IJN I-52 by CDW - FINISHED - Aoshima - 1:350 Scale - PLASTIC - Transport Submarine

[CDW]

Will use the 1:350 Ashima I-52 Transport Submarine to jump back into ship modeling. For a long time, have wanted to try my hand at creating an open water ocean scene diorama and have decided to use this sub as the featured vessel for the diorama.

 

In June of 1944, the I-52 was enroute from it's home in Japan to German occupied France, loaded with some 290 metric tons of strategic materials including tin, tungsten, rubber, and 2 metric tons of gold ingots. They planned a trade with Germany for technology. The allies learned of this plan by breaking the Japanese code. They hunted down and sunk the I-52 in the Bay of Biscay.

 

[lmagna]

Should be an interesting build Craig. Looks like at 1/350 even these huge ugly subs are kind of small. Are you intending to build it on the surface or submerged? The box top is kind of an interesting scene with the U-boat tugs and sub pens. But as she never reached France with her cargo it is unfortunately somewhat inaccurate.  

Edited December 14, 2020 by lmagna

[CDW]

4 minutes ago, lmagna said:

Are you intending to build it on the surface or submerged? 

 

[Egilman]

I'm here brother....  Oopps, forgot my microscope for those tiny parts... BRB....

[Canute]

Craig, I'll follow this one, too. Interesting story.

[Jack12477]

I'm here too

[CDW]

14 hours ago, lmagna said:

The box top is kind of an interesting scene with the U-boat tugs and sub pens. But as she never reached France with her cargo it is unfortunately somewhat inaccurate.  

 

You know the old saying...you begin with the end in mind. The box top illustrates the plan, not the outcome. 🙂

Haven't fully researched it yet, but I wonder if anyone has tried to retrieve the gold yet? It's hard to believe no one has, unless it's too deep to recoup the cost to retrieve it. 20 metric tons of gold is quite a large sum of money. More than 1.25 billion dollars.

Edited December 14, 2020 by CDW

[Old Collingwood]

I'm  here  - just getting my scuba gear.

 

OC.

[CDW]

I'm not going to bore you with the construction/assembly of the submarine as it's not very interesting, but will rather try to chronicle my effort to create the open water base where the sub will be displayed.

There are more details to be added to the sub before it's finished and I start painting and weathering it.

 

  

[reklein]

CDW, I found on Google that the sub was located back in 1955 I think in 17000 feet of water. shes intact on her side . I cant remember stuff well anymore.But I found many articls on her,and a very interesting one telling about the use of the early sonobouys to locate her and sonar guided torpedos to sink her. She as sunk by Navy Avengers on a stormy night..

[CDW]

51 minutes ago, reklein said:

CDW, I found on Google that the sub was located back in 1955 I think in 17000 feet of water. shes intact on her side . I cant remember stuff well anymore.But I found many articls on her,and a very interesting one telling about the use of the early sonobouys to locate her and sonar guided torpedos to sink her. She as sunk by Navy Avengers on a stormy night..

 

I read either the same article or a very similar one that told about the Avengers, the sonobouys, and how they sunk her.

My goodness, the wreck is over three miles deep! No wonder no one has recovered the gold. Is a recovery from a depth like that even possible with today's modern equipment? It's a fascinating story for sure.

[Jack12477]

Yes !   The Hughes Glomar Explorer raised the Soviet Golf II class ballistic missile nuclear submarine K-129 from 17,000 ft in the Pacific for the CIA/Navy back in 1969ish. See CIA built the Hughes Glomar Explorer ......

Edited December 14, 2020 by Jack12477

[lmagna]

1 hour ago, CDW said:

Is a recovery from a depth like that even possible with today's modern equipment? It's a fascinating story for sure.

I would have to say "Possibly." Although there is little question that the Glomar Explorer could have at least raised parts of the sub and certainly the smaller wreckage scattered on the floor, she is no longer around much less available and I am not aware of a ship of a similar design at this point. I believe that depth would require some kind of ROV. The present record for the deepest salvage is by the US Navy ROV CURV III of a 15,000 pound CH 47 helicopter from 17,300 feet. That ROV has been replaced by the CURV 21 that is able to operate at 20.000 feet but I can find no records of it being used in any salvage operations to date, or what weight it could conceivably raise.

 

I can't find anything presently that could lift a 320 foot 2500 ton ship from that depth, but the USNS Grapple retired in 2016 only had a  static tidal lift of 350 tons maximum. 

Edited December 15, 2020 by lmagna

[CDW]

To begin the creation of my open water scene, I cut 4 pieces of Dollar Tree foam board to a dimension of 10" x 14" and sandwiched the pieces together using white glue. I used the submarine model to draw an outline of the hull onto the foam board, then hogged out the foam with a scalpel, keeping the stern area a deeper cut and the bow a shallow cut as I wanted the model to sit with the stern under water and the bow raising out of the water as if the sub was surfacing from below the depths. 

