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Thursday, March 18, 2010

IM For You My Friend!


I don't have a Liberty Ship model. No one makes a cheap, quick, easy one in 1/72nd scale or I would have it already. I keep hoping. The ones I have seen are either a couple thousand dollars, or way too small, and way too complicated; for museum display.

The US Navy used all kinds of ships to carry supplies, and the US Army actually operated a fleet of thousands of vessels in World War Two. This is one of them.


A friend of mine was moving and he had a partially built Flower Class Corvette kit from Revell that the did not want to take with him, so I purchased it from him. All he had done was glue together the hull and deck. I waterlined the hull and then changed around the superstructure. I added a 40mm Bofors gun in the small tub at the bow and the 3 inch AA gun at the stern. It does not represent a specific ship, but is typical of the many small ships of about a thousand tons operated by the US in World War Two.


I modified the bridge so that it is enclosed, but the roof comes off so I can still use it as an open bridge ship. The gun tubs are also removable and the guns can be switched out to other calibers or types. The three deck hatches are removable.



This is the finished model, next to a Revell Type VIIC U-Boat in 1/72nd scale. Both ships are about thirty inches long.

2 comments:

Bob G. said...

Bunkermeister:

Makes me wonder *IF* you could find a standard freighter model and kit-bash it into a Liberty ship with some gun tubs...just a thought.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek said...

It's difficult to find freighters that are 1/72nd scale and when you do they tend to cost a thousand dollars or more. Maybe some day.