Merriman's Submarine Modelling Masterclass

Each pad-eye was tweezered into place, running each down into the little holes previously drilled about the circular escape trunk McCann rescue chamber seating surface. To insure that all pad-eyes sat the same height I placed one leg of an unused pad-eye blank into the space between the two legs of an inserted pad-eye and pressed it down till it sat atop the temporary length of .013” wire.



A dab of thick formula CA adhesive was applied within the hull to glue each pad-eye permanently in place. This 'L' bent length of wire served as the ideal application tool. Gluing the pad-eyes from within the upper hull negated any possibility of glue smears spoiling the finish atop the models surface.



Once the glue had set hard I reaching into the upper hull and snipped off the excess lengths of pad-eye wire with wire-cutters.



Now came time to install the two escape trunk deck hatches. As these sat a bit below deck level within wells under the hatch fairings, each hatch piece was glued to a cast resin foundations. The foundation itself would be glued within the upper hull at the forward and after raised flange portions of each foundation.

To make these white-metal parts receptive to paint I pickled each with Ferric Chloride acid quickly followed by a fresh-water scrub and rinse.



Though the pickling oxidized the surface of the metal to a very dark gray already I wanted both the metal hatch and resin foundation to be a total black. So, after pickling the two hatch assemblies were were spray painted black with water-soluble acrylic paint.



To give some 'life' to each hatch I dry-brushed all raised portions with white oil-based 'artist' paint. This gunk takes ages to dry so is the perfect medium for dry-brushing, streaking, and blending tasks. A soft 'fan' brush is the best tool for dry-brushing. The trick is to wipe most of the paint from the brush after loading it and to make multiple passes over the subjects with quick, light passes till just a small amount of the paint sticks to only the raised portions of the subject. What was once a black-hole then becomes a complicated structure of sharp contrasts – pleasing to the eye.



The eight hold-down pad-eyes needed to be painted. But, before that they had to be pickled like the hatch pieces. First task was to remove all contaminates from the little brass wire surfaces. This was done by scrubbing each projecting pad-eye with a fiberglass abrasive brush – this brought each to a state of shiny cleanliness. I took care to mask the surface of the hull as I did not want to damage the paint work under each pad-eye.

Each hatch assembly received a big gob of CA at its raised flanges, then I carefully positioned each under an open hatch fairing opening and pressed the assembly onto the hulls inner surface till the glue took hold.



Pickling the pad-eyes. Note how dark the upper pickled pad-eyes are to the lower ones which have yet to be scrubbed with acid.

Here you can see how the white dry-brushing of the hatch brings out its details – details that would otherwise be lost within the dark confines of the hatch well.



Time had come to weather the little 1/96 SKIPJACK hull. I had already represented the mung and other nasties that clink to the below-waterline portions of hull. Now was time to capture the real-world streaking and filth that collects on the deck and sides of the above waterline portions of hull.

Over the decades I've gathered a substantial file of real-world examples of submarine 'weathering' effects. Here, pages from my binder relevant to the job have been pulled so they would be at hand as I got to work.

Rule of thumb when weathering: Less is more.



Before screwing up... er... applying the weathering on the SKIPJACK, I first practiced a bit on an old test-article. Practice makes perfect as they say. Practice is where you determine the best medium, technique and application tools that will achieve the effect desired.

Screw up your test-article... not your precious model!

For small models I favor slow drying artists' oil paints when representing hull streaking and that's the type paint you see smeared all over this white plastic palette. I transfer a small dab of color up high on the side of the hull, then use a wad of cotton or old T-shirt to streak the color downward.



Once confidence had been regained on the test-article, I switched over to the SKIPJACK itself and commenced hostilities. Work was done in minutes. I also applied some very light streaking to the sides of the boats very tall sail.



And what would be a modern submarines upper rudder without bird-shit running down from its top!?...

(Guys who worked deck-department (TM's MT's, FT's and NQP's) would truly appreciate this little detail!).



I had already rubbed on the Woodland Scenics dry-transfers for the '585' sail sides, draft-numbers on the hulls bow and upper rudder, and 'SKIPJACK' either side of the diesel exhaust line fairing. However, some of those unprotected markings did suffer some damage during the below waterline weathering and general handling.

Here I'm replacing some of the '585' numbers. It takes only a piece of masking tape over the marking needing to be pulled, and it's outta there! I then rub down a new number.

Not to worry, once everything gets a heavy clear-coat the markings will be effectively locked down and won't rub off unless subjected to very harsh abrasion action from collision or careless handling.



Up to this point the primer has been an air-dry acrylic lacquer, followed by the very durable two-part (2K in today's parlance) polyurethane black and red base colors – DuPont's automotive ChromaColor, which are no longer available (thanks, California!).

All of the below waterline weathering was done with water-soluble acrylic, air-dry paints – not terribly durable to abrasion or chemistry, but quick to mix, apply and clean.

No matter what type coats applied, its the final, clear-coat that becomes the shield against UV, chemicals, and abrasion. DuPont's ChromaClear system is the best I've found – and when it's cut with a proper flattening agent, it can be mixed either as a gloss or the deepest flat anyone on this planet can imagine! It's a bitch to mix; will tear up your lungs if you don't use a proper fitting charcoal mask; and demands quick and thorough cleaning of gun, mixing containers, and hands arms and face once the job is done. But the results are well worth the expense and effort.



One of my old, trusty Paasche H-Model nuclear powered laser-blasters, set to kill... er... I mean 45psi, and equipped with the big tip. I use this tool on relatively small model submarines. The trick to achieving a uniform sheen to a clear coat is to put it down very wet – almost piled on to the point of running... but not quite. An acquired skill.

