Been on a cruise and entertaining in-laws.  Plus my own parents!  Brave man, eh?  Haven't been working on AANNYYTTHHIINNGG! 

But fear not.  This weekend, my Xacto and I will be revisting HMS Agincourt.  So what's everyone else doing? 

Cheers,

Don

I'm still working

Posted by Phil Fuss (via Matty) on July 7, 2013, 11:46:27, in reply to "So what's on everyone's bench?"Edited by board administrator July 7, 2013, 11:58:42

"(I recently finished a diorama featuring)...Loose Cannon's 1/700 kit (of)...USS Curtiss, AV4... It took me about a year and a half to complete.  It probably is the hardest project I've ever tackled.  If it wouldn't take so long, I'd love to do it again and correct the many mistakes I made during construction. 

I'm now working on USS Nassau CVE-16.  It's a Tamiya 1/700 Bogue class kit with Five Star's unbelievable PE set.  It will be almost like building a brass model. 

(After the above,)...the next project...is scheduled to be MT Miniatures 1/700 SCB(125) Essex class which I intend to build as USS Hornet CVS-12 when I was aboard in the early to mid 60's.  The kit leaves a LOT to be desired, so I'm not rushing in to get started...

I suppose it's only natural to see progress in anything you've continued to work on, trying to improve.  But this latest rake-off of sub-bashing options look so much better than any of the others identified so far, that I really wish I'd discovered these, to begin with. 

Example I being the Accura 200-scale SEP mold - revealed, as (even more than) expected - to be very probably the best-avaliable-anywhere starting point for kitbashing a Dutch K14-class sub:

Click on Image for FULL-RES

With NO CHANGE IN LENGTH WHATSOEVER, the relative length/height/beam proportions are found to be already a near-perfect match - at least, with this drawing of K18 I found.  Technically, the SEP mold beam should be widened by 0.09", but on a build this size (16.8" LOA), this could just as easily be ignored.  Indeed, the heavy keel of the SEP mold (light red, at bottom) would appear already to be correct - and simply missing from the K18 (inboard profile) drawing.  The only really extensive work will be installation of the concave, full-length top casing (also knocking out, in the process, the upper bow and aft additions indicated).  Some work will be required to augment the lower bow, and to install the extensive prop-shaft sheathing and torpedo-tubes, astern.  And of course SEP's fat sail needs replacing wholesale - but does at least provide ample material with which to do it. ( Dutch WWII sails are a whole 'nother Evolutionary Odyssey in themselves - to be dug into, at a later date.) 

Note on the above (clickable) full-resolution original, a projected scale of 1:172.  That's one-seventy-WHAT DID YOU SAY?!!  Yes, that's right: this mold naturally wants to build-out within 5% (oversized) of 1:178 - the scale precisely matching the classic Revell Gato(/Balao) and also (for that very reason) my S-37 and Trenchant builds, as well.  To hardcopy the above drawing of K18 at exactly 1:178, simply print the full-res drawingat 60.35 dpi - remembering to ignore/cross-out everything regarding the Accura SEP mold, labelled scale and scale bar (all of which will now be off by again, about 5%).  Note for this 178-scale conversion, the SEP mold should now lose 0.56" in length - easily chopped right off the tip of the stern (and again, technically should now have its beam expanded by 0.04" - well and truly a negligible amount).  This is exactly the kitbash I intend to perform on my Accura kit (Thanks Again, Gus!). 

For a smaller-scale K14-class build, also identified - also as expected - was another very good candidate kit:

Click on Image to Enlarge

Note the overlap between the Encore 400-scale Soviet D ("Dekabrist") -class mold with our K14-class drawing - again, based on scaling their cylindrical pressure-hull cross-sections to match.  The mold's entire forward end, starting from the deck gun, then assumes a near-perfect overlap - at an indicated scale of 1:384, as again labelled on the full-resolution version.  Harder to show in these drawings is the similarity also of the D-class' full-length, dished-in top casing - needing only to be accentuated, for a good depiction of the K14-class.  The greatest required effort will be re-alignment of the stern, and a hull-insert of 0.12", amidships.  At 1:384 - a miniscule difference of just 4% (larger) from 1:400 - this kitbash would be very compatible with all the other (especially Mirage and Heller) subs - not to mention quite a few (mostly Atlantic-theater) surface-ship kits - in 400-scale. 