 

[CDW]

I used scraps of aluminum foil that were randomly wrinkled, then glued to the foam board with white glue. Once the board was covered with these pieces of foil, it was set aside to dry.

 

[popeye the sailor]

we sunk 'er huh..........must have sunk like a rock!     I'm here my friend......interesting history   

[Canute]

Interesting to use the tin foil for the water base.

[CDW]

After the glue dried on all the small pieces of foil, I smeared white glue over the top of the entire thing.

 

 

Next I used one big sheet of foil to press down on top of the freshly applied white glue, being careful to make the sheet conform to the previously random applied wrinkled foil pieces. I have set this aside to dry.

 

[CDW]

Next another coat of white glue goes down over the whole base to take the sharpness off the ridges and waves in the foil.

 

 

[CDW]

The whole board gets a coat of Mr Surfacer 1500 white.

 

 

The a light preshading of 2 parts Tamiya medium blue: 1 part Tamiya green: 4 parts reducer

 

 

Next will play around with some clear blue and clear green followed by an overcoat or two of Tamiya clear.

[Old Collingwood]

Thats a really interesting way of doing your sea mate  - never seen that before   - looking good.

 

OC.

[lmagna]

I like your choice of color base Craig. Are you going for a nighttime routine surfacing for battery charge? Sounds like you have used about a gallon of white glue so far.

Edited December 16, 2020 by lmagna

[CDW]

Just now, Old Collingwood said:

Thats a really interesting way of doing your sea mate  - never seen that before   - looking good.

 

OC.

 

I learned it from another modeler.

 

Just now, lmagna said:

I like your choice of color base Craig. Are you going for a nighttime routine surfacing for battery charge? Sounds like you have used about a gallon of white glue so far.

 

Very little white glue really. Bought a pint bottle and used less than a 1/10th of that.

[CDW]

Learning as I go along here...I added some Tamiya clear blue and I think it gives the look of a little more depth. Later will add a clear coat, then pause until tomorrow when I can go to a craft store to pick up some gel medium. The medium will add improved wave effects.

 

[Egilman]

Craig, looks like a good base, a suggestion?

 

Add some blue washes to it, starting with a lighter blue over most of it and deepening to a very dark blue in the deep crevices, this will give the effect of deep water and the high point crinkles in blue green would give the idea of storm tossed water.... you can then top the crests with white to give greater attention to the wind driven nature of a chaotic seaway....

 

Wartime subs always seem to be surfacing in chaotic seas for some reason.....

 

Just my opinion but it looks way too green for deep seas.....

[Landlubber Mike]

That's coming out fantastic - very nice job!

[popeye the sailor]

from out of the clear blue.......you have a piece of the ocean     neat way to do it!   love the color tints....

[CDW]

Here's a progress update on the IJN I-52 / Ocean Scene project.

 

I settled in on the color for the water and have begun mounting the sub in the water after finishing the construction and painting of it. 

What you see here is a work in progress as I fumble my way through, experimenting with techniques to create action that creates the illusion of the boat moving through the water after just surfacing. Have more to do on the one side while the other side is bare for the time being. 

Working through this process for the first time, I didn't want to get too involved with the first try, but rather use this as a learning experience for other more detailed projects that I might want to try later.

I am open to suggestions or constructive critiques that will help me through this learning experience. In many ways, I prefer this method of displaying my ship models.

 

[Old Collingwood]

That is looking Brilliant mate  - nothing wrong with that   - and for your first go at it, I think you have done an amazing job.

 

OC.

[Egilman]

5 hours ago, CDW said:

I am open to suggestions or constructive critiques that will help me through this learning experience. In many ways, I prefer this method of displaying my ship models.

I like the way you built up the sea, it works for making water that seems to be churning with no real idea of a swell or direction of swell....  Water that is just slapping around for want of a better term... Indian Ocean, mid summer is the feel I get from it.....

 

Subs rode low in the water, nature of the beast, as a result they had water constantly washing over the bow in a seaway but we have no swell direction so water will be spilling onto and splashing all over the main deck... You need more foamy white all along the hull and patches of it at a distance of a few meters away from the hull also, and a distinctive white wake..... The water "slapping around" would be hitting the sub or falling away in a random pattern, more like a heavy wave hitting a seawall and throwing up a big splash although much more subdued in this situation.... Same principle of the seawall splash, but much smaller and from different directions........

 

Been looking for an image or video of what I'm talking about but so far have struck out....

 

Not a real easy seaway to model.....

 

Will continue to look my friend....