Before committing to the hull and appendages, I first blasted the test-article to get the pressure, stand-off distance, sweep-rate, and nozzle setting right before blasting the SKIPJACK model.



Note the various means of holding the appendages as they are given the clear-coat.

Damn!... time for a hair-cut.






I operated this 1/35 Bronco Type-23 at last years SubFest. It served as a platform for a FPV camera system contained within the models rather large sale. The model, though structurally completed and given the appropriate paint scheme and markings, had yet to get a proper weathering job. Now's the time! SubFest is only two months away.



The yellow markings on the sail denote this as a relatively new boat still being worked up by its crew prior to being deployed for actual coastal war patrols (which, for these little coastal submarines lasted days, not months).

So, supposing this boat represents a unit with little in-water time under its belt, I resolved to go easy on the above and below waterline weathering.

Here's some of the documentation I gathered to help guide me as I mung up this r/c model submarine representing a short-lived combatant.



I'll start with the below waterline crud – that task an easy one on this model as the parting line between upper and lower hull falls across that plane – the only masking required is at the bow and stern, where upper and lower portions are permanently joined.

 
I just have to ask - have you ever considered building a fully functional replica of the SkyDiver/Sky One combo from UFO?
 
When the mission and design specifications were issued for the eventual SKIPJACK class it's now obvious that these combatants would hunt and kill submerged and surfaced targets and also, through the use of an extensive array of retractable sensors, grasp a real-time awareness of the surroundings through radio and optical instruments tuned to intercept just about every frequency across the sensible electromagnet spectrum. Add to the mix of sensors a snorkel mast and you have the proverbial plumbers nightmare within and atop a SKIPJACK's sail.

The six boats of the class would have a shit-load of retractable masts! And that requirement dictated a huge sail to house all those antennas, masts, mast fairings, scopes and snorkel. Not to mention the open bridge for surface navigation.

That huge sail knocked a few knots off the potential speed of the class and also presented a ship control problem during submerged, high-speed, high rate turns.



Detail idiot I am, I provided my little 1/96 SKIPJACK with all retractable masts, save the ECM. Even I have my limits as to how far afield I will go in pursuit of making the display look 'busy'.

The model sail, at an early stage of mast-to-sail integration. Most of the scope heads and antennas were cast from white-metal. The attack and search periscope tubes were lengths of aluminum tube, The mast-fairings were cast from carbon strand filled polyester resin.

Additional metal parts seen here include the rudder anchor-light, and stern zincs.



All metal parts were pickled with Ferric chloride acid. Each metal item was scrubbed with a stiff brush soaked in acid to oxidize its surface. Once a part had assumed a dark gray finish, it was rinsed in fresh water and set aside to dry. The pickling makes the metals surface receptive for paint adhesion; without the pickling, dried paint would just shrug off the metals surface.



Unlike the sail mounted items, the pickling of the zincs was done for a different reason – I wanted the space between each zinc brick to stand out, and the dark gray of oxidized white-metal worked to to do just that once I came back and abraded away the oxidized surface of each grouping of zinc bricks. A hunk of Scotch abrasive pad was the perfect tool for that job.



With the exception of the attack periscope, all retractable masts were sheathed in a streamlined fairing. Often the fairings were colored a haze-gray and camouflaged with what what called a leopard-spot scheme – nothing more than random sized and arranged black smears painted onto the gray fairings. The attack and search periscope heads also got the gray and spot treatment.





I'm pointing to the combined diesel intake-exhaust snorkel mast. It's unique in that I used a strip of self-adhesive aluminum foil to represent the bare stainless steel at the leading edge of this mast. That forward cylindrical tube was the induction side, the exhaust side is aft of it and tapers to the sharp trailing edge of the streamlined mast. The exhaust portion of the mast is painted the same gray with leopard-spots as the other masts and fairings.



The Bare-Metal foil piece was cut out from the main sheet and centered onto the leading edge of the snorkel mast. Using a very stiff bristle brush I carefully burnished the foil onto the mast – working from center outwards both sides, and a bit up, then a bit down, pushing out any air-bubbles that would otherwise spoil the look of this metal wrap.



I see missing leopard-spots at the base of the radar antenna mast fairing – I'll fix that.

As this is an r/c model submarine, and I tend to drive like a maniac, I typically only operate the model with a single 'attack' scope in place – no sense sheering off the entire array under some targets keel. Hey!... I went to all the work of representing most of the SKIPJACK's retractable masts and I didn't do so just to cream them in some 'incident at sea'. The mast array is there to make the display more interesting while sitting on the boat-stand at any event I attend. So, before plunking the model in the water all masts, with the exception of what I regard as a 'sacrificial scope', are removed and tucked safely away into my field-box.

All I need to track the model when patrolling the lake is a single mast penetrating the surface to give me my visual ques. If you can't see it, you can't drive it!



Regarding the actual SKIPJACK boats: In the very unlikely event of a submarine being stuck on the bottom – in water shallower than the boats design-depth – provision was provided to release a messenger/marker buoy to the surface tethered to a stout down-haul cable. In practice a McCann rescue chamber would be spliced into the down-haul cable and the chamber would reel itself down that cable till its circular seating surface made contact with the sunken submarines escape trunk seating surface. Venting the lower skirt area of the chamber produced the differential pressure needed to hold the chamber securely in place as personnel were transferred off the disabled submarine. Use of turnbuckles between the chamber and submarines pad-eyes were redundant – a back-up to the pressure differential holding chamber and submarine together during the rescue process.

The down-haul cable ran from a cable reel tucked away in the free-flooding space under the submarines hull, running a short distance atop the deck, passing through the fairlead 'bail' over the escape trunk access hatch, and ran on to the messenger/marker buoy.