However for an even wider inter-compatibility, I would take this conversion larger - by the still-minor amount of 9.8% - to 1:350, for which the (total) additional required LOA is 0.85", and extra beam 0.18-inch.  Again, to get a hardcopy at exactly 1:350, print the full-res original now at 118.66 dpi - again, remembering to ignore/discard everything representing the Encore mold, labelled scale and scale bar. 

The above matches/conversion ideas are as good- and better than any identified so far.  But perhaps most-appreciated (by me) are the following trio - highly promising in their own rights - which additionally make great use of some otherwise (IMHO) very uninspiring kits.  Including, firstly the Encore 400-scale Soviet L-class mold - for bashing into a Dutch O21-class sub:

Click on Image to Enlarge

A real bullseye - once its egg-shaped hull cross-section is scaled to match that of O21 herself, in the drawing - note the entire front half of the Encore L-class nests about perfectly within O21's profile.  Aft, a similar-looking degree of overlap is somewhat deceptive, as the wide (minelaying) stern will need to be pinched into a fine, almost knife-edge tail.  This, however - like the indicated 0.77" hull-insert, amidships - should prove easy to do.  Resulting in a build-scale of 1:366 - again as appearing on the full-resolution original.  Some beefing-up of the lower bow, the boxy forward torpedo tubes and extension of the knife-like prow - including knocking off the L-class' flaring upper-bow "ears" - shouldn't present any undue challenge/problems, and pretty much complete the kitbash. 

Already the above is a within spitting distance - just 4.4% shy - of 1:350-scale, and perfect compatibility with all the kits in that genre.  Again, a drawing scaled perfectly to 1:350 can be had - again, with all the usual caveats - by printing-out the full-res versionat 112.58 dpi.  The required hull-insert length then increases to 0.76", and the beam-expansion to 0.06". 

Admittedly, a better match with the O21 hull's roughly heart-shaped cross-section - and perhaps much of the rest of the hull as well - can already be expected from a USN Gato/Balao mold - of which there are many, readily-available in a vast range of scales - including 1:144 (Trumpeter), 1:178 (Revell), 1:250 (Lindberg) and 1:350 (Hobby Boss) - so bashing any of these into an O21-boat certainly bears looking-into.  But - for best-use of an obscure and (again, IMHO) uninspiring mold - the above kitbash of the Encore 400-scale L-class will, no doubt continue to reign supreme. 

Ditto for another obscure - even (IMHO) ungainly - mold: Encore's 400-scale ShCh-class submarine - recognized from the very first, for its resemblance to an RN S-class sub:

Click on Image to Enlarge

Again, once their circular, inner pressure-hull cross-sections are scaled to match, this mold exhibits a remarkable overlap with our drawing of an RN S(3a or -b)-class submarine.  Note while the lower half of the S(3)-class saddle-tank cross-section is well-met by the ShCh mold, the remainders of the tanks will need augmentation at the top - just part of considerable reshaping, particularly at the ends - which will also increase the maximum (combined) beam, by 0.07".  But the degree of overlap elsewhere - including right up to the bow, after a hull-insert of 0.22" - makes this conversion decidedly one of the easier ones to do, scaling out to 1:440, as noted on the full-resolution original

While it could be expanded - by exactly 10% - to a perfect 400-scale, this kitbash is also within easy striking distance (only 12%) of 1:500 scale - and compatibility with all the Pacific Theater classic ships, particularly all the Nichimo cruisers, BBs and carriers, in that scale.  To downsize to 1:500, the LOA would now need to lose -0.48" (and the beam technically to lose -0.01" - but this is truly negligible).  To print out the full-res version at 500-scale, change the (printer or image-) settings to 188.94 dpi - which I will definitely do, as this kitbash is of major interest to me: so much so, that I may well switch my HMS Stygian build to use this hull. 

