyone,apart from that excellent venue
Stav
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Lovely shots Garston1, many thanks for posting them for us. I am still not sure about it being cut open but they have obviously done a very nice job of displaying it and made it accessible to all. I guess I get the best of both worlds having been able to go through it before it was moved.
Yeah, That's how I felt about it. I know why they've done it and the problems they faced without any £ coming in but it still smacks a touch of vandalism to cut it up.
That knife looked vicious... and the prints with sillouettes of the merchant ships at different distances, sorta brings it home what they were about.
About the cut under the bandstand, it that bit missing or are the pieces just moved apart? If so, what happened to the missing bit(s)? Storage?
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I don't think there's anything missing under the bandstand, just the way it was sllid apart, or seemed to have been. The bandstand isn't original either, when it came to Birkenhead (called the one eyed city by the way, look it up), there was no conning tower, just stumps of where the Schnorkel and periscope came out. A new one was built by Lairds Foundation students. Obviously no armour at all in the old one
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Hey Garston .What,s this about the One Eyed city ,,and have y,told them ,,mayhemers ,about who rectified the Conning tower ,and who was responsible for saving this sub from the scrap , it,rather the way our culture is going in this place is ,Football rules ,no skills required ,so anything that does not have a football related image it,s not in favour .Model boats ,historic ships artifacts , All are threatened but for the men who will model the same and keep it going .
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Well said Dave301bounty! I love it when you get on your high horse and have a ramble. I'll be round to the asylum later today to feed you with some nice warm soup from a beaker
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I don't think there's anything missing under the bandstand, just the way it was sllid apart, or seemed to have been. The bandstand isn't original either, when it came to Birkenhead (called the one eyed city by the way, look it up), there was no conning tower, just stumps of where the Schnorkel and periscope came out. A new one was built by Lairds Foundation students. Obviously no armour at all in the old one
I though you meant the 'bandstand'... Birkenhead is called the 'one eyed city'... and that's a new one on me.
Did those apprentices ever finish the 'Landfall'? I went to Cammell Lairds once (late 80s/early 90s?) and it was dragged up on a slipway at the side of the main one, took a few pix (camera wasn't v good so don't get your hopes up)... I was actually going to scan and throw them up on a gallery here. [Landfall is an old LCT 7074 that was made into a floating nightclub that was sited in one of the Liverpool docks till the 80's/90s?] What happened to that?
Cammell Laird then still had all the wooden formers still there from forming the 'fins' and those type of pieces from the type 2400's (as that's what was written on them). It was just a wooden frame (all in the same 4x2"?) the same shape as the fin/rudder/whatever but with cross pieces to strengthen it. But I've since been to a firework display (bonfire night?) on the mersey and in the distance you could see this big fire on CLs slipway and I thought 'there goes all those pieces I found quite interesting'
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The Landfall was ,as best as my memory is , ( not too bad for a worn scouser with loads of shipyard memories ) was moved to the Stanley dock in about 80 s,and i think she was scuttled ,then after a long time ,and Mr Peel said so ,she went for scrap ,about the same time as that fella got the wooden brig up off the bottom . Mr Garston will correct me ,no doubt ,i don,t mind . past all that now .you,ll never erase my memories .They published a book about us and me .quite good .
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Right Mr 301bounty, I'm going to correct you, (you're goin to hate me for this). The Landfall is in Birkenhead by Duke Street Bridge. It's up for grabs at £250,000, but if you buy it there's £1,000,000 grant that's yours. You fancy goin halves?
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I Knew it , i was,nt sure ,Well done again .Mr Garston you are a whealth of very interesting facts and others ..Good on ya for keeping me updated , and is,nt that the rusty hulk on the watermill knukle.
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I don't think there's anything missing under the bandstand, just the way it was slid apart, or seemed to have been. The bandstand isn't original either, when it came to Birkenhead (called the one eyed city by the way, look it up), there was no conning tower, just stumps of where the Schnorkel and periscope came out. A new one was built by Lairds Foundation students. Obviously no armour at all in the old one
Went there today and asked about this section , and was told that all they did was left the new top structure in the correct place and slid the cut section forward , Apparently cut apart by large diamond tipped cutter and they only lost according to the tour guide 1cm per cut.
Although I can understand people when they are saying it was a shame that it has been cut up , however my son would never have gone into the sub as it was originaly & they only allowed 16+ in age any way to go in I believe, as it is my 7yr old son found it extremley fasinating and enjoyed the 2 hours we spent there. I personaly think they have done a good job.
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Mayhemmer, Mick, has also posted a blog to complement this one. It shows the Official U. 534 video as shown at the Sub's Museum in Birkenhead
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With regards U534, what mersey ferries have done to this submarine, is in my mind criminal, there's what around two other class 9's left in the world, and what do they do!
cut it up and paint it green, grey wolves not green wolves, the hints in the name and remember when you pay your rates and use the tunnel who gets a share, and then they charge you for looking at a pile of scrap metal, they could have had a great display which would have brought money in to the area, but were in wirral so what do you expect.
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Hi Keef, I know how you feel but they tried 'showing it off in one piece' and they did give it a chance to 'bring money into the area'. The trouble is that it DIDN'T!
So let's play god, you have U534 on your hands, what do YOU do with it?
.. and no, you can't take it home! :-)
What they've done irks a bit but what else could they have done? To go through it when intact, you had to be physically able to. Any daytrippers tend to include young children, the elderly or infirm... so you'd have a family day out where the group would be slpit if 'the men' wanted to go through it... and if you rule out small kids, well that'd put 'Mum' right off vsiting the place straight away. What would mum and sis do when dad and son went though it? wait in the car til she got on the mobile telling him 'the babys crying'?
I think those involved will be 'ship lovers' themselves and I'd have thought that cutting it would have gone against the grain with many of them.
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As much as I agree with the sentiment that the U-boat should have remained in one piece, there was little choice . Either it was separated into three sections or went for scrap. I went aboard the vessel when it was a single hull. I was fit and could climb up the steps and then down through a narrow hatch into the interior. I was one of a limited number that were able to do this. Now EVRY ONE can see what it must have been like within such a confined space. So all the rhetoric of "you can only have this boat in one piece" realy does miss the point. Now there is a genuine reason why people not that knowledgeable about U-boats can pay a visit to this exhibition .
Bowwave
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The other thing to think about is how would they have gotten it safe and cleaned up so some one could walk through it, this way the interior is still intact and can be studied without having to worry about is this part original, a reproduction, or somebodies idea of what was there. I have toured the USS Blueback here in Portland and even though I am reasonably fit it was tough for me to get through, no children and definitely no one that has a mobility problem. It looks like the way they choose to display this submarine really makes sense in that every can see the inside and appreciate the cramped quarters.
Andre
over yonder in Portland Oregon
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Plus it's grey, it's as grey as a big grey thing on a grey day in greytown, not green!
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Hey it could have been worse, I'm supprised them scouser's didn't paint it yellow and put cardboard cutouts of John, Paul, George and Ringo on it!! :}