Ahoy Adam,
I see she is coming along just great. I hear you about the windows and
the vents. Decals could work fine in this small scale but if you have access to some micro drill bits and some dental files, I would go with that option.
A little extra work yes but you will be much more satisfied with the results.

Micro files?.....yes, a modeler's best friend should be his DENTIST!
Everytime I pay my dentist a visit, he supplies with his used or slightly
broken files. These are very thin so he often breaks the tips but that does
not mean that they are not usable. They work great on styrene which is much
softer than teeth! and a constant supply from the dentist is no bite in my
pocketbook as these files can be quite expensive!
Also his assistant has them sterilized and neatly packaged.
Cheers,
Joe

Excellent to see the Hunley in this campaign.

I am on for this campaign with a Swordfish or JU 188. So man your AA guns, if you want to avoid the tin fish from the air.

Hey - how do you guys usually deal with wooden decks on steel vessels? I'm trying painting it prior to assembly, then masking it with liquid mask and spraying the greys after assembly, removing the liquid mask, touching up and weathering.

I'm wondering if there is a best practice sequence.

I don't know how assembled your model is but here is how I do it:
I paint the hull once it is assembled and before anything else gets added to it like the superstructure and the big guns. First I get the sides of the hull fully painted, to including the camo pattern, and anything large that sticks out on the deck like the parts of the turrets that are molded onto some decks. Then I mask off everything except the deck and paint it. After that I do any touch up work that needs to be done and paint anything that was too small to mask off. Then I declare victory and do as little to the hull as I can until I place the superstructure on it..

Ahoy Scott,
If I may suggest.....since your are building a sub and not a ship with
complex superstructures, I would assemble the hull and deck, fill in
any empty spaces with putty if required, paint the hull and then go
back mask the deck and paint the wood. Also if you use an airbrush
you can paint the deck hull color before you apply the wood color.
This will act as a preshade and follow with some drybrushing. This
will give nice depth to the wood deck.
Have a nice day and happy modeling,
Joe

Greetings to all!

I just signed on to MSW yesterday, so I'm still trying to find my way around. I'd love to try my hand at a submarine for this group. I have several to choose from in my stash, but I'm leaning towards the 1/350 Akula by Yankee Modelworks. This appears to be a fairly simple and straightforward build, so it should not be a problem to finish her up in time.

I hope I can build even half as well as the average modeler on this site! You guys do awesome work!

I'll post pics of the kit as soon as I can figure out what I'm doing!

Many thanks,

Daniel Chavez

Daniel...welcome aboard!
You'll have a great time here at MSW, the guys are a real jolly bunch!
Have a great day and happy modeling!
Joe

Discordian- Usally I paint the steel deck first and hand paint overlaying wood structures with oil paint.

David- Usually I assemble hull and major superstructures. This allows complete and invisible closing of all gaps between superstructures and decks. I leave away all small detail parts until final assembly. After assembly of all major components I paint all the decks and seal them with dull coat. Then I mask off all decks before painting the superstructures. The masking stays on as longer possible to protect the painted decks. The disadvantage of this procedure is hat you have at least one masking seesion that may take you - according to the size of your model- a very long time. E.g. my 200th Sovremenny took about 9 hours to mask off. Even a small subject like a 700th destroyer may take several hours.
However, the advantage of being able to seal off all gaps surpasses the pain of the tedious masking task. Take note: "Visible gaps between sub-assembly units" is one of the big killer criteria for competition judges. Even though I do not compete a lot I try to apply a miximum of craftsman skill according to the IPMS rules. It looks better, so it does make sense.

I tried different approches in past years, but usually come up with even more mork than with the above prcedure.

Cheers,
Guido

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen!

we'll see how this turns out and learn from the experience!

I just enlisted today. Saw the review on the 350 scale I-58 kit and then treacked down the campaign. I too wil be doing that kit. Working on big guns right now with my 3250 Graf Spee. I probably will do this next as the Crusin for a Brusin doesn't kick off until July.. So Pix to follow

Welcome to the campaign, Blaster and Daniel!
Glad to have you aboard!

Cheers,
Guido

Hi folks
I'm finding it difficult to find much by way of reference for a trolley for the brass torpedo.

