Building Log for the Nauticurso U.S. AV-SC96 Sub Chaser 1:32 [Completed Build]

[Bluebeard]

Another little items are the "Fire Buckets".
In this picture you can see two sets of four buckes on each side of the Wherry.on the second picture you could see another arrangement, this time are twp set of 4 buckets but tuck under the wherry.



This is how I built my buckets;
I started with 9/32" aluminum tubing.

Insert them on one of my wire pliers and slowly turning and pushing the tube to the end of the pliers to make a bucket top shape.
After a few try and miss, I also use a wider cone shape tip tool to finally get what I was lookig for.



Then I draw the shape of the handle and proceed to cut them all.
This is the final product...not to bad right?

I also made the cratles just like the picture above of the original subchasrer.

Actualy at the end I reshape the cratle to look like this.
The sand insede the buckets are made with (baby pigeons food), Yes and white glue.

 

[TheDonMI]

Very nice attention to detail! Most impressive. Another detail you might consider is this: subchasers assigned to the Mediterranean often had British tricolor roundels painted on their foredecks to aid in identification from above. Austro-German aircraft were a threat. They could be round or triangular. I put triangular one on my Dumas subchaser.

 

[Bluebeard]

Very nice attention to detail! Most impressive. Another detail you might consider is this: subchasers assigned to the Mediterranean often had British tricolor roundels painted on their foredecks to aid in identification from above. Austro-German aircraft were a threat. They could be round or triangular. I put triangular one on my Dumas subchaser.

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I’m glad you mentioned that.
Yes also took care of the detail.
There were three different designs, the one Indis corresponds to SC 92 that had looks like the one you post it but without the blue color, just red square at the center and a white circle around it.
Here it is.

 

[Bluebeard]

Ok lets continue with more details.
These I beleive they were some kind of handle or foot step to come up aboard if a sailor accidentally had fallen off. Maybe soemone else knows exactly what rae they.

Zoom in and you will see them in this picture.

 

[Bluebeard]

Another detail is the way I created the K-Tubes.
Many SC were fitted with "hydrophones" for detecting underwater noises, with a K-Tube device the SC had a range of 30 miles but other SC had a differente type of devise, I choose this one because is the one that SC 96 had as you can see in this picture.
The K-Tube is tided down to the side of the pilot house.


This is how I build my K-Tube:
I made a jig and used brass wire.

Whatever you see in my model painted in black, it is not solid black, is Tamiya German Grey.




Here you can see the two hydrophones attached to each corner at the bottom and two together at the top.
Just this particular scratch built item took me two days to complete, The coper wires were so thin that many broke before I could achive what it is now.

 

[Bluebeard]

Its "Soldering Time" now.
For all of the railings I had to create various jigs until I came up with the perfect one.
There is two sections of railings, The first Im showing now are the Bridge Wing railings.
This is my final balsa jig that game the shape needed.

 

[Bluebeard]

Now for the top of the Pilot Hosue railings.
Many SC had a "square" flying bridge railings like tese two.


I did weld a few of these type but didnt like it, so I obted to do the railings in a way that will go with the curves of the roof like tis one.

Sorry I dont have in progress pictures but this is my final results.


This is my version.



This are all the jigs and welding I did on my first try. I discarded all of the and learned the hard way, but I finally made what is what good to my eyes.
"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder".

 

[Kurt Konrath]

What did you use for the small base of the verticals of your railings?

 

[Bluebeard]

Before I forget let me show you what I had to do with the "Bridge Plataform". The bottom one is the one supplied with the kit.
It is not accurate at all and had the holes made for the railings at the very edge and completly misaligned, also it was too narrow, later one I will explain.
The top one is the one I made.

 

[Bluebeard]

Now for the air ventilators stacks.
According to many old pictures, the stacks were painted grey inside but other SCs had them painted white and thats what I did.
Also the stacks supplied with the kit were too short and I had to expand them.
Here is a picture of the satcks painted in white.

