I'm working on Fine Molds 1/72 midget sub. I am building her as the captured HA-19. Here is my progress so far.







I've bent up the net cutter to mimic the Navy's photo:





I'm to the point where I will apply the decals and then start to weather it. I'm using this photo as my reference. I believe that the substance on the hull and fair water is sand from the beach and maybe salt residue from the ocean. What do you think it is?

Hello there, silly question coming up - why so much filler used on your model, I take it the white rubbed down sections is filler ? You're off to a fantastic start, before you begin weatehring, have you heard of ''scenic rust'' its by a company called www.deluxematerials.com, comes in 3 parts and honestly turns plastic into rust looking metal rust.

Al, the HA-19 is one of five Japanese midget submarines that participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. HA-19, with her four companions, was supposed to penetrate the harbor and attack the U.S. Pacific Fleet. However, none of the vessels managed to damage or sink any U.S. ships.

HA-19 developed problems with its gyrocompass, forcing it to make a visual approach to the harbor entrance. It ran aground on a coral reef. Draining its batteries attempting to back off the reef, the boat was abandoned by it's two-man crew. Scuttling charges failed to work. The boat, with one crewmember, was captured by U.S. forces.

The photos were taken days after the attack, so there shouldn't have been much rust. It appears to be sand and maybe salt residue. As far as the filler goes, that is Gunze Mr Desolved Putty. I put it on all my seams to make sure they disappear, especially on a model of this size.

I found out that the surface is covered with salt left after the water evaporated. You can see the same effect here on this engine part:



Mrs. Gator has already come up with an idea on how to replicate this.

Okay, I finally got the salt corrosion effect on the HA-19. Renee came up with the idea of making a salt water slurry and coating the model with it. After it dried, I added some white pigments to brighten it up a bit.

Really looking good and loving the scene with the figures. Nice work on messing up the cable cutter too

steve

Thanks Stephen.