Something fishy going on

[MalcolmR]

Something fishy going on.

I seem to have the submarine bug as after building the two-3D printed British submarines I pulled the Trumpeter USS Gato out of my stash to add to my fleet. I had built the early version of this kit in 1/144 but I was not really taken by its appearance with the early conning tower and black paint job (to my eye it does not have the caricature of the later versions.) I had also built the Revell 1/72 Gato kit as “USS Cobia” but added radio control (Surface runner only) and finished it in measure 32 colours, so thought I would do it again in this smaller scale but adding a 4” gun which I had in my spares box to the rear deck and do the late conning tower modifications to finish it as “USS Sterlet” but this boat was a “Balao” class boat which were a follow on class from the “Gato” class but almost identical in appearance so only minor modifications. (The biggest difference was the “Balao” class were welded construction as opposed to riveting in the “Gato”) and as I'm using liquid poly, I've also welded mine!

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1/72 Revell USS Cobia (A large predatory fish found in warm tropical waters)

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1/144 Trumpeter USS Gato (A south American fresh water long whiskered catfish)
Using photos in my library on the Gato class, I opened and closed some of the torpedo tubes.

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The conning tower had its height reduced during the classes service during the war, so as the “Sterlet” had this type I decided to make mine one of the shortest in height. I modified the kit part by adding Milliput to the periscope pedestals to reshape them and then cut down the height of the tower sides.

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I painted the hull in the measure 32 colours and weathered it while doing the mods to the conning tower.
Sent to PLB Hobby Sp. Z o.o. for their 40mm Bofors guns. Really nice kits, however their packaging leaves a lot of room for improvement. Most of the mouldings had a bit broken off. With a bit of PVA “Golden Glue” managed to cobble up one from the most damaged one. (The others and bits placed in a box for future builds) The two 20mm were from “Blackcat” (and their packaging was perfect)

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“USS Sterlet” (A small Stergion fish much prized for its Caviar)

Hope you like my efforts and may the fun continue. Just as I was finishing this build another British sub turned up so the fun will definitely continue.