Hey all,

This week, IPMS-Philippines (Bert Anido Chapter) is holding the Nationals 2004. The highlight of the exhibit/competition is the scratchbuilt 1/48 CVE USS Gambier Bay made by the IPMS-Philippines (BAC) club:



Other pictures of this mighty fine build can be seen in the page linked below:

http://www.ipmsphilippines.com/features/gambierbay/gambierbay.htm

FYI, the USS Gambier Bay was the only CVE that was sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. It was part of Adm. Clifton Sprague's Taffy 3 (or was it 2? Or 4? Can't recall) that was left to cover MacArthur's invasion force at Leyte. Halsey's CVs and BBs went north to go after Ozawa's decoy CV force, leaving the CVEs with its tin can escorts and the invasion fleet of amphibs exposed to Kurita's BB. Thanks to the intrepid maneuvers of Clifton Sprague, the determined pilots of his task group, and the brave crews of the escorting DDs, only the USS Gambier Bay - and not the whole Taffy - was sunk in the battle.

I'm not part of the club, but from what I heard, it took nearly a year (maybe a bit more) to build the Gambier Bay, based on line drawings/plans the club managed to procure. It was a tight finish, having been rushed for the Nationals (started 11 October 2004). IPMS-Phils (BAC) has built a 1/1 model of an M3 Stuart before. They plan on building other, large scale models with a historical tie with the Philippines (plans include Ft. Drum in 1/72 or 1/350)

As magnificent as this model is, I wonder what is at the other table that has everyones attention. Kind of neat that this comes out same time I just read an article on the USS Johnson, one of the DD's also sacrificed in this incredible battle of the micros VS the Japanese fleet

Really awesome build there. Haven't seen any ship model as big as this since the USS Abraham Lincoln at the San Diego Aerospace Museum. But this definitely is big. Congratulations to all the IPMS-BAC members who where involved in this undertaking. I wish I was there to see this event.

YOu should read the book "Last stand of the Tin-Can Sailors" It is all abou the Battle off Samar. One of my favorite books ever. Just awesome.

Hi Steve Joyce,

The 1/48 scale model of the USS Gambier Bay is the centerpiece of our nationals scale model contest. On the table you're referring to are the armor, rotary wing and figure entries.

In building the carrier, we used the book "Anatomy of a Ship" The Escort Carrier GAMBIER BAY by Al Ross as one of our main reference. The hull was made out of fiberglass with aluminum reinforcing. The deck and island and other details were scratchbuilt out of styrene sheets. The 20mms were cast resin and the 40mms were scratchbuilt. We still need to add some more details....

For the aircraft, we modified the tamiya 1/48 F4F-4 Wildcat to the FM-2. Markings were basically white decal sheet cut into numbers and stars and bars.

The Avengers are Accurate Miniatures TBF-1Cs which has not much difference with the TBM-1Cs used aboard the Bay. Wingfold was scratchbuilt.

Markings and paint scheme for the aircraft were provided by Hank Pyzdrowski, a surviving Avenger pilot who flew aboard the Gambier Bay. He provided us wall prints, books (Last of the Tin Cans Soldier and The Men of Gambier Bay), magazines and other documents about the Bay. We meet him via email when i registered in the offical website of the USS Gambier Bay www.ussgambierbay-vc10.com. Also Tony Potochniak , another USS Gambier Bay survivor.

Thanks Hank and Tony!!