Calling all 110' wooden hulled Subchasers fans

[jepot]

Pretty much surprised i didnt see a dedicated thread to such boats considering their contribution to the war effort- lack of kits? well here's one- a Loose Cannon Production 1/700 resin kit..partly built so far:




Inspired by this: http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/151267.htm and doing Philippine Navy subjects, i thought i'd make a kit of it so there....ill update once the kit gets its final configuration; thanks for looking!

[jepot]

Finally done! The alternate Presidential Yacht of the Philippine Navy (PN) in the 1950's, RPS ALERT (PY54) she was amongst a batch of around 8 subchasers the PN received from the USN immediately post war; the SC's formed the bulk of the small boat patrols of the PN, a mean task to patrol about 7,100 islands....








any more SC models built out there? share 'em! thanks for looking....

[gott_cha]

Here is a 1/76 Glencoe "chaser" shown in here end of life career as a Panama Canal Patrol vessel circa 1941-42. The kit has the correct hull and deck/pilot house but all other details and features had to be re-built






Lot of scratch building and AM parts but I will be pleased when Im done with her. She is about 85% complete at this point..

[gott_cha]

Last two I promise....


K guns.......scratch and combination of parts from DJ Parks "great little ships"


"Correct" DC rack for the era an A-O

[biggles2]

Anybody see this yet from l'Arsenal? http://www.larsenal.com/1-350-us-navy-1 ... 2x19278335

[gott_cha]

Nice!

[TimConnelly]

Sir,

You're doing a GREAT, GREAT, GREAT job. But, the GLENCOE, IDEAL, etc., kit is of a WW1 SC-1 Class SC ... which were armed a 3-in/23-cal Poole Gun forward, with 2 optional amidships, near the wheelhouse and depth charges, and it appears that you're arming your model as a WW2 SC-497 Class SC...

But, you're truly doing a MASTERFUL job.

Tim

[gott_cha]

Hi Tim

I had started the build as an early type Sc-1 series to go along with a MS build I was doing for my Wife's Grand Father. MS Thread here http://shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewto ... 1&start=20
The Old gentleman was petty officer on the AM-238 and had a few surviving photos from his time aboard the "GARLAND" and also various other war time shots.
Two of the pics showed a "early type" wood hulled SC at the Panama Canal zone (he said it was 42 or 43..couldn't be precise) Neither photo captures the hull number. When I enlarged the pics it showed a single 40 up front instead of the old 3in 23. Very odd. The next photo was of mid-ship to stern and showed a single DC rack and the apparent K-gun fit at mid ship.
As far as her paint she was very pale in the photo's compared to the other ships passing thru the canal ( I have to assume that was due to sun bleach and salt effects with little time for cosmetic upkeep )
The Gentleman has passed away (shortly after starting the MS build) and taken his memories with him. I have no way to verify what boats were assigned there and when...what research I had attempted was a dead end so to say.

Certainly this is an "oddity" with that gun combination and with only two photos of it, some of the fittings details will have to be guessed at. Maybe more information will surface about the war time activities at the Canal...hope so anyway. As of now both builds are stalled and sit idle in the curio, for now.

Tim thanx for the compliment.....if you have any further info that might pertain to these subject please pm or E-mail me
Again thank you

[Tim Connelly]

Now that I understand what you're doing ......... I just need to say WOW! What an interesting subject and it'll be an unique model! My father was on SC-699 from late-44/early 45 to late 46 and my grandfather was on SC-21 and SC-253 in WW1. As to your "if you have any further info that might pertain to these subject please pm or E-mail me" ... I doubt very much that I'd of a help to you. But, what if you were to contact Todd Woofenden at http://www.subchaser.org, maybe he can help you. And, you can always reach me at ask@ptboatworld.com, I'd love to hear more about the project.

Tim

[TimConnelly]

I'm not sure what I could possibly help you with, sir. Maybe Todd Woofenden at www.subchaser.org could though. And, you could always reach me at xxxaskxxx@xxxptboatworldxxx.comxxx. (remove xs) I'd to hear more about the project though. My father served on SC-699 in WW2 and my grandfather served on SC-21 and SC-253 in WW1.

Tim

[gott_cha]

Tim thank you for the subchser link....I will see about contacting him.

On a side note,..your comment on my build caused me to pull it out of the case and also to look thru my reference materials.... I noticed I have a copy of your booklet "110 Subchasers in Action".
Don't know where I picked it up or even when...but there it is in my library..so..tip of the old Hat to ya my friend!

