Hi

Garth Bender (garthbender) took a year to make this diorama to offer to his uncle Jim, who was aboard of the USS Bache when it was hit by a VAL suicide plane of the coast of Okinawa on May 13, 1945.



Some of us already know the history but there are more pictures for our enjoyment.

Skipper

Kamikaze Hit!! MOD Feature

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Once again Garth, a FANTASTIC effort, mate, a real winner in my book! Thanks for the feature photo's, and for sharing this special diorama with us here at Armorama. Hope to see much more of your work here! And as always, Rui, thanks for putting it up for us all to enjoy!

Gunny

Thanks for all of the work posting the MOD Rui. It looks totally awesome.

I'm already tossing around ideas in my head for the Leyte Gulf Campaign. Maybe I can get some of the guys in my club to do it as well.

I just started a 1/72 Stuka last weekend and it is amazing the contrast between building that and ship modeling. Granted, I am building it pretty much OOB, but still, 4 days into it and I am already ready to paint... and all of the parts seem so huge!

Modeling is sooooo much fun, honestly, I don't know why anybody wouldn't want to do it.

Thanks again guys.

~ Garth

Garth,
Great dio.
I really think you're weathering and damage effects look terrific.
Great job and thanks for sharing this personal "moment in time" with us. I'm sure you're Uncle Jim is quite proud of it.
Best regards,
Gary

I enjoyed it as well. Ships are just so hard to make a good diorama out of. Making realistic fire and smoke I think is one of the hinderance points I like your concept.

Great dio and great subject. My late stepfather, CDR Paul Hidding, commanded the Bache in the late fifties. As a former enlisted sailor myself (1982-1986) I never envied the guys on the small boys - I rode two different carriers (Coral Sea and Constellation) and as such didn't feel NEARLY as much 'motion of the ocean' as the guys on the tin cans. Hats off to the brave sailors who rode those picket ships when the kamikazes were coming in. Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, all you could do was fight back, and the Bache certainly did some fighting back.

That's a great looking dio. Very unique

Hi Thomas

Welcome aboard Armorama!
This proves how "small" the world can be!
So... tell us, are you also a ship modeler?

Skipper

Fantastic work Garth!,.... it's always a pleasure to see fine 700 scale work. Your work is impressive both in its level of detail and it's historical significance.

thanks for sharing,
Frank

Hi Frank

With all due respect... it is 1/350
But it is excellent! I have to agree...

Skipper

NICE!
Floaty things ain't really my bag, but I know what I like...
The contrast between the seaman's white tops and the damage zone really draws the eye...

Very, very nice. I think that damage to ships, as opposed to tanks or aircraft, is probably much more difficult to model. This seems to be done extremely well. Not too much and not too little. This looks to be a fitting trbute to Uncle. Well Done.

I'm more into aircraft than ships, but many of my favorite subjects are naval aircraft. I'm currently working on an AM SBD-3 and plan to finish it as an early 1942 Enterprise plane with the BIG stars.

Thanks for the welcome aboard. I've been lurking for several months but had to comment when I saw a model of the Bache. My nickname (Blackeagle) I've taken from my former navy squadron, the world-famous VAW-113 Blackeagles.

Tom

Thomas, I don't know if this collides with your projects, but you could start to get the crew better joining Garry Beebe's Flattops Campain... Just a thought - we are building Aircraft Carriers and also we have the Aircraft members making Naval Planes, some of them including sections of the deck... Give it a thought!





Glad you made it and no need to Thank me - I know you would do the same thing, if you were in my position
I hope you like your time here - and if there's anything the crew can do, you just have to ask!





That's a good Callsign - mine don't reflect my service rank but I had enought nautical miles to be one

Skipper

Thanks guys and welcome Thomas!

Thomas, have you ever gone to one of the Bache reunions? I heard they are a blast. Even across the generations that served on her, they seem like a pretty tight knit group. I bet it would be interesting to go even if it was just to hear stories about your stepfather.

Rodger, the damage wasn't actually too hard compared to other subject matters... It just took longer and, in the end, is all so small that it kind of gets lost in itself. To make things a little easier, I took some advice from one of the guys in my club and bought a second kit to build up quick to see where all of the trouble spots would be and to use as a reference/spare parts. That helped out a lot. Another thing that made it easier is that most of the damaged area is either metal or resin.

One tough thing, and I think that this is something we all struggle with, is reality versus representation. For instance, I started out with full crews for both ships, but then I thought it would be too much and detract from the display. With regards to damage, if I actually damaged her as much as she really was, it probably wouldn't look right. I'm glad that you think it looks balanced and realistic enough because this has caused me much stress.

This is just a side observation as someone new to ship modeling... All of you guys are so laid back and really seem to look at things with several different 'eyes'. I've noticed this with ship modelers in my club as well. By different 'eyes' I mean, you all look at things as historians, artists, engineers, craftsmen, etc... I think that is really cool and is something I haven't found as much in other places.

Anyhow, I'm taking the dio to my club meeting tonight and am pretty excited for all of those guys to see it. What a great way to end the week?

~ Garth

Hi Garth

You'll see that your club members will echo what it has been said here... Really - it is very difficult to make convincing water dios (as you already find out!) and it is even more difficult to make one that tells a story - like this one!

I can only say (again and again!) congratulations on a job Well Done!

Bravo Zulu

Skipper

Garth
just came across your Bache diorama, great job, looks just like all the stories I
heard at reunions. I served on Bache 1962 to 65, and go to the reunions every
year. I am now working on a 1/96 version of the Bache as she was in the early
60's.
Tom Erb