I represented the down-haul cable with .005” conductor wire.



Little shards of wax-paper served as painting masks as I darkened the installed down-haul cable.



Any boat that has been in the water long enough eventually evidences a narrow, very light gray scum line right at the waterline. Dead 'sea grass'.

I represented this with a white 'Artist's' pencil whose point had been carved to a wedge shape. This marking was done free-hand only at the bow and stern oval transitions, the majority of the pencils work done with the aid of cardboard straight-edges.



Note the use of double-sided scotch-tape on one side of a cardboard straight-edge – this kept it from sliding around on the hull or upper rudder as I pressed pencil tip home and dragged it along the work.



 
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merriman said:
When the mission and design specifications were issued for the eventual SKIPJACK class it's now obvious that these combatants would hunt and kill submerged and surfaced targets and also, through the use of an extensive array of retractable sensors, grasp a real-time awareness of the surroundings through radio and optical instruments tuned to intercept just about every frequency across the sensible electromagnet spectrum. Add to the mix of sensors a snorkel mast and you have the proverbial plumbers nightmare within and atop a SKIPJACK's sail.

The six boats of the class would have a shit-load of retractable masts! And that requirement dictated a huge sail to house all those antennas, masts, mast fairings, scopes and snorkel. Not to mention the open bridge for surface navigation.

That huge sail knocked a few knots off the potential speed of the class and also presented a ship control problem during submerged, high-speed, high rate turns.
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Shipmate of mine was on a Skipjack early on in his career, he said they'd get up to 45deg banks when turning at speed.

They took advantage of this during wargames to prove that they were in position to get a shot at (insert target name), by loading a flare into the 3" launcher and firing that while the boat was rolled. Gave about a 75deg up angle to the flare.

After a flare got caught in some target's aluminum mastworks, word came down from On High that Thou Shalt NOT do that anymore, to the lamentation of the submariners.

merriman said:
I'm pointing to the combined diesel intake-exhaust snorkel mast. It's unique in that I used a strip of self-adhesive aluminum foil to represent the bare stainless steel at the leading edge of this mast. That forward cylindrical tube was the induction side, the exhaust side is aft of it and tapers to the sharp trailing edge of the streamlined mast. The exhaust portion of the mast is painted the same gray with leopard-spots as the other masts and fairings.
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Huh, that is weird. The Ohios didn't bother with that, just ran the exhaust out at the top of the sail. May have had to do with needing a 36" diameter intake tube, though.


merriman said:
Any boat that has been in the water long enough eventually evidences a narrow, very light gray scum line right at the waterline. Dead 'sea grass'.
(images deleted for space)
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Man, I can smell that green scum... blech!
 
Scott Kenny said:
Shipmate of mine was on a Skipjack early on in his career, he said they'd get up to 45deg banks when turning at speed.

They took advantage of this during wargames to prove that they were in position to get a shot at (insert target name), by loading a flare into the 3" launcher and firing that while the boat was rolled. Gave about a 75deg up angle to the flare.

After a flare got caught in some target's aluminum mastworks, word came down from On High that Thou Shalt NOT do that anymore, to the lamentation of the submariners.


Huh, that is weird. The Ohios didn't bother with that, just ran the exhaust out at the top of the sail. May have had to do with needing a 36" diameter intake tube, though.



Man, I can smell that green scum... blech!
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Yeah, It's called 'foil roll'. That broad sail, well above the boats center of mass, when taking on a significant angle of attack about the yaw axis (in a turn) worked to roll the boat inboard of the turn. Sexy looking, but something the stern planesman had to anticipate if he was on the ball and didn't want the dive officer's coffee cup slammed onto the back of his noggin.

Skipjack's: Fast. Loud. and Sexy!
 
merriman said:
Yeah, It's called 'foil roll'. That broad sail, well above the boats center of mass, when taking on a significant angle of attack about the yaw axis (in a turn) worked to roll the boat inboard of the turn. Sexy looking, but something the stern planesman had to anticipate if he was on the ball and didn't want the dive officer's coffee cup slammed onto the back of his noggin.
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I may have a dent in the head from the dive's coffee cup... Ohios handle weird due to the huge stabilizer plates on the stern planes, they can get a serious angle on the boat in a high speed turn.

merriman said:
Skipjack's: Fast. Loud. and Sexy!
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That was definitely my old shipmate's take on them!
 
In addition to eight Dremel moot-tools – which conveniently hang off hooks over the primary work-station – I also wrangle three big drill motors and heat-gun. Until recently those big, clunky hand-held machines were forever getting in the way when not in use because – until yesterday -- I had no assigned storage caddie for them. They just sat where-ever I tossed them after use.

Time had come to organize where those big hand-tools would go, and do so in a manner that would take up the least amount of room, yet make them easily accessible.



I elected to make a simple drill-motor and heat-gun caddie and mount it to my wheeled tool-chest/parts bin which is usually positioned to the right of the primary work-station.



Even the mundane tasks, such as the fabrication of this drill-motor and heat-gun caddie, if the job is to be done right, demands forethought, gathering of materials, and at least a simple shop-sketch to get arrangement and dimensions worked out.

As a long-dead Junior High School shop teacher kept reminding us: “measure twice, cut once... you idiot Troglodytes!” (teachers in the early 60's were a different breed than today's blue-haired, woke Karin's who infest government schools).

You sketch out an idea; look around and find the materials and tools that will get the job done; work up a simply isometric drawing denoting key dimensions; and only then cut stuff up and start the assembly.

Measure twice. Cut once!



With the exception of the two heavy-duty mounting brackets, I had everything needed at home. A quick trip to the local Lowe's got me the brackets. To work!





Now I have unhindered access to the drills and heat-gun.

