Part-1, The Lindberg 1/72 static scale IJN I-53 WW-2 Submarine Kit

Wow, what a horrible representation of that particular class.

So endeth my detailed critique of the kits faithfulness to prototype.

Now, onto construction:

First, I examined the kit.

A well packaged product, the kit arrived to me (it was sent straight from Lindberg) double-boxed, the outer box marked, indicating the contents ... don't know if I like that, what if my Mailman is into model kits? The inner kit box is well appointed. The packaging of the sprues and hull pieces was more than adequate.

And the Instructions were good enough -- this is a very simple kit to assemble, and the illustration heavy directions were easy to follow and presented a rational methodology that needed little variance to make the model r/c capable. If I'm not mistaken, the introduction of the supplied booklet, which droned on and on about weathering was authored by the same guy who built the trade-show model of this subject for Lindberg. This guy apparently applies his weathering mediums with fire-crackers and squirt-gun.

Anyway ...

... The Styrene parts are stout and not at all 'soft'. The four-piece hull is well engineered for assembly employing both mechanical fasteners and solvent (welding) cohesive cement.

All styrene parts were first scrubbed with scouring powder suspended in water and applied with a stiff brush, rubbed in with abrasive pads, and the parts then thoroughly rinsed and dried -- this to remove oil, grease, and to impart to the parts surface a scratch finish, suitable for optimal solvent action and primer adhesion.

Care was taken to snip the parts off the trees with a sharp set of dykes. Any sprue remnants remaining on the parts were filed and sanded back. All sub-assembly parts were test fit and worked with files as required to get the best possible fit before laying on the glue. Solvent cement was used throughout except for the none-styrene-to-styrene joining jobs (railing and other painted metal fittings) -- those items stuck together with CA adhesive.

I think you need more Dremels, Dave. Doesn't look like you have enough there.

Very concise & to the point. Carry on, sailor.

Would be great if those Kaitens can be made operational.
Looks like they can readily accept a small electric motor, batteries and a reed switch. Make them slightly buoyant enough to float just barely below the surface. A simple servo operated release mechanism under their launch cardle.

Yup just a torpe ,almost 3/4 in in diamiter and plenty of space for components.

The important thing is to hover the mother sub for Kaiten launch,easy with a pump sub.

Dave Amur Sub Yard

Could we please refrain from taking over this thread with adverts like we saw several weeks before. Thanks.

... we resume our normal programming, now in progress ...

Part-2, The Lindberg 1/72 static scale IJN I-53 WW-2 Submarine Kit

Not many parts to stick together on this kit: the sail, the Kaiten torpedoes, a couple of mast shears, the hull, bilge keels, control surfaces, and a few other appendages.

Yesterday I stuck the first of the two I-53 kits I have here together. Today I stuck the second kit parts together -- a few lessons learned from the first applied to the second, and those improvements shared with you today:

I see Mr M has his camera set to HUGE photos again. Good grief! Do we have to beat him with a stick to get it through his skull that these pictures are too BIG?

Looking good, Dave.

Regarding the large photos, I prefer you keep them this way for added detail. Me thinks someone needs to buy himself a larger monitor to enjoy the picture show.

Kazzer,

With all due respect, let DM post BIG pictures as they're much easier for older eyes to see (not that there's anything wrong with that or that I personally have that trouble - LOL)

Dan

Originally Posted by kazzer

I see Mr M has his camera set to HUGE photos again. Good grief! Do we have to beat him with a stick to get it through his skull that these pictures are too BIG?

Oop's. Rose was messing with the camera. I'll set it for smaller files. Sorry about that.

David,

Mr Merriman, Please ignore the people with tiny monitors, and continue with the huge pictures. They look really good. I'm sure Rose knows what she is doing with the camera, and so far the photography is excellent. Please continue with the build!

FWIW, at 1024x768 and under 100K in size, the photos are a good compromise.

I guess my 17" Mac is actually too big for these blown-up photos?

Part-3, The Lindberg 1/72 static scale IJN I-53 WW-2 Submarine Kit

Busy day. I got most of the re-contouring done on the bow on one of the two I-53 kits I'm assembling. The re-worked bow will serve as a temporary master off of which I'll pull a hard-shell tool, and from that I'll be able to produce production after-market bows for those wishing to get this kit (as best you can) to look a bit more like the actual boat.

I started by working off the excellent information unearthed my our own Chuck Miller: this guy know's his stuff and is relentless in his researches -- wish that he had been involved in the pre-production phase of this and the upcoming Lindberg-Hawk I-20 submarine kit. But, that's spilled milk, no need to beat our chests over that issue again.

Using the bow portion of the C3 class drawing Chuck posted at this site I enlarged it to the size that scales with the 1/72 kit. From the enlarged drawings I cut out a .125" thick ABS plastic sheet profile piece; which was glued into the hull; which had been prepared to receive the profile piece by cutting a slit in the deck, bow and keel. A portion of the forward lower hull was removed as if it remained that area of the bow would stand proud of the new section lines in that area -- other than that, the majority of the sides of the kits styrene hull was still good and was retained.

The objective was to get rid of the kits 'dip' at the deck near the stem, and to replace that with the distinctively graceful upward sweep of the bow as seen on the C3 boats, and the I-53 specifically. How could Lindberg-Hawk miss that!!!!!

Filler block of Renshape-20 (Pattern Maker's medium with a density of twenty-pounds per cubic foot) were cut to occupy the spaces above the deck and the removed lower hull section -- those blocs secured with five-minute epoxy.

The blocks were then filed and sanded to rough contour. The entire bow was then skinned with 'icing' -- a very thin formulation of two-part polyester filler which was sanded once well past the gel stage, but before it got too hard. I prefer the Evercoat brand of fillers -- there are several formulations available.

The Renshape, adhesives, abrasives, Evercoat filler, and other consumables are all available from, caswellplating.com.

Tomorrow I skin the work with a very light-weight layer of fiberglass cloth saturated with epoxy laminating resin (polyester would attack the underlying polystyrene plastic of the kit), sand and prim. By the end of the week I expect to have a set of bow production tools in hand, and will start in on making bow conversion kits for sale.