This is how I expanded them.


I took the opportunity and added a small but important thing. These ventilators had something like a butterfly nut to loosen them up and rotate them according to the wind direction.

 

[Bluebeard]

"Antenna Tube Screen Protector"
The kit didnt includ his little item so I desided to reproduce it.
It was difficult to work with just because its so small.
This is the original screen.


This is my version of it.

 

[Bluebeard]

Next item in line are the "Lewis Guns"
Of course the kit didnt have any but I made them anyway.
First let see how they looked like.
The soldierlaying flat on the SC deck is testing one.


This is the system Im trying to imitate, the two guns on the Bridge Wings.

Other uses.


Now this is my version, please dont laugh, they are super tiny to work with, I spent two day cutting and shopping until I came up with these.


I will continue posting more as I advance in the build.



This is how it looks installed.

 

[Bluebeard]

I just added the deck to the hull.

 

[Bluebeard]

What did you use for the small base of the verticals of your railings?

I twisted copper wire around a piece of the same thickness and cut of a few rings.
Flatten the rings with a flat pliers and close it up.
I placed the rings at the bottom of the standing bars, insert them at the right higth and glue it with
crazy glue.

 

[Bluebeard]

Now Im at the stage of asembling all the componets on deck and I did this little gadget to create my "Deck Rope Coils."
These are the materials.
2 ply pieces of 2"x2"
1piece of 1/2" brass tubing for the bottom.
1 piece of 14/32" brass tubing to go into the 1/2".
1 small roll of 1" double face tape.
1 Liquid Stitch by Dritz. Diluted 70/30 water.


I did a bit of sanding to the top section so it could swivel easier.



Added two strips of double face tape.

I had a small video but I need to learn how to uploaded.

Aftre adding the Liquid Stitch I let it dried for 10 minutes under the 90 degree Miami sun, then I removed it with a thin spatula.

 

[Bluebeard]

Next comes the "Bow and Stern Antenna Tower and Davit".
For example, look at this picture. It shows the Antenna Tower and the Davit behind it.
The kit includes a jig for you to sorder all of these components with the provided brass wires. I used it and was very good but I just added a few extra details like the Bow Navigation Light housing.
Some SC had it, some didn't. I like the look of this one but I added the light housing.




This is my vertsion of what I interpreted from the picture but with the light housing.

 

[Bluebeard]

This is my Davit.
The first picture is the one I did first but after checking lots of old pictures I realized that the one I made was too thin, so I did a second one, but I reusaed the triple looped tip for the next one.

 

[Bluebeard]

Ring Buoys
There is a few ways that these rings could have been done.
Here are some samples from that era.
This is my favorite. White with red rope holders.


This is a solid color sample.



And this one is also a two tone but maybe for bigger vessels.


This is one of the many places where buoys could be placed in the sub chasers and is the one I choose.



So with that information out of the way, let me show how I did my 4 ring buoy.
First and foremost I looked for a way to imitate this old buoy blue print.


And this is what I came up with.
I used a thin painters tape I found on a local hardware store and I cut small strips to wrap around my scratch built out of 1/8" pvc rings.


I Lightly grey primed them and proceed to give them two light coats of ivory white with a little bit of weathering.

 

[Bluebeard]

Slat wooden walls beneith the bridge.
In some old chaser shots, slat walls can be seen beneath the bridge wings, probably to facilitate storage.


This is my version.

 

[Bluebeard]

The Life Raft or Carley Float as the British calls it.
This are a few samples that I used as reference.

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With this in mind is how I created my version out of a piece of 1/4"white pvc, shaped into form.


I did the same process I used with the life buoy.




?Where to place it?
These sub chaser didnt have a particular place to lay this rafts as you can see in this pictures.
This is on top of the galley roof.


This is one is right on top of the wherry.



This is where I place it on my model. Right behind the wherry.