This is my first post on ModelShipwrights, but I have posted two on armorama, all on the same construction method: scratchbuilding!
I always wished to build a ship from scratch, so I came up with the idea of testing my skills with an "easier" project: a submarine.
After some research, reading and googling, I found a perfect subject: the british U Class Submarine. In 1/35. =)
I have been building it for precisely an year from now, and I am about to finish it, so I'm sharing it with you.
My first intent was to build the "tower" cross section.
It all starts with the drawing on a CAD software, and then printing it on adhesive printable paper. I then glue it on polyestirene and start cutting…
The beginning of the tower… a plastic sandwich!
The walls, already with the drilling of the exterior ladder
A test with a figure
The drawing of the deck:
And the building of the body structure, in waterline
Meanwhile, i started the 3'' cannon, using parts from my spare box, a hetzer cannon and parts from a pak 40:
Following with the construction of the body, and a lot of holes drilled in the deck, and a test of the tower and the cannon in place:
One of the most difficult stages on this project… the riveting! It took me ages…
The interior hatch:
Rivets, rivets, and a whole lotta rivets!!!
Nearly 950 rivets glued by hand…
And the primer base color already in place:
The tower structure, made with bent metal and pieces of plastic cotonettes:
The handrails on the cannon and the tower
And finally, the PAINT!!!!
Some postshading:
Only in the end, the choosing of its name, in hommage of the men who lost their lifes
HMS URGE
Comandante: Lt.Cdr. Edward Philip Tomkinson
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/HMS_Urge.jpg[/img]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/URGE_badge-1-.jpg[/img]
And, the work made yesterday, the wiring:
And a compass:
I'm going now back to it… see you later!
Marranita
