US 'C' class submarine 1914 by overdale - RESIN

[overdale]

I'm building this to fill an empty case I have left in my workshop. I ordered it for a Garwood speedboat model for a client but I failed to take into account the hight of the plinth the boat sat on and the case ended up an inch and a half too low.. (Yes, even 'professionals' can make that sort of simple mistake after 25 years!) I was left with a beautifully made brass bound glass case that was not suitable for virtually any kind of ship model but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it.

 

After much pondering, I came up with the idea of a waterline submarine diorama. rom what I could see, the U boat scene has been done to death by modelers so I decided to look a little wider afield and came up with this Austrian company that produces a resin casting of a submarine made by US Holland company in the early 1900's. Several European nations purchased these small submarines as part of their naval build up before the outbreak of war in 1914. The subject of the kit is a Austro hungarian version. There is not a lot of information in the way of drawings available for the US version but there are quite a few photos so I decided to convert the kit to the US version operating circa 1915.

 

 

 

The kit is rather pricey, but beautifully made and the brass etchings are a marvel of fine detail. I didn't have to do a lot of work, a new conning tower and communication buoy, some tower railings and periscopes being the most major items.

 

I decided to set the sub on it's way home from a cruise heading inbound through the channel passing a small boat with a couple of coastguards repairing a channel buoy. Taken from a photo I had found earlier in my travels.

 

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The hard choices made, I set about the conversion. Not as easy as it looked due to the fact that virtually no two C class boats were the same apart from the hull. They all seemed to have different features attached at different point. Some had an anchor door, others didn't, some had a conning tower deck twice the length of others in the same class. It all depended on which photo you looked at and there are not enough photos available of any one single boat to model it completely so I wound up 'approximating' some of the details. (which made a pleasant change!)

[overdale]

 

 

The Austro Hungarian version had a much larger conning tower which had to be replaced from the kit version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A communication buoy was made to replace the kit version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new conning tower was added with the platform (which had to be dismantled every time the sub dived!) 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2016 by overdale

[overdale]

Then on to the water baseboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2016 by overdale

[bear]

Ahoy Mate

 

I have their 1/72 German Torpedo Boat resin kit,they are expensive by they are very detailed and the only ones being made. I like the half hull type for space requirements. I remember  that one member of our modeling club made up a submarine diorama that had the ocean surface with what he stated as a 1/35 scale Typhoon Class Russian  at periscope depth.

 

He had a base that was only 4" X 8" with the ocean surface made out of resin with the periscope sticking up 3" ! The rest was underwater! Or under the base he would say with a smile.

 

I just wish they had other types of submarines. I do have a 1/72 resin kit first type Holland submarine kit that was made a decade or more ago by Bluewater Navy.

 

 

Keith

[overdale]

Hi Keith,

they do make very nice models and I agree, the whole area of early submarines is very neglected by kit makers. A pity considering how interesting they look compared to the modern subs.

 

Dan.

[overdale]

After the addition of a little spackle here and there the water was sanded smooth and covered in glass fiber.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2016 by overdale

[Piet]

Ahoy Dan, glad I caught your build and with your permission I'll draw up a chair to watch.  My father was a submariner in the Dutch Royal Navy and served from about 1923 till 1942 when he was killed in action against the IJN.  As my signature shows I have completed a scratch-build of my father's WW II Dutch sub, the O19. 

I have also come into the possession of a 1:350 scale WW II era Dutch sub kit of the O18 from Pacific Cross Roads out of St. Petersburg, Russia.  My father did not serve on that one but knew the crew.

I'll be starting this kit soon and plan to place it on the display board next to my father's boat.  I am extremely impressed by the quality of the Pacific Cross Roads parts and photo etch.

www.PacificCrossRoads.net

 

I like your idea of a diorama, it always brings so much more interest and life to a model.

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

 

[overdale]

Hi Piet,

welcome aboard.!

I enjoyed  watching your submarine build and remember thinking at the time "I wonder if I'll ever get to do a submarine model"  

 

I too have a Dutch maritime connection. My late father in law was a 'Nederlander' and was an engineering officer in the Dutch Merchant Marine. He took a real pride in his nation's maritime heritage.

 

I had a look at the Pacific Cross Roads site and you are right, their stuff is remarkable.

 

Dan.

[overdale]

 

Started the painting.

[dafi]

Wonderful project! I love the idea with the buoy repair, very nice touch. At first I thought: "Hey, what is this guy doing on the top of a torpedo?!?"

 

 

XXXDAn