A half-century ago these words still ring in my head:

“Return your tools to tool-issue and police your work stations! Merriman, Loman!... you two hoods tuck in your shirts... now! SHOP CLASS... DISMISSED”.



At the SKIPJACK's stern were four equally spaced rows of sacrificial zinc anodes – there to protect the brass alloy propeller and iron bearing hull from electrolysis induced corrosion. The zincs were CA'ed to the SKIPJACK's stern. The problem was how to denote their proper location about the conical section of hull.



I first wrapped a narrow strip of masking tape around the circumference of the hull, well forward of where the eventual zincs would sit. The horizontal stabilizers and holes for the upper and lower rudder operating shafts guided me as I marked the masking tape with those locations. It was then a simple matter to find the half-way point – dividers was the tool of choice for this task – along the tapes circumference between each quadrant point. I then stuck down narrow lengths of masking tape running aft from a point to the stern. These strips of tape denoting the proper radial distribution and arrangement of the zincs.



Either side of a longitudinal running strip of tape I stuck down a slightly wider strip of tape. The wider strips would help me corral the eventual zinc piece in proper place as I glued the zincs to the hulls stern.



A centrally running longitudinal piece of tape was pulled off the models stern and stuck to the top of a zinc piece. The bottom of the zinc piece received a small smear of CA adhesive and the topside masking tape used as a handle as the zinc piece was positioned and pressed into place at the SKIPJACK's stern.



Once the CA had cured hard, all masking tape was removed and I proceeded to other tasks.





Unfortunately, when I pulled away the radially running length of masking tape it pulled away about a quarter-inch square portion of the carefully applied weathering – what was left was a virgin anti-foul red undercoat which stood in very sharp contrast to the weathered finish.

Here you see the ingredients for a quick, almost perfect touch-up repair of the damage area. Using the lid of the water container as a palette I kept mixing water soluble acrylic paint colors till I got the basic orange of the weathered surface, then stippled in slight variations of that color to replicate the mottled finish of the surrounding below-waterline portions of hull.



As each pass of paint went down I quickly dried it with the heat-gun, then moved on to a slightly different shade – playing around till the repaired paint-work was almost indistinguishable from the surrounding undamaged finish.



To highlight raised portions of the model I dry-brushed on a light shade of gray artist's oil. This medium takes days to dry and blends well, so is the paint of choice for this work. Typically, a very soft fan-brush is used. The trick is to lightly load the tip bristles of the brush with the paint and to then vigorously wipe all the paint you can from the brush. What little remains is transferred, every so lightly to only the raised portions of the model.

The brush is quickly swept back-and-forth over the models surface, the bristles barely making contact with the models raised surfaces. Only the projecting, sharp edges of the model pick up the paint. The light colored paint that is transferred to the model gives the illusion of sunlight impinging on those surfaces.

Here I'm practicing on the test-article before committing to the SKIPJACK model.













Time to assemble everything into a good looking, workable r/c model submarine.

Here, less the fairwater planes pushrod and SubDriver (SD), are the control surfaces and linkages; running gear; and SD ballast sub-system induction snorkel.

 
Well, I finally completed my 1/96 SKIPJACK.

Again!

I've built so many of these things – for friends, customers, and a few institutions – I've lost track. Each time I build one of these beasts with the intent of making it my own eventually someone makes me an offer I can't refuse, and it's gone.

This one stays with me, no matter what!



Three were two final detailing tasks before I considered the model done. The first was to represent 'scuff marks' on the non-skid portions of deck and atop the two fairwater planes. The non-skid itself is represented by a slightly lighter shade of the dark, dark gray of the upper hull, fairwater planes, and sail. Scuffing would be represented by a slightly darker color of that gray applied with a small stiff brush employing a stippling action done with a very light touch.

Here I'm working out the shad of gray and technique on the test article. The medium of choice here was the old reliable Walmart acrylic, water soluble paints, well thinned with water.



Once happy with the results on the test article I moved on to the model itself.

Most scuffing is owing to foot traffic, so most of the scuffing was done adjacent to the two escape trunk access hatches and retractable cleats.



The hardest part of the scuffing job was finding just the right brush to do the job right. This illustrates the selection process – all worked out on the test article.



The scuff marks on the 'international orange' marker buoys was the same gray but watered down even more so as to reduce the pigment content – I only wanted the suggestion of foot traffic over these bright and contrasting surfaces.



An access door either side of the sail permitted people to stand atop the fairwater planes (watch-standers, shark-watch, semi-naked go-go dancers... that sort of thing). So, the non-skid portions atop those planes also got some scuffing.



The second job was to give the deadlights (the four supposedly clear 'windows' at the leading edge of the sail); the wrap-around lens of the emergency stern light, at the trailing edge of the sail; and the lens over the stern light mounted atop the upper rudder a clear gloss finish.

I engraved some deadlight outlines onto the test article and tried both epoxy adhesive and two-part polyurethane 'clear-coat'. The clear-coat won being easier to apply with a brush than the glue.





Here I'm brushing on some of the glossy clear-coat to the sails emergency stern light lens.



The hemispherical lens over the rudders stern light got the clear gloss treatment as well.







You can just make out the non-skid from the rest of the hull and fairwater planes, there being a slight variance in shade between the two.

Also note the simulation of 'oil-canning' to the sides of the sail. Represented only with slight variations in color density, the effect is to produce the suggestion of metal distortion between stringers and frames.

It's easy to over-state such things. Always keep in mind with weathering and paint detailing: Less is More!

 
merriman said:
Well, I finally completed my 1/96 SKIPJACK.

Again!

I've built so many of these things – for friends, customers, and a few institutions – I've lost track. Each time I build one of these beasts with the intent of making it my own eventually someone makes me an offer I can't refuse, and it's gone.

