Lindberg I-53 Submarine

[davinci]

Let's hope so, but Lindberg reps have said similar things before, about delivery date of this kit. At least twice that I know off.

[Guest]

4", Blimey thats a big

4", Blimey thats a big boy

[davinci]

With a 4" WTC, I

With a 4" WTC, I doubt there's much room left for flotatiom foam beside it. I'm guessing a 3.5" or 3."o.d. cylinder may be better.

[hakkikt]

I'll believe that delivery date

I'll believe that delivery date when I hold the box in my hand and my tears fall on my account statement for that month.

Thanks for the heads-up nevertheless, hope springs eternal!

[steveneill]

I just got back from

I just got back from my LHS and they have them in stock right on the self. 134.00. Didn't get one I have enough boats and it's not my cup of tea as they say.

But they are on the shelves.

Steve

[steveneill]

I like German U-boats the

I like German U-boats the best. I don't know really but it doesn't grab me.

I didn't look in the box. So I can't say honestly.

Steve

[steveneill]

Yes indeed. Once I got

Yes indeed. Once I got my 1/32 VIIC it kind of topped off things for me. I'm done for awhile and my next build will be a large scale aircraft.

Steve

[Guest]

I suppose in a way

I suppose in a way they are German boats, insomuch as the Japanese dangled huge carrots under the noses of German U-boat designers to go over to Japan and get them up to speed on subs.

[subkraft]

heinkels....

....there's an interesting story about this. Heinkel had a designer, Fred David I think, he was austrian Jewish and Heinkel sent him to Japan to keep him clear of the nazis. Here he had a big hand in designing and adapting Heinkel designs for the Japanese airforce, big floatplanes. Eventually he had to get out of Japan, was interned in Singapore and eventually wound up in Australia where he was largely responsible for the design of the Commonwealth Boomerang, Australia's home grown ww2 fighter. Bit of trivia....but the similarities between otherswise unrelated aircraft become apparent when you know the story.

[hakkikt]

Photos of the I-53 model

Photos of the I-53 model are appearing on the net.

It seems that Lindberg blundered even more than usual - apparently, they were fooled in their research by a similarity of names and used the wrong sub as their pattern, the I-53 (later I-153) of the Kaidai class instead of I-53 of the C-3 class.

This is a line drawing of the "wrong" I-53 (Kaidai class, NO Kaitens)

[steveneill]

I am sooooo glad I

I am sooooo glad I passed on it. So much work to correct it's a waste of time when there are so many good boats to build. It's a shame.

Steve

[herrmill]

For anyone who's been watching

For anyone who's been watching this slowly unfold but may still be sitting on on the fence, David Merriman has started working on several fixes for this kit.

He has a build thread over at RCG where you can follow his progress trying to make a silk purse ...

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1109801

Still, there is going to be a lot of kit bashing & scratch building needed to make this into a C3 type.

For anyone waiting for the I-20, word is Lindberg hasn't yet cut tooling so I guess that's a good sign.