mmmmm, tasty!
I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away!
I completed one of my most challenging DIY projects recently. Rehabbing a very old (we believe Revelle, about 1/200 scale, but no one knows for sure) submarine model. As you will see it was Billed as the U-505. Im sure many of you are familiar with the real thing - the only totally (in 2019) refurbished IXC U Boat in existence residing at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Captured in June of 1944 she has been and American ever since and is why I added an American Flag to complete my rehab. As I said this was a total DIY project. After dissecting this very rough beast I resorted to bits and pieces from my stash of saved sprue trees and photoetch parts. The only purchase made was for some 0.5mm styrene rod used for deck handrail. Gauge 26 wire was used for platform railing. I present photos generally in a before and after format of sections of the rehab. For starters is a photo of the conning tower of the real U-505 (in Chicago).
This is what I started with!
Snip, snip, snip
Before
After
Before
After
The 20mm Flak and 37mm flak were total fabrications from spare parts. Painting was, of course, a key element and I had to mix a number of colors. I had to hand paint the shell in the shield on the conning tower. It is a as good as these old hands can do. Here are a few progress pics of the railing work - very tedious.
Here some completion pics:
And finally, the day the U-505 became American:
Last edited by Willi; 09-10-2021 at 07:51. Reason: Added info
Wow, great stuff, Willi!
William, that if pretty frickin' awesome!
You never cease to amaze me with your modeling skills, Willi
REP inbound.
Great bit of reclaimation work William.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
There's nothing "Sub"-par about that!
Rep!
I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away!
Something else I am just now finishing up. I won't belabor this as you can view my effort here: https://theatomfurnace.blogspot.com/...-172-os2u.html
I repainted an old 1/72 OS2U, Kingfisher I found in my brother's storage box. It was the model that started me on rehabbing. It was quite a while ago now so I returned to it as I had an idea.
On April 30, 1944 during battle at the Truk Atoll rescue calls went out to pick up downed aircrews from the attacking American Carriers. The USS North Carolina was providing support to the carriers and launched her Kingfishers. My goal was to create a diorama of this rescue (10 airmen in all over hours of rough seas) where Lt. John Burns landed twice to pick up our men and ferried them to a waiting USS Tang. Here are few photos:
Still a Work in progress but the THE TRUK ATOLL LAGOON RESCUE is almost done.
That looks "Truk"-ing excellent!
I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away!
Very nice William.
Run for your life - there are stupid people everywhere!
Most excellent. I'll admit that dioramas are not my thing (or really in my skill set), but I know a great one when I see it.
Karl
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
Very impressive William. I was interested in your technique for producing the large area of seascape. Far less expensive than using casting resin and a hair dryer.
Incoming
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
Wow, that’s good.
Never Knowingly Undergunned !!
William, that is pretty awesome!
A very simple method I picked up from a fellow on Youtube. It involves only toilet tissue, white glue (Elmer's etc), Acrylic paint (artists paint, thicker stuff) and the Vallejo Water Texture. Water down the white glue and put down the tissue. Push the tissue around to make ridges the way you think looks right for the water surface you are after. Since this involve waves I put pieces of foam bits under the tissue for more texture. Three to four layers of tissue is usually enough. I look at various ocean pics and try my best to emulate. For this it is a dark blue and green, plus white (caps). i daub down the colors one on top of another (if you don't like it do over). Then the Water Texture goes on along with bits of tissue soaked in it to form breakers along the pontoon (or the hull of a ship) and also wave tops. As each layer dries add another until you have a depth of surface you like. This is the second time I have used this technique.
Rep gun jammed, but thank you for sharing the wave building technique!
I haven't been on much but the great stuff people do hasn't changed. Sometime I might get to see your planes in person Chris.
I hope so, Bob! I need to get some floatplanes and seaplanes done so we can battle over the water, but OTT is driving the bus at the moment.
Here is the result of the last five months of my very limited spare time. I put a few shots of the early construction up back in May. By far the most challenging project Ive done in many moons. The finished Tamiya 1/350 USS Fletcher with the utterly insane Infini Model detail kit. This 14 long x 1 1/2 wide model is comprised of over 1,100 parts, most of which are brass photo etch. Most of the photo etch required multiple delicate bends and folds. It was a true test of my patience, which wavered a few times along the way. I also added a set of Veryfire resin searchlights, and sprinkled on some Northstar Models crew members.
The funny thing is I picked up on a group of 1/200 AIM Kates I started a while back. I felt like I was painting the side of a barn they seemed so big! The Fletcher was almost entirely done 6 from my nose under 10x glass. AIM 1/200 planes are done mostly at arms length with 2.5x. Much more ergonomic! Looking forward to cranking out some planes for a while now. On deck are 9 Kates, 4 Helens (Ki-49), 6 B-20 Havocs, 3 RAAF Kittyhawks and then who knows.
Last edited by Dak21; 09-19-2021 at 20:27.
Great job on the sub and Kingfisher Willi!
Dave, that is really impressive! Wonderful job! Looks like something my patience would not hold out on!
That is some ship... well done sir
Never Knowingly Undergunned !!
Very impressive work Willi and Dave!
Excellent model making skills Dave.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
Nicely done, Dave.
A bit more rust and it could be one of the vessels Teaticket and I explored in Fall River last month.
Thanks for the positive feedback guys. I really appreciate it!
That's quite the ship Dave. You must be quite happy it's done.
Beautiful 184, Paul!
Dave - Super job on the Fletcher. I know how fiddly these things are. I have five 1/350 scale ships under my belt and they can be daunting.
Fantastic 'Fletcher', Dave!
I've never built a 1/350 scale ship (loads of 1/700, though) and now have two in my "to do" queue.
If my efforts turn out HALF as good as yours, I'll be thoroughly chuffed!
I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away!
Will you buggers stop setting the bar so high?!
Those superdreadnoughts are awesome, Willi!
I doubt I'll get close to that level of detail.
I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away!
Quite amazing Willi! WOWZER!!!!
Outstanding battleships! I’m not planning on going anywhere near 1/700 at this point in life. I think 1/350 is about all I can handle!
Got these done under the wire, and ready for Origins:
75 SGN RAAF P-40s in New Guinea; repainted Hills, with Miscmini decals
And a solution for using Litko bases: the peg holes being too big for Ares bomber pegs, I found the 5mm lock nuts (from Menards) fit perfectly.
Just don't use too much epoxy, or it fills the hole!
Karl
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
Those look pretty awesome Karl!
Nice solution to the base problem Karl.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
They look great Karl.
Run for your life - there are stupid people everywhere!
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