The Atom Furnace: The Enemy Below: DE vs Sub diorama

I enjoy submarine war films. Some are a bit cheesy propaganda type, but there was a war on in the 40's so it is understandable and they were terrific. But one of my favorites is the subject of this post.
While searching Hobbylinc for a spring "lockdown" project I came across the USS England, a Buckley Class Destroyer Escort (famous in the Pacific for sinking 6 enemy submarines). This Trumpeter Kit was less than $25. Great, but you get what you pay for-more about that later. Anyway I thought about "The Enemy Below" because the fictitious USS Haynes - 181 - is a Buckley Class DE (identified as such by the crew of the U-Boat they chase). The actual ship used in the movie is the USS Whitehurst, Buckley class DE. For those familiar with the plot the Haynes gives chase to the U-Boat with the climax of the Haynes being torpedoed, but fooling the U-Boat to the surface and ramming the sub. Destroyers ramming subs actually did occur! The most notable is the USS Borie which rammed the surfaced U-405 in 1943.

Back to the model. I thought of an homage diorama to the movie, so I plowed ahead and ordered the kit.

Upon it's arrival I soon realized that to put the kind of detail into it that I wanted I would need to add Photo etch parts. the kit came with only PE for the depth charge racks and nothing else- no ladders, railing etc. Another couple sawbucks later, the "Tom's Model Works" PE for the USS England arrived. Now I was set, or so I thought. Again, more about that later. As Chef Robert Irvine says "Let's Get To Work"!

I did not take many photos initially. But my brother (Littlebro) thought I should join the Atom Furnace as an author and Blog the building of the USS England aka USS Haynes. The kit comes with a two piece hull above and below the water line. All of the photos are of the above the waterline hull construction. Here the single piece steel deck is on the hull along with the forward 3" gun tub and the "Hedgehog Projector" right behind the tub. What is a hedgehog projector?? I had never heard of it until I found out on line during my research of the DE's armaments. A Royal Navy invention, it is a forward firing 65LB contact projectile weapon of 7 inch diatmeter. The projector tosses these "bombs" about 900 yards in front of the ship and they explode on contact with an object, unlike depth charges which explode at a set depth. Amazingly the Hedgehog has a 5.7 to 1 kill ratio as compared to the 60 to 1 ratio of the depth charge!! Who Knew??

A few other assemblies are started.

Here we begin to see the extra detail the result of the extra purchased PE. The 20MM AA go from the simple two piece in the kit to a 5 piece construct with the PE added.

This is the aft 3" gun in it's tub with ammo lockers, PE floor grating and painted. I paint all assemblies as I produce them. Many parts I paint while still on the sprue. Note that the side depth charge projectors are also installed and painted.

The painting of the ship is simple as compared to my previous Dreadnought builds. Navy Blue (my mix), Gray, Silver and a thinner/black weathering wash.

This shows the installation of the PE depth charge roll off racks at the stern. The PE provided in the kit was used for this since it was Trumpeter and not after market.

Likewise for the depth charge projectors.

This shows the extra PE used for the life raft mounts. The inside of raft is cut out and replaced by PE along with delicate support. I did not use this procedure for the forward rafts as they lent themselves to pin drilling out the raft bottom grating as seen below.

A progress photos, aft.

As with the previous Dreadnought builds I use the PE Bins (for flotation ropes and devices); however due to photographs viewed I noted that the Bins have knee bracing. I cut up extra pieces of PE to add said bracing.

These Bins are on the tub for the eventual twin 40MM Bofors mount that comes later.

Here the Bofors Tub is installed.

Stayed tuned as this build continues. It gets even more fiddly and I am compelled to spend more $$. As I related early on, you get what you pay for.

I am actually taking a break from severe Photo Etch frustration. I consciously chose to use more PE for additional detail (I did need ladders and railings) but the little bits for the 20MM guns are getting to me. I actually thought of replacing barrels with after market brass, but Bob warned me not to go down that "Rabbit Hole". Thanks for that advice bro.!

As you will see later the purchase of an additional after market installation paid off in many ways. The rather sad two piece 1.1 mount that comes with the kit just is not satisfactory (in my opinion) so I laid out the extra bucks. You can make six of the twin 40MM Bofors mount with this kit, that is as long as little bits of PE are not constantly flying off into space from the end of your tweezers. From a kit of six if figure I could maybe get three. I'm glad I only need one.

One page on the instructions give you some idea of the fiddliness of this construct. Fourteen pieces for the mount and three more for the accompanying Fire Director (which I was glad of as you will see later).

Here is the twin 40MM. Two brass barrels into the resin block.

The mount in the tub. Notice the 3 piece Fire Director in the tub immediately behind.

Twin gun is ready for installation.

Here is the completed Twin Bofors prior to final paint. Next you will see what this replaced and understand why I bought this extra kit.

YUCK.

I used another Fire Director for the torpedo launcher (as seen in historical photos). I used one more for the forward FD for the 3" guns.

This shows one of the 20MM with the fiddly PE parts unpainted. There are ten of these and my tweezers have ejected several of these parts such that I am further glad of the purchase of the Bofors kit. I am able to replicate the pieces I have lost such that I am hopeful to complete all ten 20MM. The closeup accentuates the out of scale thickness of the barrel, which is why I thought of brass replacement. They don't look so bad to the naked eye though, so thanks again my brother for taking me out of it.

Look what else arrived at my doorstep. I feel a Diorama coming on!

Stay tuned for the next chapter of The Enemy Below.

