Hey All,

Sorry all, I posted this in the wrong place before.

I just finished my first two ships, DD470 (USS Bache) and AT85 (USS LIPAN). I built the diorama for a relative that was on the Bache when she was hit by a suicide plane.

This scene takes place later on in the same day she was struck. The Lipan is pulling up along side to get her under tow. There are a few things that I left inaccurate just because I thought that it might distract a little, like flying the full compliment of flags, but she is pretty much as close as I could get her from all of my research.

The Bache is the Tamiya 1/350 Fletcher kit and the Lipan is the Commander Series 1/350 Navajo hunk of junk... I mean, kit. There are a lot of AM and scratch on both.

Listen, since I just spent a year on it and finished it tonight AND it is my first ship, feel free not to post criticisms. I just wanted to put it out there.

~ Thanks
~ Garth

Hi Garth

Welcome to Warships @ Armorama
is the first thing I would like to tell you!

The other is taht you don't need to ask for members not to criticise your work because, there's not much to criticise

I have found your Dio well defined with excellent details, and I know that what I am going to ask you next, will be seconded by many others:
- Do you agree on sending me more pictures, so that we can have a MOD (Model On Display) Feature?

I would be glad if you accept it

Once again, welcome

Skipper

Ahoy, Garth!
To follow the Skippers lead, welcome aboard, mate!
First two ships?? Looks as if you've been doing this a bit mate, they're quite good! Is it also your first attempt at water? How long have you been modeling, Garth, tell us a little about yourself, mate, your interests, etc.
Gunny

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the kind words. I put so much into it over the past year that it really feels great to get positive feedback. I stopped posting for a while because the last thing I did just got shredded in another forum and, really, I felt like quitting modeling all together.

One of the members of the club I am in (shout out to the Sprue Stretchers!) is a professional photographer and is having a club day for all of us at his studio in a few weeks. If it’s ok, I’ll have some better pics for a MOD from that. I’m really glad that you guys like this btw. Good feedback coming from you guys means a lot.

Aside from when I was a kid, I’ve been modeling pretty steadily for 5 or 6 years. Usually I stick to US armor and aircraft, but these ships were such a blast that I may have found a new favorite subject. Gunny, this was indeed the first time I tried to model water. It was more difficult than I thought. I wanted to try to make it look like the tug had come up fast and then was throwing things in reverse to slow itself down. The Bache, of course, is stationary, so there is a lot of contrast between it and the tug.

In addition to water, this was the model project of firsts for me guys. The first time I made my own PE, cast my own resin parts used water colors for wash, turned my own brass, flew flags, did extensive scratchbuilding and worked with actual veterans from the event. After all of that, I have a much better appreciation of the skill you all have in building these ships.

So, a few things about the build: As I mentioned it is the Tamiya 1/350 Fletcher and the Commander Series 1/350 Navajo. I used a good deal of AM, but since I gave all of the extras to another club member, I don’t remember what all came from who. However, everything is from Gold Medal, White Ensign, Corsair Armada, L’Arsenal and Commander Series. I know I’m forgetting someone, but I can’t remember who. I was really impressed with the customer service from all of them. I was also amazed with the quality of everything except the Commander Series stuff. The paints are WEM ColorCoats and were so awesome, I almost never want to paint with anything else again.

Now, a few things about the Bache: My uncle Jim (who this was built for) was on the ship when it was hit by a VAL suicide plane of the coast of Okinawa on May 13, 1945. The ship lost power and sustained heavy casualties. She caught fire and was assisted by a nearby LS(M?) in putting it out. That night (which this scene depicts) the USS Lipan came to her aid and towed her to Kerama Retto, where she was patched up and sent home. If anyone is interested in the war diaries, I have a copy in PDF format I will gladly send along.

Anyhow, I’ve rambled enough for now. Thanks again guys!

