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The launching of the USS Puffer (SS-268) diorama.


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I purchased a 1/144 Trumpeter Gato a little while back and wanted to get it ready for an upcoming IPMS contest.


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So with that being said, here is my usual crazy off the wall idea.


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I’m calling it “The launching of the USS Puffer (SS-268)”. The Puffer was launched in Nov. 1942 at the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Manitowoc Wisconsin USA.


From my understanding the Trumpeter kit has its flaws. The gun is a mess as well as a few other cosmetic issues that need AM to make it a passable Gato. If I pose it during a launch it won’t need all that extra stuff to worry about, besides, it will test my ability.


While I have a few other ship builds going on, namely the USS Prinz Eugen and USS Johnston, I believe I can do this at the same time. The build itself should be easy and quick, the water, well that’s a different story. This is going to be a very large water display with lots of acrylic gel and cotton. Even now as I write this I am formulating just how I will form the enormous splash and wave caused by the launch.

It will be great looking if I can pull it off.

So stay tuned. I will be purchasing materials and get crackin on this very soon.

Steve

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Good luck recreating this iconic image of a submarine launching, it certainly would be a great diorama.

Just take your time and dont rush it, the hardest part will be getting hold of any 1/144 figures.

All the best Chris

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I bought a 2.54 cm X 30.48 cm X 91.44 cm Styrofoam board and thin clear plastic sheet last night. My thought here is after carving the Styrofoam and setting the sub into the base, use some of the plastic sheet as a stiffener for the splash. I intend to paint this stiffener a brownish green and apply acrylic get to the top and bottom. Hopefully the translucence of the gel will simulate a semi transparent wave. On top of this, the port side and dock I will apply cotton sprayed with acrylic varnish to stiffen it.
My concern is not the water so much as it is the dock, wood piles and beams. There is a lot of action going on. Blocks and beams are breaking and flying everywhere. I'm hoping to show just enough of the dock to get an idea of what is going on without having to find 1/144 civilians and dock workers to put in the diorama.
The flags and pennants will be another issue. The kit comes with a Union Jack and 48 star American flag but I cannot find any 1/144 pennants. What I am planning on doing is scale a sheet of pennants and print them on a sheet of tissue paper. The tissue paper is easy to work with and will hold a bend while looking realistic.

I completed the inner hull, outer hull and attached the deck last night. As I thought, the kit will build up very fast, which will leave me plenty of time to perfect the water scene.

Thank you for looking in and following my thinking process. I have done similar processes of working through and bouncing ideas off the members on other forums and it worked well.

Bitzer

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Preiser do a range of 1/144 scale figures that might be adapted....

http://www.gaugemaster.com/search_results.asp?searchstring=%20preiser%20scale~~%AC1:144%AC~~scale%20category~~1241~~category

http://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Preiser_figures_1_144_scale.html

Adding a few figures will give some scale to the diorama.

Following with interest.

Ken

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I started on the base.
First I cut the base to fit the kit, then I drew the outline of the boat. I then carved out and vacuumed the area.

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I then applied medium acrylic gel to the entire base.

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Wetted printer was then applied to the entire surface and another coat of gel was applied and stippled using a brush. The paper serves to cover the Styrofoam texture and help add to the water texture.

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Once dry, I will sand the base to remove the peaks and reapply and stipple the gel. After a second sanding, this should result in small ripples that would have been present in the river.

Bitzer

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I had a question regarding the paint and deck. It looks like they were launched without a deck and the paint was probably primer.

Here is some photographic evidence.

An unknown sub being lunched

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Another unknown just prior to launch.

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The Robalo after launch and being pushed back to the shore.

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A nice close-up of the bow

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And stern. Note the inclination meter on the port side.

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This leaves me with a whole lot more work than originally thought. If I can come up with the Musashi wreck, I can get this done.

Steve

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Thank you for the links Chris. Ha, I have found what usually starts out as a fairly simple build quickly turns into something completely different after extensive research. I need to do some surgery, remove the deck, add crossmembers and hatch casings which lead from the deck to the outer hull. This should be fun. As far as the hull color, I'm just going to need to come up with a best guess.

Thank you for following.

Steve

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Thank you for the links Chris. Ha, I have found what usually starts out as a fairly simple build quickly turns into something completely different after extensive research..

Steve

Taws ever thus!

Martin

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Moving back to the base, I sanded the first layer and applied some color to the water. This is NOT the color I will be using, I am experimenting with shades and it allows me to see the texture better.

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I added a second coat of gel painting it on with a slight wave pattern. I believe all of these coats are accumulative and add to the final look.

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After the last coat dried, it was sanded again and I applied another coat of gel stippling it once again but working the gel into a small wave pattern. The look is to simulate a slight breeze on the river.

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This will be sanded again after it dries and painted with the final color.

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Your photos have sparked my interest to look into the dressing lines that are hoisted. If you want a list of what the flags are in modern equivalent let me know and I will set about getting the sequence listed.

Base is looking very good by the way.

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Your photos have sparked my interest to look into the dressing lines that are hoisted. If you want a list of what the flags are in modern equivalent let me know and I will set about getting the sequence listed.

Base is looking very good by the way.

Thank you, but I will print out a sheet I found on the internet to tissue paper. This way I can re size it to 1/144 scale, and tissue paper is very easy to work with as a flag.

I would be interested to know just what if anything those flags are saying. There seems to be a different dressing for each boat.

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No worries.

The flags look to be the standard from the 1931 International Code of Signals. I suspect the USN will have had differing flag meanings for their own signalling purposes, rather like the RN.

The dressing lines are unlikely to say anything. Rather like the modern RN dressing lines which are laid out for uniformity of all ships who are dressed (Flag, pennant,Flag etc with specific flags at the start and end of the line).

Submariners being submariners and the fact that the lines would be used for multiple launches ( I assume) means they would be repaired with whatever was available in wartime.

I have a request in for any information on US dressing lines and military flags with an old colleague of mine. If he comes up with anything in time I will pass it on.

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I kinda figured the pennant dressing didn’t say anything and was just for show.

Here the base is painted and sanded. Next will be the construction of the wave.

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Also, I’m working on the Gato. I removed the deck and after some hard to find and difficult to interpret photos and drawings I added some items to the outer hull including escape hatches and the forward torpedo loading hatch. I still need to scratch the bow plane retract mechanism and install the aft torpedo hatch. Once these are completed I will add the deck cross members and welded steel walkways. This is all totally best guess.

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A little more work on the base tonight. I cut the plastic sheet to form the splash wave, painted it using brush strokes in the direction of the splash and applied heavy gel to start to form the wave. I have never tried this before so you are pioneering this with me.

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I’ve been working on the deck stringers, which takes quite a bit of time. I had to purchase some more styrene strips to finish and they should be here sometime this week. In the meantime, the heavy acrylic gel on the base is still drying but I should be able to start adding cotton at some point soon.

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