¹⁄200

A Tin Fish for Tojo!

a tin fish for tojo!

the water project

I used this dio as an experiment to use acrylic modeling paste , Woodland Scenics Water Effects, Woodland Scenics Realistic Water and Woodland Scenics Subterrain Foam Putty. I had never tried a water diorama before and felt that this small scene would be an excellent chance to try all these materials.

the water craft inspiration

The Elco PT Boat is the Testors 1/200 scale kit (originally released by Hawk dating back to the 50?s) that sells for $3.00 US. A very simple kit that has surprisingly good detail for its age. I did a fair amount of scratch building to replace some bulkheads, guns, and add the torpedo and figures which I felt were necessary to create the drama even in this small scale. The 50 caliber gun rails were made from plastic rod and the twin 50?s were scratch built along with the 20mm on the stern. The torpedo was made from plastic rod with a piece of wire inserted in the back to suspend it as it launches from the tube.
The PT was painted in a grey/green scheme that was used on some boats in the Pacific area around Guadalcanal.
After the boat was finished and the base was created to contain it, I cut out a space in the base to create the angle that I needed for the boat to appear at a high speed attack.
The painting and the WWII era Elco ad were the two images that inspired this little diorama.

let's make some waves!

The first layer for the water/waves was built up with acrylic modeling paste/gel. Then repeated several layers of Realistic Water with acrylic paint tints to achieve the depth to the surface water. The rough water was then achieved with the Water Effects. To get the bow spray waves I spread thin layers of Water Effects, let it dry to its clear flat pieces and then cut it into smaller pieces and shaped them, and then secured the pieces to the existing water using Water Effects to bind it all together. The remaining rough wake was made with Water Effects blending in the thin, layered pieces. The foamy white caps and tops of the spray were made with dabs of Subterrain Foam Putty. The large shell hit was made with successive layers of Water Effects pulled into shape using a wire tool similar to a tooth-pic. A final touch of tinting was done with thinned acrylic paints and Foam Putty. The water took about 5 days to do. Water Effects comes out of the bottle in a white ?Elmer?s? glue type substance that dries clear. Base size is 5?x7?.