This one stays with me, no matter what!



Three were two final detailing tasks before I considered the model done. The first was to represent 'scuff marks' on the non-skid portions of deck and atop the two fairwater planes. The non-skid itself is represented by a slightly lighter shade of the dark, dark gray of the upper hull, fairwater planes, and sail. Scuffing would be represented by a slightly darker color of that gray applied with a small stiff brush employing a stippling action done with a very light touch.

Here I'm working out the shad of gray and technique on the test article. The medium of choice here was the old reliable Walmart acrylic, water soluble paints, well thinned with water.



Once happy with the results on the test article I moved on to the model itself.

Most scuffing is owing to foot traffic, so most of the scuffing was done adjacent to the two escape trunk access hatches and retractable cleats.



The hardest part of the scuffing job was finding just the right brush to do the job right. This illustrates the selection process – all worked out on the test article.



The scuff marks on the 'international orange' marker buoys was the same gray but watered down even more so as to reduce the pigment content – I only wanted the suggestion of foot traffic over these bright and contrasting surfaces.



An access door either side of the sail permitted people to stand atop the fairwater planes (watch-standers, shark-watch, semi-naked go-go dancers... that sort of thing). So, the non-skid portions atop those planes also got some scuffing.



The second job was to give the deadlights (the four supposedly clear 'windows' at the leading edge of the sail); the wrap-around lens of the emergency stern light, at the trailing edge of the sail; and the lens over the stern light mounted atop the upper rudder a clear gloss finish.

I engraved some deadlight outlines onto the test article and tried both epoxy adhesive and two-part polyurethane 'clear-coat'. The clear-coat won being easier to apply with a brush than the glue.





Here I'm brushing on some of the glossy clear-coat to the sails emergency stern light lens.



The hemispherical lens over the rudders stern light got the clear gloss treatment as well.







You can just make out the non-skid from the rest of the hull and fairwater planes, there being a slight variance in shade between the two.

Also note the simulation of 'oil-canning' to the sides of the sail. Represented only with slight variations in color density, the effect is to produce the suggestion of metal distortion between stringers and frames.

It's easy to over-state such things. Always keep in mind with weathering and paint detailing: Less is More!

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Sir, the point where matching a surface finish to the actual object is where mere modelling turns into creative artistry. Kudos, and I salute you!
 
She looks grand. :cool:

merriman said:
I've built so many of these things – for friends, customers, and a few institutions – I've lost track. Each time I build one of these beasts with the intent of making it my own eventually someone makes me an offer I can't refuse, and it's gone.

This one stays with me, no matter what!
Click to expand...

You know the fates are going to take that as a dare ...
 
martinbayer said:
Sir, the point where matching a surface finish to the actual object is where mere modelling turns into creative artistry. Kudos, and I salute you!
Click to expand...
Putting this transition between pristine toy and 'real' looking display, a bit more clearly:

The properly constructed and painted model is nothing more than a canvas upon which one depicts the realities of defect, environment, accident, and use are represented by paint, chalk, abrasives, masking agents and informed use of brush, air-gun, rag and sponge.

It's not art! It's Craft. I am not an Artist. I am a Craftsman, forever a student of the Craft.

David
 
southwestforests said:
She looks grand. :cool:



You know the fates are going to take that as a dare ...
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View: https://youtu.be/WTdO-w3xnpw

Orionblamblam said:
So... what scale is your OceanGate "Titan" going to be?

Go the extra yard and make the cylinder out of steel. heh.
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Initially,1/100 scale. But, by the simple push of a button, assume 1/1,000 scale in a fraction of a second. However, this model will be a one-trick-pony. Not suitable for public display. All I need do is dress up a squeeze bottle of ketchup.
 
I really wish the Ohio-class had those access doors on the sail, but whoever designed the fairwater didn't balance the planes right. They'd always droop to full rise over time... And the last thing you want to do is move those planes around with people on them!
 
Scott Kenny said:
but whoever designed the fairwater didn't balance the planes right. They'd always droop to full rise over time
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Hmm. Wonder if it is possible to have the planes themselves physically balanced just fine but have something in the actuating systems cause that, an unbalanced mechanism, a hydraulic pressure bleed, those kinds of things.
Note: I have not been a submariner and do not know exactly what mechanicals move those dive planes.
 
southwestforests said:
Hmm. Wonder if it is possible to have the planes themselves physically balanced just fine but have something in the actuating systems cause that, an unbalanced mechanism, a hydraulic pressure bleed, those kinds of things.
Note: I have not been a submariner and do not know exactly what mechanicals move those dive planes.
Click to expand...
It's an enormous hydraulic cylinder in the Ohios, must be 4'/120cm around or more.

It may have been an inadequacy in the sealing between the two sides of the piston, or even just the imbalance in force between the open side of the piston and the side with the rod in it. But every Ohio has the fairwater planes droop to full rise, past double valve lockouts.
 
Last year, just in time for the big George SubFest r/c submarine regatta at the Red Clay resort, I brought along my newly assembled 1/35 Bronco Type-23 model submarine. Pictured here as I was trimming it prior to the event. This was a unique boat that featured a 'first person view' (FPV) video camera on board.

FPV permits the guy at the transmitter, outfitted with a set of video goggles to view via radio link what the on-board camera sees. All this technology – thanks to the wildly popular FPV systems used aboard drones and fixed winged model aircraft in recent years – is now commercially available as plug-and-play systems for surprisingly little money.

Here's some video from the use of FPV aboard that model submarine at the SubFest 2022 event:

View: https://youtu.be/Zk66hCNC9eg




The camera-transmitter unit and battery had to be housed in a watertight container, equipped with a clear window through which the camera lens could peep out. So, I developed a little Lexan cylinder capped with cast resin bulkheads.



