German KFK Project ‘D’ Flak Patrol Boat
Scratchbau - 1/72

Internationale Federn – hier ein Baubericht aus dem IPMS USA Journal von Dr. Mike Mcfadden aus Phoenix, Arizona. Wir werden in Zukunft öfter versuchen, internationale Modellbauer mit besonderen Projekten zu Wort kommen zu lassen. Viel Spaß beim Lesen!

I was deeply inspired by Doug Bauer’s 1/72 scratch built KFK German flak boat seen at our Phoenix National Convention in 2018, and thought this would be something that I too could do and perhaps add my own personal spin to. I had come across and built some gorgeous Griffin brand multimedia flak guns for past U-boat projects and looked forward to adding them to captured random fishing boats. 

As it turned out there was a real scarceness of information on this obscure craft. Fortunately I was able to locate a book written in German about the subject (‚Kriegsfischkutter KFK by Herwig Danner, published by E. S. Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg, 2001, ISBN 3813207293 ) that offered greater detail in this otherwise obscure little vessel. In ‘reading’ the book I came across a late war photo of a more advanced design of the KFK. Even more interesting, only two were built and those were quickly lost. As a result, I was left with no other choice but to scratch build this very basic ship using the line drawings and a few detail photos at my disposal. It was then that I decided to build in the ‘manly scale’ of 1/72, making the ship 16” in length.

With no model kits even close to the size and shape of the KFK hull I decided to construct the hull using standard ship builders’ principles, that meant starting with scratch building bulkheads that would later be covered in plating. This practice is common when working with wood model ships, but rarely done in plastic and resin.

I started by first creating very precise bulkheads in thick Plastruct. The areas between bulkheads were filled with thick rectangular Evergreen strips to replicate steel plating. Each segment was then glued together with MicroMark’s ‘safe stuff’, which melted the pieces into each other and the bulkheads. The process resulted in several weeks of down-time while waiting for the fumes to dissipate. Although this process was effective in bringing all the Evergreen strips together, it did create small imperfections that would ‘bubble’ at the connection points. Not being satisfied with the end result, I decided to recast the hull in resin using the Evergreen hull as the form.

With the major portion of the build now complete it was time to move on the subassemblies, of which I had the most enjoyment of the entire project.

Among these were the three Griffin guns and their platforms, CMK sea mines with their individual holders and rails, and depth charges and their racks and rails. Realizing that plastic masts and paravanes would never hold their shape under the stress of time and rigging, I instead made them by machining brass rods. Later thin photo etch brass sheets were added as detail.

Thinking that the hardest part of the build was behind me, I was now confronted with the challenges of the sloping main deck. Unlike decks on most ships that are level, the KFK’s deck sloped upward to the bow. This turned out to be less fun than I originally hoped for, as all the fixtures and superstructures would have to be adjusted to fit the sloped angle.

The superstructure was crafted in sheet and strip styrene over a master support structure made with brass for structural integrity. The railings were made with stainless steel rod for extra strength and to avoid any risk of warpage later.  Other railings and ladders were fabricated in a similar way using plastic rod. 

Even though they would only be visible through open doorways and windows, I super detailed the wheelhouse, radio room, storage and maintenance rooms along with the ship’s head for crew comfort and convenience.

Other structures like crew access boxes, light boxes, storage/ammo containers were constructed and then copied as needed from the masters. I followed the advice from experts on scratch building, that you must be willing to create many masters of one particular item just to get the best one. As a result, many masters were made, sometimes as many as eight times until I finally got the one I liked. For example, the crew access hatch/box master was made from 29 parts and took several attempts to get it right.

Hoping to find model ship and railroad parts that I could use was mostly unsuccessful as I found these often out of scale. Although I found a few of these useful, most of those were used just as guides. A good principle in this small scale is to pick a smaller/thinner part to deal with and add to it. White glue and painting will make it appear larger and look closer to scale.

When this project was started, only the Revell Schnellboat was available. This is an old kit with parts that were either too thick or lacking fine detail. I used these parts as templates to get general dimensions of various boat details such as; the binnacle, depth charge racks and funnels. Unfortunately, the excellent 1/72 scale FORE Hobby Schnellboat came out towards the end of this project. This would have provided an excellent source of correctly scaled ship parts. Wouldn’t you know it! 

Items just at the davits, main searchlight, depth charges, sea mines and life rafts started out from aftermarket offerings. In some cases, I would use the basic aftermarket item and remove out of scale rope or handles and then replace them with scratch built parts closer to scale.

A key part of the build was the main winch (vs. wench). All kinds of materials were used such as styrene, brass, photoetch, paper, piano wire, copper tubing, etc. In short, I used whatever I could find to get the job done, while keeping it in scale.  I really wanted to show the mass of rivets that made and supported the winch, and for that I used MicroMark wet decal HO rivets. That product really helped achieve the detail level I was looking for.

I’m big into trying new subjects and genres. It requires you to solve problems and try new methods. I firmly believe in Shep Paine’s statement – “you have more creativity than you may think.” Having said that, seeking advice from master ship builders, local IPMS club members and resin casting experts all prevent you from having to recreate the wheel. You might also consider using Youtube as a resource to learn about resin and ship building as well.

Finally, I think painting and weathering is a very individual step and can be very specific to each different model you build. As for the KFK, I wanted to show the boat as it would appear in port, so here I took some artistic license with some items to create more visual appeal. Overall, all ships that spend any time in the water is going to show wear, tear and rust. For these using armor modeling finishing techniques form a good basis to start with.

I find it helps me to stay motivated in a long-term project to have a subject that thoroughly interests me. For example, this project started back in the ancient dark days of COVID. It also helps to divide projects such as these into small bite size subassemblies, as well as have other simple, easy-going projects going concurrently. I call this ‘sanity modeling’.

With the ship complete it was now time to place it in the water. For this I like using professional clear resin vs model RR liquids as it doesn’t creep up the sides. The slight waves and ripples were shaped with Golden brand clear gel.

Although lengthy, I enjoyed the research and build process of this model very much, and I find that I am very pleased with the result. The amount of time I spent on this project exceeded most projects that came before it and it eventually became as familiar to my family as it was for me. When the model was finally complete, I wanted to let my kids know. I told them; ‘hey kids, I finished the flak boat!’. One of them replied-‘no Dad, that’s your forever boat!’.

Dr. Mike Mcfadden (Phoenix, Arizona – USA)

About the author: Dr. Mcfadden is a retired orthodontist after a 30-year career. Married, with three children, he just became a grandfather. Proud member of Phoenix Craig Hewitt IPMS chapter. Other interests – sprint triathlons, all things historical, and figure painting.