GUPPY III Conversion - USS TIRU - 1/144

[JWLaRue]

<<originally posted by "ssn705">>

Progress continues. Sanding and shaping and addition of the remainder of the bilge keels. Rearranging the top of the sail based on more private collection pictures. Hopefully this weekend I can wrap up the sail (literally) and possibly have it installed. I have also started the chin sonar fairing and I need to closeout the PUFFS master and make a mold and copies. Here are a couple pics....wish I had something more exciting...







Cheers,

Dave

[ssn705]

Work continues. Getting closer and closer to getting to some primer. Still haven't made a move on skinning the sail yet though. I did attach the chin sonar. Looking pretty good compared to drawings and pictures. I just added some putty to fill minor discontinuities, so I will need to sand that down, but it is pretty close to done.



I also knocked out an easy one and installed the Masker piping...pretty simple. Two runs down to the bilge keel, but I also need to add the wraps around the bottom...



Hope everyone has a good and productive Memorial Day weekend.

Cheers,

Dave

[wlambing]

Dave,
Nice work, sir! This thing is gonna bring a tear to an old salt's eye one day!!

B^)

[ssn705]

Thanks Bill,
It has been great fun doing TIRU and the best part has been interacting with guys who served on her to clarify stuff. If only I had been born in the age of diesels...not complaining about nukes mind you, but there is just so much more variation in the postwar diesel conversions... hopefully it might bring back some fond memories for people as they stumble on it.

Ok, a little progress... how 'bout shafts and struts and Prairie piping?



And then there are the bumpers or guides for the mine clearance cables for the bow planes...



Long work days are putting a damper on things, but I have promised myself that I will get some progress each day... we'll see how long I can hold to it.

Cheers,

Dave

[PaulC]

Really nice, Dave. A shot of primer and that great detail will pop!

[ssn705]

I managed to get the weld line detail in on the extension. Now I just need to clean it up a bit. I have also started putting in the deck safety track. A friend hooked me up with some mold rubber so I was able to cast my first PUFFS array copy. I am very close to the first shot of primer, Paul! Starting to get a little bit excited.

Cheers,

Dave

[salmon]

Me too! This has been an amazing transformation.

[ssn705]

Moving steadily along...how about a pic or two of the safety tracks...






and the weld line detail on the extension... not sure how well you can see it...




and a shot of the PUFFs master, two resin copies and the third freshly poured into the mold...




Cheers,

Dave

[ssn705]

Broke out the rattle cans for some gray to check the finish out. Everything looks great... except for the wild seams on the extension... too prominent. Guess I will sand them off and try something else. I thought I read a method around hear somewhere for doing seams with baking powder or something...time to try to find it.

Cheers,

Dave

[salmon]

Get your tape to the width of the seam you want (I found on my Gato, the narrower the better)


Spread baking soda into the gap, pushing it into fill the area well.


Apply CA along the seam


Sand the CA off the seam relatively quickly so that it does not get too hard. Sand it as low as you need to. For the Gato the tape thickness worked well.


The final result

[drschmidt]

I'd use surface detail decals from Archer: http://www.archertransfers.com/SurfaceDetailsMain.html

Browse the wel bead section......

[ssn705]

Get your tape to the width of the seam you want (I found on my Gato, the narrower the better)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]336[/ATTACH]

Spread baking soda into the gap, pushing it into fill the area well.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]337[/ATTACH]

Apply CA along the seam
[ATTACH=CONFIG]338[/ATTACH]

Sand the CA off the seam relatively quickly so that it does not get too hard. Sand it as low as you need to. For the Gato the tape thickness worked well.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]339[/ATTACH]

The final result
[ATTACH=CONFIG]340[/ATTACH]

Thanks for posting that for me. Gonna try to get to it tomorrow. Cheers,

Dave

[Ralph --- SSBN 598]

I have used the tape method but not the CA.
I use the red glazing putty.
Sand with tape in place the remove tape.
Run very fine steel wool over the putty to round it a bit.

I will give the CA a try.
I think it would hold up better over time.

[ssn705]

Well, I tried a couple different ideas and I ended up just putting down some thin rods of plastic and then sanding and shaping. Looks OK under some primer. Maybe some more to do. Everything else was just too thick.

Cheers,

Dave

[ssn705]

Back home after six months. Dropped back to the workbench finally. Hopefully the progress comes fast and furious. Picture as soon as there is something worthwhile.

Cheers,

Dave