[Tim Connelly]

So, ... you're the one who bought it..............................

[Michael Potter]

L'Arsenal kit 350 17 for a 1/350 USN SC-497 series subchaser has arrived. It is finely cast in full-hull (but without a stand) and includes PE of the mast, life rails, and ladders. Weapons include one 40mm gun, PE 20mm guns on pylon mountings only, and the radar dome.

The kit deckhouses appear molded too far aft by about 2mm, a noticeable variance in this small model. WW2 subchasers lacked the circular bulwark of the kit for the aft 20mm gun, and in fact the actual aft and amidships deckhouses and their attached platforms were shaped very differently from the kit. Either by a manufacturing defect or from the loose packaging of kit parts inside the box, one propeller blade was missing.

For a WW2 USN SC-497 series subchaser the kit needs but lacks: anchors; the signal lamp (as in l'Arsenal AC 350 64); the wherry with a stand and a davit; the antisubmarine armament of depth charge projectors, reloading equipment, depth charge tracks (as in l'Arsenal AC 350 67), and Mousetrap launchers for Hedgehog-type projectiles.

These structural variances, and the complete omission of antisubmarine ordnance and loading equipment beyond two tiny empty mortar spigots, are surprising, in particular for items that l'Arsenal offers separately. Even with substantial scratch-building effort, this kit cannot yield an authentic model of any USN SC-497 series subchaser that I have seen in drawings and photographs.

My order also contained one pack of l'Arsenal AC 350 55 1/350 single-mount Bofors guns, the same gun mount as in the subchaser kit. Again either from the loose packaging inside the shipping carton or from a shortfall in quality, two of the four guns arrived with the barrels broken off. The barrels are noticeably too long, a design flaw, which then contributes to warping. I recommend attaching brass barrels instead.

I have e-mailed l'Arsenal directly.

[Tim Connelly]

Michael,

Just as a FYI, ... Not all 497s had a Wherry.

[Michael Potter]

l'Arsenal has replied:

Thank you for your remarks about our Subchaser kit.
I asked the former l�Arsenal owner who designed the kit. He told me our subchaser had been designed after official plans in the custody of Paris Mus�e de la Marine and another set of plans from John Lambert.
438 subchasers have been built with many variations. Our version belongs to the group of 50 delivered to France and is documented with many pictures, but I understand this might be somewhat different from the configuration you�re looking for.

< NavSource page for SC-692 > illustrates a French Navy unit of 1956 that resembles the l'Arsenal kit.

[Michael Potter]

Does anyone know of the war-time camouflage colours and patterns of the 110-foot subchasers (SC-683, SC-781, SC-1016) that the USN lent Norway during 1943-1945 for the Shetland Bus?

Photographs of a Norwegian subchaser in the book The Shetland Bus by David Howarth (1951) show two colours that appear in monochrome as dark grey and very dark grey. At that time late in WW2, (British) Royal Navy destroyers wore two-color camouflage patterns of G10 and G45. G10 and G45 were similar respectively to extra dark sea grey and dark slate grey (close to olive drab) on Catalina PBY's in Coastal Command 333 (Norwegian) Squadron.

Since the Norwegian PBY's and the Norwegian subchasers operated in the same northern waters, perhaps the subchasers adopted the same colours.

[Spot]

They built some of those a few miles from here.

[Story]

I'll just leave this here as inspiration for someone's future build (I've got a rum-runner on the blocks).

From the New York Times, April 26th 1922

Captain Mathias S. Clarke and his crew of six of the converted submarine chaser Fidus were arraigned before United States Commission McGoldrick in Brooklyn yesterday and held in $1,000 bail each for examination May 2 on a charge of conspiring to violate the Volstead act.

https://www.nytimes.com/1922/04/26/arch ... stead.html

And from the April 27th 1922 issue.

April 26. � The New York marine police today nabbed tho second rum runner that has entered the harbor within the last 72 hours. This time it was the clumsy looking steam lighter Ideal, which was captured after a wild chase by two patrol boats along the Brooklyn shore. A volley of shots fired by the police end a hand to hand fight on the smuggler's deck in which night sticks wera freely used stopped the vessel. Monday morning it was the former sub chaser 101, renamed the Fidus, that was caught. That the tip end of Long Island seems to be a popular rendevous for bootleggers is the opinion of authorities, for the crew of the Ideal report ed that they had taken aboard their cargo from a three masted schooner.

http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bi ... 20427.2.17

...and on the West Coast. Those masts strike me as being more suited for booms with block & tackle (crates of whiskey are heavy) than for carrying sale.