Exciting as the above is for a 500-scale/classics enthusiast, there is an even more exciting (IMHO) potential use for the Encore ShCh kit in the following, last-identified option:

Click on Image for FULL-RES

Again, scaling the cylindrical, inner pressure hull cross-sections of the ShCh mold and an RN T(3)-class sub to match, produced the above, remarkable overlap in design features.  Extending the LOA by 1.08" will, if apportioned in the three segments indicated, produce the optimal fit at both bow- and stern.  Note, just as for the prior S(3)-class kitbash, the saddle tanks again need reworking at the ends - while, in contrast now requiring additional mass underneath - in the process enlarging the (combined) maximum beam by 0.10".  This build will scale out to - again as indicated on the full-resolution original - are you ready for this - 1:490!  That's 500-scale to me - in truth, negligibly different (just 2% larger). 

Though on such a (roughly 7-inch) build, a difference of 2% is all but undetectable, to remain consistent with the above, note the full-res drawing can be printed out at exactly 1:500, if done at 148.13 dpi.  The (again, combined-total) extension of LOA would then be 0.95", and the (again, combined) maximum beam-expansion, 0.09". 

As I already have a build of Trenchant well underway (in 178-scale), I will not be trying this above kitbash - at least, not anytime soon.  But only for that reason - as I find it one of the most exciting possibilities yet encountered - and again, had I known of this option to begin with, I would certainly have started one - first and foremost - before anything else. ( So for the future, who knows...)

If anyone(s) is inspired to take on any of the above projects - and/or just has a line on any further/better drawings (particularly any of the still-needed overhead ["plan"-} views) - do let me know! 

I had earlier (much earlier) promised to work up and show you some of these - which a recent customer Special Order gave me the opportunity to do:

Click on Image to Enlarge

Note chopping the HellDiver canopies back can produce fairly decent windshields (above and top-left), relocated aftwards (and they will be chopped yet further back just a little), as correct for the SeaGull.  Here and there you can catch a glimpse of light shining through the clear canopies - an effect which will be greatly enhanced by a thin coat of clear gloss.  These closeups show a little more tweaking is needed at the leading edges of the tails, down at the base. 

Being both biplanes and floatplanes, these turn out to be pretty involved conversions - for which the upper wings (not shown) will have to be entirely scratchbuilt.  In truth, the lower wing is located a bit high on these castings - however again with the help of these enlargements I could see just how much more of their deep bellies could be (and already is being) removed.  For the pontoons and tiny wingtip floats (bottom - the latter in the plastic bag) I'm stealing the last available parts from my develpmental run of OS2U KingFishers (also in 370-scale). 

These will be ideal for any 350-scale early- to mid-WWII USN cruisers, as well Revell's 400-ish scale Pine Island or pre-war Arizona/Pennsylvania. 

Also getting significant work lately - though not strictly "at the bench" - has been more drawing/designing submarine conversions, such as this:

Click on Image to Enlarge

Photo-analysis of the Encore 400-scale Soviet ShCh hull (left and right, middle) allowed a graphic projection of the best conversion to an RN S-class sub (right).  The ShCh (once again excluding the sail and upsweep of the bow) is essentially the Soviet version of the RN S-class - at least, in all major design features.  Of course, the match is not perfect, particularly for the saddle tanks (which may well be wrong on the Encore mold to begin with), however it is very close, and I may well switch my HMS Stygian build to use this hull. 

Note there is no scale yet listed, above - this work is still in-progress.  Along with four others, comprising:

Happy 4th to you!!  No, I didn't get any Kingfishers from you for my AZ.  I do believe it came with 2 of them... Lemme look... Yep, they don't look too bad.  1 piece plane, 3 seperate floats.  They look like Kingfishers too