Hi D-Boy!
Are they in your stash, are you working on them now, or are they completed? I would like to see them.
Anyway, I have mentioned, on other Forums on this site, that I have a friend who was on the USS Greenling (SSN-614) in the early 70’s, and that I am looking in to making a model for him. I have a build going now, so it will be some time before I get to it, but I’m looking into my options. I first considered a diorama with USS Fulton (AS-11), but I guess he wasn’t too crazy about the Fulton so he didn’t really want a dio with her.
I noticed that a 1/72 scale Skipjack is available, and I like the larger scale, so I’m looking to see if I can find plans from which to scratch build Greenling. Unfortunately, the only source I am aware of is Floating Drydock, and they don’t have plans for Greenling, or anything close., so no luck so far.
I then stumbled onto this print and I thought it may be cool to replicate it in 3-D, using models.
Attachment:
Permit-Thresher.jpg [ 78.68 KiB | Viewed 15653 times ]
Before seeing this print, I had been informed that Greenling was 13’ 9” longer than Thresher or Permit and that the sail had been modified. Looking at the print, it looks to me like Jack, Flasher, Greenling and Gato were extended and Flasher, Greenling, Gato, and Haddock had larger sails. (I need to verify this).
The real print, available for $25, is 11”x17”, and if I use 1/700 scale, each ship would be 4-3/4” or 5” long and ½” wide, so the finished product would be about the same size, and when framed and covered with glass, would make a nice wall hanging.
To my knowledge, the only full hull 1/700 scale kit I am aware of is OKB Grigorov’s USS Thresher (
http://www.freetimehobbies.com/OKB8700005.aspx), which is reasonably priced at $16.96, so I just ordered it. The kit, as is, will work for 9 of the 14 subs in the class. The remaining 5 will require 3 different modifications. The way I see it, I have a couple of different options.
The first is to buy 14 kits, build nine OOB and modify the others as needed. This would be fairly expensive, and at this scale, I think the required modifications for the remaining 5 would be difficult. It looks like the length was added to the front and tapering an extra ¼” onto a resin body would likely not be easy. The larger sails, I think, would have to be scratch built.
The other option is to use the model I just ordered, and the print, to scratch-build them. If I can find better plans, even better.
This is the way I’m leaning at the moment, if I do it, but there are several ways that I could do it. I’m thinking that I could use ½” diameter plastic tubing or wood, and using either a lathe, belt sander, or sanding wheel I could make the body of all of the ships. Or, I could just make a long one and short one, and use them for resin molds to make the actual models from. This would require making the tail and island separate, but again, I could make them all out of plastic or wood, or just make what I need for casting. The screw might be an issue, but if I can’t order them I may be able to use the one I will soon have as a template.
What would really be cool is if it was all out of wood with only brass screws and periscopes, etc., which I think I might be able to pull off, but I don’t know, I haven’t even seen the model yet, nor do I know if my buddy is even interested in it.
Any thoughts?
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