The Ship Model Forum

When I finished my 1st ship, USS Buchanan, back in April I said I'd be back. I thought it would be with a 144th Fletcher. I bought one, just not gotten to it yet. In the mean time I saw one of these built up recently and deciding to give it a go. Not a lot of parts and the bulk of them making up the 2 torpedoes. Nice molding with crisp detail. Nice welds.

So far progress is limited to getting this photo, but that's gonna change soon.



And already my 1st question to the experienced ship molders regarding rust. Unlike the Buchanan I plan to do some weathering on this. On lots of ships I see rust that steaks down from various spot. On a sub would that be mostly limited to above the water line? Would it even be appropriate at all?

Subs were prone to LOTS of rust streaking, especially when returning from patrols. Not so much if they were well maintained and freshly painted, ie, just leaving on a patrol. Seeing as these mini-subs had very limited missions - they didn't go out for weeks, or months, on end, but rather, hours, or a couple of days at most, so they probably didn't accumulate as much weathering as their bigger brothers.

Very interested to see how this build goes. This has been on my "want to build someday" list for some time.

Thanks biggles, that all makes perfect sense. Glad to have you along for the ride Devin.

Spent the morning working on the fish. Thinned and shaped the prop blades. Didn't like the look of the arming prop at the front so make some new blades with some scrap PE fret and added a nut to the front. And getting the sub-assemblies (no pun intended;)) together.

I went and cut mine down to waterline it so I wasted more than half the kit! Then I went and lost the clear dome when I moved! Any suggestions for a replacement?

I planned on vacuforming a new one so if PM me your address I'll make one for you too.

Thanks for the offer, wing_nut. I've PM'd you.

You're welcome. Being the last day of my winter vacation as soon as the booze leaches out of my system I'll get right on it

The torpedoes gave me the opportunity to try something I've been using to metalize small parts. I've been curious how it would look on a larger scale like an aircraft. It uses MM buffing metalizers. For the smaller parts I actually just dip them in the jar, this time I sprayed, but the trick is in the buffing. To get into the nooks and crannies I put a pointed cotton swap in the Dremel and use it as a buffing wheel.

Sanding, priming with Mr. Surfacer and then a sanding again with 4000 micro mesh gives a super smooth surface. Buffing steel was applied. The swap it never perfectly round so when you're buffing at a low(ish) speed the tip sort of bounces on the surface. It buffs sort of unevenly and leaves tonal variations. Sadly they don't show to well in the photos. The more you buff and the heavier the build up on the swab the better. Next time I will spray/buff some scrap to get there quicker.



The front has fish has not been buffed yet. You can see the variations in the surface a little on the back one between the center and right access hatch.



This also makes the surface much more durable. Maybe not as good as Alclad but way better than the reputation the MM metalizers have gotten.

Weathering is done with caulk pastels ground with a mortar & pestle as fine as talc and rubbing it into the surface with a brush. Buff as before. A wash is made with the pastels with water and a drop of liquid soap to make of flow. This is applied around the recessed detail and then buffed after dry. The hatches and band near the rear were masked and sprayed with buffing magnesium for some contrast. This was done back at the beginning with the original painting.







And the finished torpedoes.

Very nicely done. Love the tonal variations.

Thanks Devin. I gotta fix the arming prop and det whiskers. The MM brass enamel is too "gold" especially compared tot he Alclad polished brass. This is where I usually screw things up. It's like I've never heard, "Leave well enough alone".

How about just putting a patina on them to dull them a bit? I usually mix a flat clear with a little lime green paint and dab that on the props.

HI wing nut

beautiful shades on the torpedoes body's and for the "whiskers"not need to be
while in brass,look



torpedoes preserved in the submarine museum at Gosport
good luck for your project
cheers
Nicolas

Devin as soon as I read the lime green I could visualize that tint to the brass immediately.

Nicolas, great photo, thanks Definitely have to redo the fuses over now

Some years ago I say an He 219 "UHU" that was done with a reversed applied camo and have wanted to try it ever since. More so lately since the increase in age and the lack of steady hands seems to be proportionate. This looked like a good candidate.

2 episodes of "Firefly gets you all the little balls. Preshaded and top of the hull also painted a very light gray. Color sheet with the kit calls for white spots but I thing the white would have been too stark.




2 "Big Bangs" and a "Friends" later (just listening this time ) gets you this. Keeping it looking random is harder than you think.




Base coat of gray that will get some panel fading and a dot filter.

Very cool. What are you using for masking? I'm probably the only person in Hoboken that still buys Silly Putty at the local toy store!

Oh no, your midget sub has smallpox!

Hee-hee, just kidding. I've used a similar method of masking (albeit with modeling clay�which one should never use) to get a decent-looking striped camouflage scheme on Tamiya's old 1/35 scale T-62 kit. Unfortunately tanks and other armored fighting vehicles tend to have a lot of odd angles and protrusions, and the touch-up after the initial mask-and-spray took far longer than expected. Even with the extra work the end result was pretty good, so even though the wrong stuff was used (I was picking clay off of that thing for a week), the lesson was still worthwhile.

Thanks or the comments guys.

Devin I use poster tack. This yellow one was purchased at bed Bath and Beyond a while back. Dunno if they still have the same brand but it's great. I've left it a model for weeks and it came off without leaving a mark. I used Staples brand once and it left a greasy stain on the paint. What ever one you pick you have to test it before you "go live". i can't get silly putty to stick.

Modelling clay? I'll bet that was fun I've used this on aircraft for Brit camo and it's a great technique. Especially for one without the airbrush skills, or the airbrush, to produce that tight of a soft edge.

Silly Putty will lift off small PE bits!

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say your similie means you don't know ONLY because someone told you.