I mostly seem to find airforce equipment, for example:
http://www.aviationartstore.com/images/Dal_TORPEDO%20n.jpg
http://home.clara.net/djparkins/fltpath/fp72_torpedos.htm

very nice though it is I would like to fine something more Kreigsmarine. There's nothing in any of my u-boat books.
Any help appreciated.
Cheers
Adam

Ahoy Adam,
I have not found too many...but I hope these will help.




There are also a couple of shots I have seen of torpedoes just sitting on
workhorses supported by blocks of wood with half circle cutouts to prevent
them from rolling over.
Cheers,
Joe

Avast there ye survey sea-dog Grauwolf....That's great, the top image is really the sort of trolley I was hoping to find.
I've searched the internet and today, at the North East Model show looked through all the sub books available and you have come up trumps.
Thank you, lets see what I can do now, I have not built much from scratch but it is a nice simple device.

Brilliant
Adam

Ahoy Adam,
This trolley or cart could be easily built from styrene strips or even balsa wood
sold in modelrailroad building supplies.
Also, take a look in the MR supplies and you should find some HO cart wheels
that could easily be adapted to 1:72.
Enjoy the scratchbuilding.......it is fun!
Have a great day and happy modeling,
Cheers,
Joe

I've been to my local model railway shop and found these.........

there will be some leftover parts....anybody want any vegetables?

(I've straightened out the bent antenna)

here's the sail... now another question...
any tips for managing to put the PE rails around the upper hull?

Now doesn't that look sweeet!
Guido

This is going really well, Guido, great stuff, and well done. And I can now say that my kit of a US sub will arrive shortly and I can get started - hurrah!

It will be from Retrokit, and a brand new 700 scale submarine subject, possibly USS Skipjack. I shall be starting next week, and hope to copy the box art - all to be revealed soon!

Peter F

Can't wait, Peter!




I a progressing with my Mary Rose.



The toying I did with the guns and tubes, were actually the background work while I had the hull under construction.
Bottom and top half were fused, filled and sanded. The fit wasn't perfect, but far from impossible. The model received a double coat of Mr. Gunze 1200 from the rattlecan..
I painted the main deck cortecene brown, masked of the non-skid passages and then added deck grey. After this I installed the deck overhang of the focsle and the wheelhouse. Filling the gap between focsle deck parts took some, but was eventually overcome. Now the forecastle deck was painted in given colours.
After that the hull received a dull black coat all over. On this the boot topping line was masked off, then the bottom colour was applied and masked off, as well.
The added name lettering at the stern may be a litte too big and too defined, but I still like the effect. Out of pulled copper wire strands I shaped the eyebrows for the portholes. The eyebrows were fixed with white glue and sealed under two layers of light grey one of which was a bit thinner then the other allowing some shading from the black ground to reach through. That's something the camera can't show, because the effect is ever so faint. (Come to Telford see her live!). All colour coats were White Ensign's, but the black which came from Revell.
All masking had been removed and touch ups finishied before 2 layers of Revell Flat coat were added to the build. After thorough drying time gloss varnish was used to underlay the draft marking decals. These are from Begemot and may be - as well - a bit big. As well, they have yellowed quite a bit and you may make out their outines. . Please, let it be clear that I have no evidence for the existence of these draftmarkings on the original ship: I just like the feature.
I finished off with with another thick layer of flat coat.
I have now started adding bit and pieces...







I hope you like what you see!
Cheers,
Guido

Guido.........She is looking just great! Looking forward to seeing her complete.
I am sure she will go from great to AWESOME!
Cheers,
Joe

The waiting is over, Guido, and here we go with USS Skipjack, an all new kit from OKB Grigorov of Bulgaria. And, I have an idea how to display this full hull as the casting and resin are top notch! ..........







Peter F

How many of you are doing a PT, Schnellboot, MAS or MTB for this build?

Garth

I am doing all of those. I have SkyWave's Motor Torpedo Boats kit that has 2 Schnellboots, 2 Vosper Type IIs, and 2 PTs.

Speaking of which I am starting tonight. I have gone as far as I can on my entry in the carrier campaign without painting. I haven't had the time to get the airbrush out yet so I figured I'd get these little guys done in the small amounts of time that I do have.

Edit: the kit has 4 each

Garth my PT is underway now but have not had much time due to new shift patterns at work but will be getting back to it very soon