First you start with Revell's Lionfish then . . . . .

[ricknelson]

Here are some photos of work in progress. I'm using Revell's venerable USS Lionfish (1/178) as the basis for a model of the USS Grouper, SS-214, circa July 1945. I picked the Grouper for a number of reasons:

1. Her sail has the classic openwork or "Covered Wagon" look which I feel is so identified with the WWII fleet submarine.

2. She typifies the ultimate in WWII Submarine technology.

3. Her limber holes match the Lionfish.

4. She has dual 40mm mounts and a 5"/25 gun.

I used the Revell Lionfish because when I started this project it was the only Gato kit available and I was familiar with it and its warts.

So far I have just about finished modifying the sail and I have most of the hull done. I plan on portraying her submerged on an approach. I did not attempt to scale the teak decking. Nautilus had not yet come out with their wood deck replacement when I started. All of the scratch work I did is in 1/192 scale even though the kit is 1/178. I still have to create the parabolic reflectors for the SJ and SV radar antennas. I built the platform for the masthead light and I will install the clear plastic light after painting. There are only 3-4 photos of the USS Grouper that I have been able to find. I have about 115 pages of reverse-engineering drawings I've created for the scratch work I had to do. I want to thank the folks at the USS Cod Museum and Tom Dougherty of SubCommittee for the photos they got for me of specific areas of the Cod and Flasher sails. I also used my own photos of the Pompanato in San Francisco, the Lionfish in Fall River, MA, the Drum in Mobile, Alabama, and the Flasher sail in Groton, CT. And thank God for Floating Drydock's Gat and Balao Plans book!

Here is a "before and after" shot of the 40mm mount:































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Any and all comment/criticism is welcome.


Biblography

Alden, John D., The Fleet Submarine in the U.S. Navy, 1979, United States Naval Institute, ISBN]www.Periscope.com[/url], ISBN: 1-4116-7753-6
Fleet Submarines of World War Two, 1988, The Floating Drydock, ISBN: 0-933126-72-7
Plan Book, Gato & Balo Class Submarines, 1990, The Floating Drydock, ISBN: 0-944055-06-0
U.S.S. Cod, Photo Museum Guide, 1999, Oxford Museum Press, Inc., ISBN: 1-930127-01-4

[mkeatingss]

Two comments

1) WOW !!!!
2) Beautiful !!!

Mike K.

[ricknelson]

Hi Mike,

Thank you very much.

Hi Mike,

Thank you very much. I do plan on adding the flood port cutouts to the hull.

[tom dougherty]

Nicely done, Rick!! Shows what

Nicely done, Rick!! Shows what can be done with skill & patience.

Just curious, why did you not elect to use the Nautilus Models resin late war Gato tower? It looks as if the cockpit front of your model is resin, possibly from that kit?

Tom

[ricknelson]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the nice

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the nice comments. That is the front of the Nautilus Late War Gato. The rest if it was not what I was looking for dimensionally so I finished it off myself.

[goose814]

Now that is some great

Now that is some great craftsmanship. I built one of these with many modifications and thought it came out rather well, but what you have so far just blows me away. Can't wait to see more progress.

By the way, some of the thumbnails don't come up as full size pictures.


Gus

[ricknelson]

Hi Gus,

Thank you very much

Hi Gus,

Thank you very much for the nice comments. I just tried all of the thumbnails and they all came up full-sized for me. Sorry, you are having a problem. I don't know what to do to help you.

[goose814]

I still couldn't get some

I still couldn't get some photos to work. I usually use AOL. I tried Internet Explorer and was finally able to view all the large images. Like I said it looks incredible. Looking forward to more updates.

Gus

[mylo]

In a word, ....fantastic !

Mylo

In a word, ....fantastic !

Mylo

[ricknelson]

Thank you all for the

Thank you all for the nice comments. They help keep one motivated when you are having to re-do a piece for the nth time!

[rmfield]

Would these details be appropriate for the 1944 Gato? (nt)

.

[ricknelson]

Hi rmfield,

Would you please expand

Hi rmfield,

Would you please expand on your question. Everything I have implemented can be seen in photos of the Grouper in July 1945. I guess I'm confused by your subject. Please clarify.

Thanks

[blesht]

Really impressive work, Rick. I'm

Really impressive work, Rick. I'm looking forward to seeing more. Am I right that the railings are soldered wire? Did you scratch-build the gunner's seat on the 40mm as well? As an appreciator of fine craftmanship and a particular fan of Lionfish conversions, I'm really interested in the methods you've used. Thanks!

[ricknelson]

Hi BLesht,

Thank you very much.

Hi BLesht,

Thank you very much. I'm glad you have taken an interest.

Yes and No to your question about the railings. I began with using Nautilus's PE set for the Lionfish but didn't implement it according to the instructions. I picked portions of railings that would suit my purposes. Then, since the Grouper photos showed that additional railing was added to prohibit the 40mm guns from striking portions of the Grouper I soldered additional railings on to replicated this. If I were to do it again I would build the railings myself using wire and soldering.

No, I did not scratch-build the 40mm seats. I took them from a 1/144 PE set that Nautilus offers for the Trumpeter Gatos and then shaped them into tractor seats. Technically they are oversized but as you can see it's hard to tell the difference between 1/178 and 1/144. Actually 1/192 vs 1/144 as everything I scratch-built I scale to 1/192 even though the Revell kit is 1/178. 1/192 is a more common size and I found tending to a smaller scale things seem to come out in better proportion. I'm a believer that proportion is more important than true accuracy (within limits).