1/700 USS Entemedor, SS-340 Balao class GUPPY IIa 3D printed Model Kit.

[Rhino]

I might have overdone the blizzard-prep chores and my sore arm woke me up again this morning. In any case, Tylenol and find something to keep busy until the shoulder stops hollering.....

Remember these? I intended to "shelve" the 1/700 "Attack from the Sea" cold war submarine/attack seaplane kit. The Fleet Schnorkel and Guppy boats were just going to languish in inattention. Then I met Roy on Veteran's Day this year. He reminded me about good ol' Bob Kirby. SS-340 USS Entemedor, at very least, deserves to be wrapped up. Mold boxes are being prepped.

These Masters will be divided into 2 kits.
The Guppy & Fleet Schnorkel boats, with all 3 sails and a Surfacing USS Torsk.
P6M-2 SeaMasters (2), SeaDart fighters (4), and 1 P5M-2 Marlin ASW seaplanes and refueling launches as an addendum kit to the Guppy boats.
Then, the USS Clamagore/USS Ronquil/movie Tigerfish in a separate issue, with separate PUFFS sonar array parts.

This unpainted casting will be included in both 1/700 Cold war sub kits.

 

[Rhino]

Reshaping of USS Entemedor's hull begins. She has to get ugly, before she gets p-p-p-p-purty!
The outer hull had a slightly different profile than a standard Balao or Tench class boat. Hydrodynamics and that sort of underwater guff.
A less devout model maniac might have simply reshaped the bow profile and called it good.
Not THIS fat kid! It must be "just so" for the TLAR Models name to go on the box!

Prepped mold boxes and completed 1/700 scale Masters await the arrival of USS Entemedor's hull.
As tiny, frozen, white, stinging balls of death descend from low, gray clouds, We hunker in and model on!
The Blizz'ard is supposed to last until Sunday morning.

 

[Rhino]

Another interesting use (to me) for tamiya X-22 clear has been discovered. Applying dabs on little-to-tiny flaws, waiting until it cures and gentle wet-sanding fills same.

One glue joint, paint and a scale shark mouth would make a fine Fleet Snorkel USS Torsk. Tempting, but doesn't truly further "Finishing Things Up".

Snow. Still white!

 

[Rhino]

I sent Bob Kirby a message. "I'm working on your Boat. Don't hold your breath, this one will be time consuming."
GUPPY IIa boats had distinctive, rectangular limber holes in the outer hull. The idea is to fix .015 X .030 strip vertically, gently saw them to the proper shape, cap them with another strip of plastic and then gently sand all this smooth.
I will not post every intricate, boring step of this process, rather give my mates an idea of where the project is going.

 

[moon puppy]

Oh my! The jig it's sitting on, part of the casting?

 

[Rhino]

Oh my! The jig it's sitting on, part of the casting?

This is the framing is to support the Master for molding. The framing is cut away from the castings before packaging the kit. I almost "cheaped-out" with just reshaping the bow, and making the forward array and molding the hull, but Bob Kirby and I would know the difference, even if nobody else did.