Hello everyone! I'm new to shipbuilding but I have a few years of aircraft and armor under my belt. I'm thinking about building AFV Club's 1/350 Gato Class in the style of the USS Cod (moored in my home city of Cleveland, Ohio ). I'd be okay making a model that rests on a stand, since I want to see the whole ship. However, I think it would be fantastic to display it fully submerged in its "natural habitat." All I've seen on this site are waterline dioramas (which, don't get me wrong, are absolutely breathtaking!), but would it be possible, in all of your expert opinions, to create an underwater diorama? Thanks for your input!

There was a dio made on here that showed the inside of a bottom of a ship and the water/seabed. i'm sure someone else will remember it and give you a link. But from what i recall it was very well done.

Someone, on what forum I cannot remember, did just that. I recall he built the kit, then built a box which he filled with clear resin using cotton for propeller turbulence. It came out looking good, but I wondered about the heat of the curing resin deforming the sub.

A few years ago I attended a IPMS show where a modeler was depicting a shot down F4F. The case had clear sides tinted blue, and the top was textured with caulk for waves. The forlorn pilot was in a raft floating "above" his downed plane. That was quite effective and I believe a better way to show an object "under water ".

G

Hey Robby

Look here this stunning work

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/167004#1402948

Maybe the builder could help you

regards

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking about doing, thank you so much!! Now I just have to decide whether or not I can actually DO something like that...the task is much more daunting when you see the end result...

Well Robby, if I were you I'd try.
It's a spectacular way to show a model...

I'm not so much interested in Submarine models but one of these days I'd like to do a dio which depict something like this...





Anyway, I hope to see soon your diorama

cheers

Here is.... well call it what you want. Had the chance to help paint the USS Batfish and they gave us a piece of the orginal deck as a thank you gift. I just put plexi glass around the top and set a 1/350 gato class in some acrylic tinted blue. This was my first attempt at a sub and acrylic, it is not impossible but can be messy trust me.

You did a great job with the acrylic!! Can you give me either instructions or a link to a reference page you used? It's really encouraging to see another first-time shipbuilder make such a stunning display!

Some awesome photos Mauro. Now, if only I could find 1/350 polar bears.

That's what putty is for!

Robby: Of course you can do it, why waste time speculating? After seeing such submarine displays I'm going to start making a few of my own. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm not going to let that stop me. Throw a cheap kit together real quick and give it a practice run. Make sure to make a build log here so that we can all pitch in and learn from each other. Even if you don't have beginner's luck, you can rest assured that your next run will greatly benefit from what you'll have learned and I'm sure it will be quite to your liking.

Haha!!! Jeremy, that was a very inspirational post! I'm glad that you've been inspired by all these posts to branch out with your builds. I'll definitely be keeping a build log, but you had better keep one too...what kit will you pick up? I managed to pick up my Gato-Class for about $20 on an impulsive eBay spree

I also had the idea for a "dived thing".
But I have no experience in this.

Also nice idea for a diorama with the polar-bears.

greetings...
Soeren

well...

to be honest I was thinking about a 1/35 diorama depicting only the submarine turret emerged from ice, polar bears all around and crew members who are watching them from the turret high...Polars bears could be plastic toys in 1/32 scale....

But maybe that idea sounds like a mental's ill delirium

Robby: That's what the Kitmaker Network is here for I'm not sure what I'll go with for my trial run yet. There are some cool little IJN subs at one of the LHS down here, but they are alsmost too small. I may just pick up one of the Cyber Hobby value packs, hopefully one with two subs, as they are pretty affordable and would work out great for this. I'll let you know when I pick seomthing up and start a build log

Soeren: Don't let that stop you bud, just go for it! If you are having trouble looking for inoformation in Enlish posts, then you may want to talk with Guido, aka Tailor, as he is from Germany as well. He is a good modeler and if he doesn't know how to do something, he can point you in the right direction

Mauro: That's not delirium bud, that's modeling!! I know that I saw someone planning or maybe building a diorama like that in 1/35 and it was pretty impressive! If I remember correctly it was a Cold War Russian sub, but I can't find it...

Yes Jeremy I know...that's modelling, I was joking

But I've calculated that a US nuclear submarine turret is about 43 cm high in scale 35...

Maybe too big for my flat

Anyway, one of these day I'll try to do it. I'll need some references but it could be very fun

cheers

LOL, I know I know, I was playing along, this stuff is just so much fun when I actually get a chance to do it!

I wouldn't let the 43cm height deter you. There was one modeler who built a whole aircraft carrier in 1/48 because he like building hellcats in that scale and wanted the whole shebang. I have it in and old FSM magazine article if you want to check it out. I don't know if it's completely nuts or totally inspiring

...so. Following this method...considering that I've been building for a while now, a soviet army Willys jeep, I should build 4700 yd squares of russian tundra...

Joking aside I like a lot those kind of projects and I respect the brave guys who can manage these enterprises.

...and 1/48 could be the best scale for the polar bear diorama...
...So thanks a lot for the involuntary suggestion Jeremy

cheers

Glad to be involuntarily of service! *tips hat*

According to this thread, Realistic Water is the way to go.

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/39810#334413

Does anyone know how far a bottle of that stuff will take me? Or rather, how much RW will I need to fill roughly 100insq?

For something in 1/35 scale.. you can always use this German Midget submarine by Bronco

http://www.hyperscale.com/2011/features/seehundxxviib35ss_1.htm

That would look nice submerged... wish I had the skill!!

Hisham

Well you've got me curious now Robby. It looks like I'm going to need to make two test builds, one for resin and one for RW. I'm looking forward to trying the RW, I'll try to pick some up this week and give it a look over. However I really like being able to float the model in the resin layers as they are being poured. The latter method sounds like it offers more control, but curing resin can be entirely acrid and stinks to high heaven..

Hi Jeremy, thanks for the tip.
On the migproductions-webpage also I found a good build-log.
http://www.migproductionsforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3303&start=30

greetings...
Soeren

Yes, that's a great tutorial Soeren! I lost all of my links with my old computer and couldn't for the life of me remember where that build log was

Hey guys! I'm new to the site, and stumbled across it by way of looking for ideas on making water for a diorama I want to build. I'm posing here because I, too, have thought about the polar bears on the ice In fact...I was just surfing the web looking for small scale polar bears...very small. But my first attempt will be the docking of the Oriol. I've never done such a thing, but I think it will be a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to making the water effects!

Talking about U-Boots and polar bears...
http://scahms.kitmaker.net/forums/173531

Frenchy