by Tom Dougherty » Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:12 pm
Tirante had one 20mm and one 5" cannon
No. The guns on the
Tench class were the new (specific for submarines) 5/25 guns, not the earlier 5 inch guns which were installed on a handful of boats. The Revell kit actually comes with an older 4 inch gun, not a 5 incher (5/25). Also, this photo looks to me like 40 mm fore and aft on the conning tower, and indeed this was the standard "as built" outfitting of the
Tench class. The kit has 1 40 mm, you need a second (see below)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/0842011.jpg
Here's what you do:
Nautilus Models makes a conversion set of guns, including a 5/25 gun and a 40 mm:
http://nautilusmodels.com/180-050.htm
More importantly, the
"Lionfish" kit is actually a
Gato conning tower fairwater, much more enclosed and not the more open type found on the
Balao or
Tench classes. The kit was originally issued as a
Gato (USS
Flasher) and then repackaged as a
Balao (Lionfish) without any changes than the name and box art. You might want to purchase a
Balao conning tower such as:
http://nautilusmodels.com/72-012.htm to get you closer to
Tirante. There were some minor differences between the
Tench class and
Balao class conning tower fairwaters, but the
Gato fairwater of the Revell kit is waaayyy different from either of the latest classes.
Here's an excellent set of references in PDF form to US fleet boats, describing the differences in appearance and outfitting:
Visual Guide to the
Gato class:
http://navsource.org/archives/08/pdf/0829294.pdf
Visual Guide to the
Balao and
Tench classes:
http://navsource.org/archives/08/pdf/0829295.pdf[quote]Tirante had one 20mm and one 5" cannon[/quote]
No. The guns on the [i]Tench[/i] class were the new (specific for submarines) 5/25 guns, not the earlier 5 inch guns which were installed on a handful of boats. The Revell kit actually comes with an older 4 inch gun, not a 5 incher (5/25). Also, this photo looks to me like 40 mm fore and aft on the conning tower, and indeed this was the standard "as built" outfitting of the [i]Tench[/i] class. The kit has 1 40 mm, you need a second (see below)
[url]http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/0842011.jpg[/url]
Here's what you do:
Nautilus Models makes a conversion set of guns, including a 5/25 gun and a 40 mm: [url]http://nautilusmodels.com/180-050.htm[/url]
More importantly, the [i]"Lionfish"[/i] kit is actually a [i]Gato[/i] conning tower fairwater, much more enclosed and not the more open type found on the [i]Balao[/i] or [i]Tench[/i] classes. The kit was originally issued as a [i]Gato[/i] (USS [i]Flasher[/i]) and then repackaged as a [i]Balao[/i] (Lionfish) without any changes than the name and box art. You might want to purchase a [i]Balao[/i] conning tower such as:
[url]http://nautilusmodels.com/72-012.htm[/url] to get you closer to [i]Tirante[/i]. There were some minor differences between the [i]Tench[/i] class and [i]Balao [/i]class conning tower fairwaters, but the [i]Gato[/i] fairwater of the Revell kit is waaayyy different from either of the latest classes.
Here's an excellent set of references in PDF form to US fleet boats, describing the differences in appearance and outfitting:
Visual Guide to the [i]Gato[/i] class: [url]http://navsource.org/archives/08/pdf/0829294.pdf[/url]
Visual Guide to the [i]Balao [/i]and [i]Tench[/i] classes: [url]http://navsource.org/archives/08/pdf/0829295.pdf[/url]