~ Garth

Hi Garth

Very interesting story depicted in your dio - I think you must have made a really good surprise to your Uncle Jim

I must agree with you in a couple of issues:
- Warships, especially the smaler scales (between 1/350 and 1/700) are really challenging projects and the non-warship modelers tend to overlook all the skills and level of difficultie that one of "those little ship" demand
- Since we know what it takes to make a good warship model around here, and because we want this community to be a great modeling community, we don't start jumping on each others necks because of the different shade of gray, or the bad rigging (and so on and so on). We are all here to learn and to teach. Young and not so young, as long as the good spirit that we board this adventure counts and lives.
- This doens't mean that we don't criticise each others works! We do, but in a positive way (at least that's what I think and found in all these years! Somebody correct me if I am wrong... please!) - so that the modeler can hear / understand what could be improved and that in the next project he / she will make a better model!
The last thing I want, is to bann, to scare or push modelers away!

I am OK with the photos date - but please don't forget to have some detail photos, since the story needs and deserves to be told

I wouldn't mind having a copy of the war diary
You can send it to rui dot matos at armorama dot com

So, now that you are "hooked" on warships and we are having two Campaigns running (Flattops and Dreadnoughts) and one starting tomorrow (Dive! Dive! Dive! 2) and another one starting in October 1st (Leyte Gulf), will you join us in any of those campaigns?



Thank you for sharing your dio and the history behind it!

Skipper

Beautiful work, Garth. I can't quite tell from the pictures, but I'm curious about how you represented the battle damage - is it all paint or did you deform the plastic too? Whatever, it's very convincing, especially with the placement of the figures.

Firstly, welcome to Armorama! Secondly, I have to agree with what the other posters have said. there's nothing there to criticise as far as I'm concerned and it's a great looking diorama. The water is very convincing and I think you have told the story very well - I bet it brings back a whole mixture of memories for your Uncle.

Great work, looking forward to seeing more of it!

You guys rock! I'm really glad that you like the dio. Hopefully my Uncle will as well. I am going to Ohio at the end of next month for my fiancée and my wedding shower and I am going to give it to him then. I am also going to send pics to all of the men who were on the Bache with him that supplied much needed info.

As far as the damage goes, most of it is scratch built. I cast the funnel caps and bases out of resin and the stacks are aluminum. The torpedo tubes are thin walled capillary tubes with brass fittings. I was going to use the ones in the kit, but one of the things that happened was that when fire broke out mid-ship, they swung the forward torpedo warheads starboard so that the fire wouldn't blow the compressed air in the aft part of the tube. Then they tried to launch them, but the torpedoes just plopped out into the middle of the fire. So, a few sailors had to run into the fire and roll the torpedoes overboard. Needless to say, I thought that was a significant event, so I wanted to make the forward tubes empty.

The rest of that area is brass. Since the Tamiya kit is an early Fletcher, it didn't have the mid-ship or forward 40mm tubs or platforms, so I built those and damaged the starboard one. There is also a wing wedged underneath it. The photos might not be detailed enough to show. One of the vets I talked to said that after the Val hit, he ran starboard to help pull men out of the fire. When he went underneath the 40mm tub, he had to jump and slide over one of the planes wings that was wedged in there. The only photo I have of the Bache in the configuration it was in at the time of the strike is actually of the damaged area and, wouldn't ya know it, the wing he was taking about was there. Amazing.

It was really an honor getting to hear these guys stories and correspond with them. I think that, maybe in some way, building the model and sharing it with all of you is a way of making sure that these stories aren't lost to time.

~ Thanks again guys
~ Garth

Let me join the others in saying what a fantastic job this is. It's hard enough to do a regular build but to simulate the kind of battle damage cause by a kamikaze strike takes real effort. The entire presentation is terriffic! The figures and the weathering really add to the overall effect.

Bravo Zulu!

Tom

All I got to say is WOW!! Amazing work there Garth.

Thanks guys! For some reason, it doesn't feel quite done. I think maybe because I was working on it for so long, then one day it was just kinda over.

This project was a huge learning experience and I think my skills came a long way... and I still have soooooo much longer to go until I am as good as most of you guys in the forums.

One good thing though... this was the first big project I made it through without serious injury. (No stitches, no gauze... just some neosporin, a few bandaids and lots of swearing)

You guys are awesome!

~ Garth

Oh btw, Skipper, did you get my emails?

Hi Garth

Yes and I replyed
I'll send it again via my work email - could be a problem with the armorama email server
Please check you email

Skipper