I extended, through the use of small gauge coaxial cable, the antenna up from the watertight cylinder within the models sail and into the periscope. This was necessary as the very short, full-wave, 5.8gHz antennas signal would not punch through water – to work the transmitting antenna had to be in the air, and in line-of-sight to the base station (the FPV goggles) as the model ran along at periscope depth. The higher the frequency, the more opaque water becomes to the radio signal.



Since this model has already been operated in open (read: dirty) water, and has been in stowage for nearly a year, collecting further crud on its surfaces, I took the precaution of scrubbing everything – hull halves as well as the sail and control surfaces – with soapy water, scrubbing everything with a medium-stiff, paint brush. This in preparation of applying weathering agents to make this a much more attractive display, and to attenuate the 'toy' look of a pristine finish.



When operating this model at last years SubFest I had only the time beforehand to put down the basic colors: a very dark gray for all below waterline areas, haze gray for the above waterline areas, and the 'yellow' identification bands on the sail, denoting this boat as one being worked up by a green crew.

Green crew, new boat, little marine growth.



Since the Type-23 submarine I'm representing is a relatively new boat that has not been in the water too long I elected to show very moderate marine growth below its waterline.

A good example of a 'fresh' boat is this drydock shot of a post war, salvaged and made operational, Type-23 serving in the Federal German Navy. So, looking at the mottling on this boat, I was guided as to the 'look' of the below waterline marine growth that would be replicated on my model. Note that on that photo I have placed the mottled stern planes demonstrating the achieved effect – not done with the weathering, but this was the vital first step.



Mottling starts by applying a water soluble liquid mask over the below waterline portions of hull – those surfaces already a very dark gray, the typical anti-foul paint applied to German ships and submarines at the time. Once the sponge applied masking had dried hard the below waterline portions of the model submarine received a spray coating of a very medium heavy tan color.

To the left is the liquid masking fluid, 'tooth paste mask'. To the right is the severally reduced tan acrylic paint, labeled, 'bleach mung'.

When reducing the opacity of paint its not enough to cut it with thinner/solvent alone (water, since I'm working with water soluble acrylics here) – instead, the paint is cut with acrylic clear 'medium'. This way there remains enough resin to the paint to insure a strong polymerization as the film transitions from liquid to solid during the drying process.



The water soluble liquid mask I prefer is made with water, tooth paste, and food coloring. You cut the tooth paste with enough water to make it easily transported by stiff brush, sponge or rag. The food coloring lets you see where you've laid down the mask.



Mixing in the food coloring – black in this case – to make the dried masking visible.



To get straight the method of mask application I turned to my poor test article and experimented with a stippling brush, a 'flick' brush (an old tooth-brush), and sponge.



Once the masking had dried hard – that process speeded up with the use of a heat-gun – I lightly sprayed the 'bleach mung' to the three areas where I applied the mask.



The thing I love about water soluble acrylic paints and masking is that you can drive the liquid to a solid state quickly with the judicious use of the heat-gun. An important property of acrylic paint is that though it is reduced/thinned by water, it becomes insoluble once dry. The masking, on the other hand, when hardened remains water soluble.



I took advantage of the properties of the two coatings when it came time to remove the masking. Scrubbing with water removed the masking, but didn't touch the paint.



The bleached mung remains, the masking gone, revealing a mottled, bleached surface over the base color.

Pictured is the mottling pattern produced by applying the masking with a stipple brush. For a big-scale model like this 1/35 Type-23 this just looked wrong – would be fine for 1/96 or smaller, but not this project.



Unfortunately, the flick-brush applied masking produced an awful freckle look. Ugh!

However, masking applied with the sponge gave the desired mottled pattern and density for the Type-23.

Of the three methods of applying the masking, I found the sponge to be the best tool for this large-scale model submarine. So, armed with an easy to use, water soluble masking agent, and means of applying it, I proceeded with the below waterline weathering of the Type-23's hull and control surfaces.
















Mottling completed, now it's time to address the 'grass' and other discoloration observed just below the hulls waterline.

 
Any plans to build a working Titan model with real crushing action - what, too soon?
 
Skipjack was always the coolest looking sub to me...a hot rod.

I remember a children's book that had Seaview's observation area behind the conning tower...a back porch if you will.

That actually makes more sense---keep it dry if only a few meters down.

Any further, just leave ports open and allow it to fill at ambient sea pressure.
 
publiusr said:
Skipjack was always the coolest looking sub to me...a hot rod.

I remember a children's book that had Seaview's observation area behind the conning tower...a back porch if you will.

That actually makes more sense---keep it dry if only a few meters down.

Any further, just leave ports open and allow it to fill at ambient sea pressure.
Click to expand...

 
You could always put those Styrofoam heads in there and watch it become denser under pressure.
 
publiusr said:
You could always put those Styrofoam heads in there and watch it become denser under pressure.
Click to expand...
We did that when we had midshipmen onboard one summer. That and the "clothes-line across the room" trick you see in Down Periscope.

Turns a styrofoam coffee cup into a shot glass.
 
Scott Kenny said:
We did that when we had midshipmen onboard one summer. That and the "clothes-line across the room" trick you see in Down Periscope.

Turns a styrofoam coffee cup into a shot glass.
Click to expand...
Really more like the size of a thimble - our daughter got to do exactly that last year on her NOAA internship Caribbean ocean floor mapping mission on the United States Exploration Vessel Okeanos Explorer, complete with her signature hand painting of one of her favorite motivs that was turned into a miniature hey presto :D. But I guess your depth experience with respect to compression ratio may vary ;).
 
