The Ship Model Forum

Scot - appreciate the kind words. For my first scratch build I'm plsed with the results. Still lots to learn though.
Maxim - I d/l the stellamaris link to my 'Pueblo' folder for future reference. Looking at the data on that site, and the side view it appears that the 'Shell Welder' hull could be a very acceptable substitute for a Pueblo (or Banner, Palm Beach) build.

Right now I'm in the beginning stages of converting a Revell 1/380 NS Savannah to show her as she appears now in her dry docking in Philadelphia which she just entered. Ironic I have an association with this ship as well in that my Uncle Ed worked on her when he worked at New York Shipbuilding in Camden NJ in the 50s.

That's a great looking build,Joe. :thumbs_up_1:

It was interesting to learn how your USCG cutter was moored
near the Pueblo while in Japan.

Scott

I found only some plans of the Design 381 here:
[url]https://www.stellamaris.no/chapter10.htm[/url]

But it is not a complete set of plans, only one view... Together with the one [url=http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~slowbell/misc/trough27.htm]you found[/url] it could be ok - but not optimal.

Between the designs there are some small differences in the dimensions - and I wonder, if there is more.

[quote="maxim"]Pueblo was originally a Design 381 Army coastal freighter. In 1/700, there is a hull of such a Design 381 Army coastal freighter/Camano class available:

[url]https://www.shapeways.com/product/RKWBTQ6AQ/1-700-scale-uss-deal-akl-2[/url]

A lot of interesting ships can be converted from such a hull. Do you know what the differences between the different US Army designs were? Especially Design 381, Design 330, and Design 427? Do you know drawings of them?[/quote]


Sorry, no knowledge of the difference between the different types. I have struggled to find plans of the Design 381s for the Pueblo conversion. I found some on a website related to the Mister Roberts movie and have found a release of a partial starboard profile from a Department of Defense related website. There is also a drawing in the book written by her captain.

Dave

Wow! Very interesting on the port visits.
I'm only 55 but am struggling through my first 1/700ish build of the USS Midway. I normally only build larger scale (like 1/144, 1/125) small craft-so I am getting burned out on the 1/730 scale Midway. So the 1/700 or even 1/350 Pueblo would be out for me.

There was an article several years ago in one of the ship modeling magazines on building the Pueblo from the old Lindberg Trawler kit. I think it worked out to be an even larger scale-maybe closer to 1/96 or so. Hull shape doesn't look quite right to me though. I did buy the old Revell Russian Spy trawler years ago, but I don't think that hull shape is correct either.

Tks for the various inputs. And tks for the 'validation' regarding a prospective USS Pueblo build. I too have looked at various candidates for the hull and really have never settled on a specific one though the Shell Welder is probably my favorite right now. I like the size and when ur in ur 70's you don't have the eyes you had in ur 20's or 30's or.... so it makes sense to try to stick with a larger scale. I have a semi-personal connection with Pueblo in that the USCG cutter I was serving in at the time pulled port calls in Yokosuka, Japan. Once we shared a pier with Pueblo and her sister ship Banner. I'll never forget the funny looking little ships moored behind us on the pier face; they were cordoned off by a portable fence and Marine guards.

Pueblo was originally a Design 381 Army coastal freighter. In 1/700, there is a hull of such a Design 381 Army coastal freighter/Camano class available:

[url]https://www.shapeways.com/product/RKWBTQ6AQ/1-700-scale-uss-deal-akl-2[/url]

A lot of interesting ships can be converted from such a hull. Do you know what the differences between the different US Army designs were? Especially Design 381, Design 330, and Design 427? Do you know drawings of them?

Very nice work. I have been considering a Pueblo build as well. My likely hull candidate is the old Frog Shell Welder coatal tanker. The lines and size looks close for a 1/125 or 1144 build. The movie Mister Robert's was filmed on board a sister ship that the Pueblo was converted from.

Tks for the kind remarks Chuck. Maxim's feedback's were very interesting. The 'signit/comint' vsls are a fascinating class that has been overlooked by most modelers IMO. The newer class of Soviet 'spy ships' are pretty remarkable in their outward appearance. And I still toy with the idea of trying to scratchbuild the USS Pueblo someday.

VERY NICE model, Joe. :nod_1:

Love the follow up discussion, too.

Some (west) German ships had fake funnels for the main antennas. Therefore I had assume that it could be similar for this Soviet ship.

Here an example, the Alster (A 50) of the Oker class (a former fishtrawler converted to a electronic intelligence ship in 1971).

[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/KSS_Wismar_101.jpg/800px-KSS_Wismar_101.jpg[/img]
[url]https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KSS_Wismar_101.jpg[/url]

That funnel above the bridge is for the antenna, the real funnel is the one with the mast.

Maxim - the soviet literature of the era listed that structure as a "radar room" and not specifically as a "radar". I think that it was their equivalent of a Combat Information Center (CIC) where all the inbound intelligence was processed by personnel. This era of intelligence gathering ships had their antenna external to the main superstructure, i.e. they were located on the either the foremast, mainmast or the various whips on the nav bridge and the smaller electronic masts on top of the nav bridge.

Interesting ship!

Was this grey thing behind the bridge the main antenna? The one shaped like funnel in front of the white funnel?

My scratchbuilt 1/142 scale Soviet Okean Class (AGI) Intelligence Ship. She is modeled as the Soviet AGI “Linza” as she appeared in the mid-1980s’. Linza started her career in 1960 as the soviet trawler Dikson. In 1962 she was converted to an SRTR (medium refrigerated fish trawler) and sailed as the ‘SRTR-9167’ - Ostrovets until her eventual conversion to an AGI vessel in the late 1960s and renamed Linza. (She possibly did service for the East Germans as well under the name of YAZ.) Linza was decommissioned in April 1990.
She’s waiting in the queue for her Gallery debut, hopefully soon.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/dWk41TY.jpg[/img]