US Navy Ram

After building all those Revell Type VII U-Boats I had five hulls left over, since I waterlined the models, I had the lower hulls in the spares box. They are a big honking bit of plastic and too good to just toss away. So I am using them. I made a U-Boat interior based on one of them. I made a pre-WWI "fantasy" submarine out of one and will probably do a second one of those. I plated over the bottom opening on one and use it in conjunction with one of the U-Boats to create a temporary full hull version if I need one out of the water for repairs. My final U-Boat hull will be used to make a US Navy ship. Here is part of the work already done.

The HaT British Colonial Sailor for scale shows this is not a huge ship, it is a destroyer ram. The US Navy had a couple of them around the turn of the 19th / 20th centuries. My plan is to use it for colonial gaming. Like my U-Boat interior project, I am hoping to only use exiting bits from the spares box, so no actual investment in the project has to be made. I did buy some sheet styrene, but only used half in the package for this project and I am sure the rest will not go to waste.

These little guns have been in the spares box for at least ten years, the beads at least five. The little building is a guard shack from some WWII German set, maybe Nitto. It will become the bridge.

The main gun is a US Army 155 M-12 gun taken from perhaps an Esci M-12 kit long ago. It will probably be given some kind of gun shield.

A few U-Boat parts will also make there way onto the model too. Train pieces, building set parts, even parts from a old steel mill set are going to be used. This should be a quick and interesting project.