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martinbayer said:
Really more like the size of a thimble - our daughter got to do exactly that last year on her NOAA internship Caribbean ocean floor mapping mission on the United States Exploration Vessel Okeanos Explorer, complete with her signature hand painting of one of her favorite motivs that was turned into a miniature hey presto :D. But I guess your depth experience with respect to compression ratio may vary ;).
Click to expand...
Yeah, we were not as deep. I need to find mine, hope it survived the moves since then!
 
Scott Kenny said:
Yeah, we were not as deep. I need to find mine, hope it survived the moves since then!
Click to expand...
On the Okeanos Explorer, they just put the cups into a cage of an uncrewed sampling probe that was lowered from the ship. Upon her return I put our daughter's memento into one of those transparent orange tinted medication vials/bottles that I have a steady supply of for safe keeping :).
 
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Fresh off of doing the waterline 'weathering' on my little 1/96 SKIPJACK one would think that all I have to do, with that experience under my belt, is repeat the process on the 1/35 Type-23. Nope. Two different scales. That in mind I gave more thought on how the larger representations of accumulated bleached mung, sub-waterline, and 'sea grass' would be rendered; and what mediums, tools and techniques would best lend themselves to representing the below waterline portions of the submarine.

So, back to my weathering notebook for a refresher on how the real boats present themselves out of and in the water. That study guiding me as I worked to attain the 'look' I was going for.

Below are two examples that struck my fancy.



What I call a sub-waterline is a rather distinctive, well defined, band of color difference above and below the sub-waterline. I attribute this variance principally to what I've coined the parfait Sunday effect: a consequence of a gradient difference of temperature and particulate content near the waters surface that deposits varied forms of marine fauna, animals, and filth onto the boat as it sits tied up to the pier.

This sub-waterline can also be caused by a variance of the boats pier-side displacement – if the boat sits lower or higher than the designed waterline, a new scum line will form, becoming a sub-waterline. You see this a lot on cargo and oil freighters which change their displacement radically and for extended periods of time. A submarine that undergoes a massive weapons load/offload, re-fueling, or stores load without immediate compensation will see such changes of displacement creating a sub-waterline.

All combatant submarines spend some time idle at the pier, so none of them escape this form of weathering. It's just a matter of degree. America and Japan are anal about hull preservation and employ frequent hull-scrubbing. The other countries... not so much. Russia's the worst (Russian client nations coming in a miserable second-place) – making representation of Commie boats such a fun task for weathering nuts such as myself.



Whatever the cause of the sub-waterline, it has to be faithfully represented on the model. Here is the initial stage: the pristine sub-waterline has been laid down; from this point I work down from the boats designed waterline to represent sea-grass and other nasties that cling to the hull just below the waters surface.



One or more bands of sub-waterline will be found only near the designed waterline, down only a couple of feet from that. The first step in creating that sub-waterline is to pencil mark – VERY LIGHT pencil mark – where the edge of the sub-waterline will girdle the hull. That done with a waterline marking tool, a variant of a Machinist's surface-gauge.





When you study for form of a boat with one or more bands of sub-waterline you first note that the demarcation line that defines the sub-waterline is not a straight-and-narrow one, but rather a ragged and sometimes disjointed line extending around the hull.

To capture ragged, wavy look at the sub-waterline demarcation line I took long pieces of medium-tack masking tape and tore them in half, using the torn edge of the tape to follow the very lightly placed pencil marks previously laid down on the hull (and rudder).





The only other item getting the sub-waterline treatment was the big rudder between the upper and lower skegs. This photo is useful in that it shows how the bleached mung – a semi-opaque mixture of acrylic tan cut heavily with water and refortified with clear acrylic medium – is applied to the edge of the sub-waterline mask and feathered gradually downwards. A process that can only be done with an air-brush/gun when putting down paints that can't be blended (like artist oils). My paint of choice for broad work like this is the cheap water soluble acrylic paints you get at Walmart or Hobby Lobby type box stores.



Peeling away the sub-waterline masking reveals the jagged edge between the established lighter bleach mung colored lower portion of the sub-waterline and the rest of the below waterline portions of the hull.



Note the hard-edge of the above waterline masking, there to protect the upper surfaces of the hull from over-spray as I laid down the bleach mung onto the ragged edge of the sub-waterline masking. As the upper and lower halves of the model separate on the same plane as the waterline all I had to do was remove the upper hull, and set it aside, and mask off the bow and stern sections of the lower hull before painting.



The sub-waterline laid down, now comes the tricky part of representing the grass and other stinky nasties that girdle the submarine on and just below the designed waterline. Stay tuned, sports-fans!

 
To this point the below waterline portions of the Type-23 hull were simple raged edged shades of gray. However, the eventual hue would present a bleached tan. That paint, mixed with solvent and reducer to render the coating semi-opaque; the tan would still permit the observer to see the underlying mottled grays. Further, this semi-opaque tan would be applied in random densities over the length of the hull, suggesting a chaotic randomness of varied marine fauna and animal growth.



Before all that, I took the precaution of scrubbing clean the sail and upper half of the hull with dish detergent, followed by a thorough water rinsing. This to prepare those surfaces for a clear coat – I wanted to be sure of a good bond that would not be weakened by dirt and oils those surfaces would have collect as they sat idle for nearly a year in my nasty shop environment.





Blowing the sail and upper hull half down with low-pressure air to insure that all water was driven out of nooks and crannies. Followed with the hot-air gun to get at any water previously missed.



When weathering I've found it to be useful to have real-life examples on hand for reference. Here are some images temporarily liberated from my submarine weathering binder.



Beginning to represent the green grass often observed growing just below a submarines designed waterline. Done in two stages, employing two different mediums. The first medium to go on is a water soluble wax, Gel Sticks Gel Sticks | KINGART (kingartco.com) . This type 'smear', which has the texture and spread-ability of lipstick – unlike traditional oil based Artist's crayon – is easily blended and feathered onto the work; with the bonus property that if a goof is made the problem can be washed off with a damp rag. An ability exploited later.



A smear from the gel stick is dabbed onto the work, then pulled down to a feather edge with a stiff hog-bristle brush or fiberglass scratch brush.





Finally, the feathered smear is pulled down with a cotton wad.



The initial representation of marine grass done, I mixed up the tan acrylic paint with a lot of water solvent. Doing so thinned the paint to the point where its adhesive quality was dangerously low. To increase the binder content of the paint I added clear acrylic medium to restore the sticking power of the paint. The objective of all that was to make the tan paint semi-opaque so the underlying paint work could be observed through it.



I sprayed on some tan, then hit the work with my hot-air gun to flash dry the paint. The work – the entire below waterline areas of the hull and appendages – was completed in only minutes!

Note that masking has been applied to the forward and after portions of the hull to keep the paint off the gray upper surfaces.



Demonstrating the semi-opaque quality of the tan paint, here I've painted one control surface, but left the other unpainted. Though paint has been sprayed onto the substrate, you can still clearly see the varied grays underneath.



This red-handled little scratch brush is a remarkable tool. The bristles are tiny strands of fiberglass thread. Owing to the strength of that material, and the ability to dial those bristles in or out of the ferrule – which permits you to vary the rigidity at the working end of the bristles – you have a precision abrasive tool.

Here I'm using the scratch brush, it's bristles saturated with water, to selectively remove portions of the feathered gel stick smears to take on the appearance of drooping marine grass. Once I've done a portion of the grass I blot off any water clinging to the work with an absorbent towel.



The paint, green gel stick smear, and tools used to achieve the grass and hue of bleached marine growth covering everything below the boats waterline.



The only below waterline job left is to glue a band of model rail-road 'static grass' just below the design waterline. But first, I'm going to give the entire model a heavy clear gloss coat to protect all the work. Once the clear coat has cured hard I will give everything a very heavy black wash to pick out details; weather the above waterline structures; glue on the static grass; and complete the display with a coat of well flattened clear coat.

 
Weathering fits that hull.

I recoil at gunge on a nice teardrop like Skipjack
 
A means of highlighting engraved and high relief surfaces is to darken the depths of the engraved lines such as breaks between adjoining plate; and edges of the high relief items, such as access panels, external stringers, weld beads, and other projections. The Bronco kit of the Type-23 is very rich in such surface detailing – some of which is very subtle – which would be missed by the observer if they were not so highlighted.

Below is exhibit-A: The starboard side of the Type-23's sail that has received a 'wash' of heavily thinned black artist oil. Note how the engraved and high relief items now project a 'real look' because of the black paint that has been worked into every crevasse, be it sunken or raised.



Application and manipulation of the wash is best done on a smooth, glossy surface as the wash, if applied to a rough surface tends to darken everything it touches – the objective is to highlight, not stain; you only want the wash to adhere to the depressions and projections.

The models surfaces (in this case everything above the designed waterline) were given a heavy clear, glossy coat. Once cured hard, those surfaces were ready for an extremely thinned down artist oil black paint wash.

Again, I turn to my old reliable ChromaClear two-part polyurethane clear coat for the job. A chemistry that is benign to almost all formulations of primer, paint and weathering mediums, and is touch as nails.



The lower the viscosity of the wash, the easier it is to work it into the desired surfaces of the model. The mechanism at work here is capillary action; the ability of free-flowing liquids to migrate, even against the force of gravity, into irregular regions of an otherwise undisturbed surface.

Artist oil paint is the ideal medium for a wash. The thinner employed, distilled turpentine, has such a low viscosity that when used to cut a small amount of paint, it becomes the ideal liquid for the job, i.e. when applied to the work, the very 'runny' nature of this wash will seek out those items on the models surface to be highlighted.

Application is simple: the wash is sprayed on and most of it blotted off with pieces of an old T-shirt, paper towel, cotton ball, and cotton swabs. The remaining black colored wash is then teased into position with a soft bristle paint brush.



Port side of the 1/35 scale, Bronco Type-23 kit, sporting its shiny gloss clear coat ready for a heavy application of wash. Without the wash you wind up with a rather toy-like model submarine. Like the model at this stage. No thank you!





… but something magical happens to the appearance of the model once the wash has been applied and worked into all the subjects nooks and crannies. The effect, though a false representation of shadows, does a fine job of overcoming 'scale effect' by providing a reasonably good presentation of shadows where they should be. What reads to the viewer as shadows in reality is black paint applied as a wash.





A very small dab of black artist oil paint, heavily cut with distilled turpentine, is lightly sprayed over all areas of the models surface needing the false shadowing. The nice thing that makes the process work is the glacially slow drying time of Linseed oil as the binder/resin of the paint polymerizes in three to four days. Plenty of time to work the stuff.



The majority of the wash is first blotted off those portions of the models surface that don't have negative or positive relief items, that initial work done with rag, cotton ball, and cotton sticks.



Finally, a soft bristle brush is lightly wiped – always vertically! – over all surfaces to drive any remaining wash into the high relief areas that need shadow 'enhancement'.



The gloss substrate will shrug off the wash easily, but a small amount of the wash will darken the flat surfaces just a bit, and the vertical brush strokes present as natural running streaking – something you see on any vehicle exposed to polluted air, handling, and the occasional rain storm.




Here I've applied a wash to one side of the upper half of hull. Note the contrast between the wash applied side and the virgin side.



 

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