Well after a day off from the workbench, I'm back at it with some further detail of the USS England, plus a peak at my initial contemplation for a diorama. But first an artists view of the England:

The Hedgehog projector launching 24 contact rounds. The ship carries 144 rounds total so it can do this six times. I would not want to be in a Sub in close proximity to this "Bad Boy".

I have a piece of spongy foam packing I am going to use as my ocean base. Here I am setting the DE and half the Type VII-C on the foam. I have room for a Diorama!!

Cut out for the DE!

I can introduce a list if I wish! But, let's get back to completing the DE before getting carried away with this diorama business.

Note the start of adding the PE stack ring. Also note to the left the addition of the first pieces of railing to the bridge area.

Here you can see the stack platform with the ladder added, the bridge railings and even the completion of the 20MM AA behind the stack. You may also notice that I have given the deck a gray wash as I found this to be the look of the USS Haynes in the movie footage. To reiterate, my diorama will be an homage to The Enemy Below, so I am doing what I can within the constraints of the kit to make the DE look as much like the fictitious USS Haynes as much as possible.

That is all for today.

It is June 6 so a Toast to all those brave souls that stormed the beaches to keep us free.

Now back to The Enemy Below. Last time I said I would get back to the DE, but I was captured by the build of the U-Boat so I just went full tilt and finished it. After all it is the enemy BELOW.

Back to the potential diorama. The conning tower has been added.

Painting begins with a dark gray slate mix for the deck. The instructions for the kit are very good in description and even mix proportions for the various shades of gray used. I followed closely except for the black wash seen later to highlight hull detail fore and aft.

This shows the black wash and the install of the conning tower platforms and kit platform weapons.

Customization begins as PE parts are added to the guns from left overs from the DE build.

Unfortunately the kit supplied platform railings are too thick, but you can't have everything. The single customization that I had to do was the addition of the forward deck gun - the "88". While many of these were removed in 1943 from Atlantic U-Boats, the movie sub has this gun. When comparing photos of U-Boat types it appears that the movie model is a type B (no lower conning platform or gun, but it has the 88 gun forward of the conning tower). My kit is a later type C. So I have a hybrid U-Boat - so be it

Where did that 88 come from if not in the kit? The DE kit had duplicate sprues due to the number of 20MM anti-aircraft needed. The 3-inch guns were on those sprues. Since the DE only had 3 of the 3-inch mounts I had an extra to stand in for the U-Boat deck gun, with PE added, of course!

The stern gear was fiddly consisting of 8 parts applied and painted in strict order!

Not sure why I include this photo as it shows the macro crudeness of the model parts, but it does highlight the PE parts added to the guns.

The display base is not attached but it is a nice force fit on the keel that makes work on the model much easier. Also some painting detail can be seen, as well as the snorkel in the down position to right of the deck gun. The model display shows all parts upright, but in the diorama with the sub just coming to the surface after running on batteries it does not make sense to have the snorkel raised (used for running the diesel motors while the sub is partially submerged).

PE railings are used from the Tom's Model which helps the scale of the model in total. It also is needed to have railing forward at the forward deck gun.

More paint detail and showing the forward dive planes installed (an easy single piece installation). The black wash shows up well. The forward cable is also installed (I pin drilled and glued mono filament, then tied and glued at the conning tower.

The kit has the stern tie offs (which I broke snipping off the sprue. I end up with two legs instead of three - Oooops!). The kit box artwork shows the wires, so I added them. It was a fairly easy tie and glue procedure. Just tie, glue, wait to dry then snip off the leftover tails.

Bow shot starboard.

Over all. Note that I do have the periscope in the up position, which conflicts with my rational for putting the snorkel in the down position. I may alter this later in the diorama, whenever I get that figured out. Hey, I just realized that during the building of this U-Boat, not once did I end up on my knees searching for little bits that flew off my tweezers!! A First for me.

Potential.

Okay, now I have to get back to the USS England/Haynes. More later.

Welcome back! As we approach Father's Day and (hopeful) Phase 4 here in Illinois, I have returned to the work bench aka dining room table. I have made some painful progress as you will see.

This shows the additional PE for the stack platform (a real bugger) and ladder.

Installation of PE railings begins on the upper deck. I tried painting the inside of the railing before installing - my success I consider mixed.

We are now officially the movie DE -181, USS Haynes. I used the kit supplied decals, cutting the D and the E and using the verticals for "1s", then the number 3 and touched in white paint to close the 3 into an 8.

The two piece mast is an easy install, but I did use the xacto to cut in a slot in the top to seat the PE radar (instead of using the solid kit part).

Mast is now painted after I added the PE ladder. As with all of the additional PE I kept studying historical photos and the opening credits of the movie which provides good views of the Buckley Class USS Whitehurst aka USS Haynes.

Bow railing, Port side - again, study of the movie credits revealed the use of this type of railing forward.

Now begins the insanity that I have been dreading. This rigging is easy to pick out of all photos. I tied four lengths of monofil. in a knot and glued the knot to the rear of the bridge deck. I tied the eight individual strands to the mast arm. While these are not supposed to be taut it is impossible (for me at least) to have the monofil. to appear to be stretching aft with the wind. Oh well!! Still the monofilament thread has it's own laws of physics that can lead to modeler insanity if not careful. Plus and minus charges exhibit themselves causing it to act in ways contrary to what the modeler wishes. rotation and entanglement abound and this is after quite a bit of experience with this material - enough about that, but be warned!

Additional rigging continues from much study of fuzzy distant historical photos which show far too much confusion and wire everywhere that I can't possible duplicate at this scale. So I go with what I see, what seems to make sense and what can practically be accomplished. The plastic mast is too flexible to allow for taut looking rigging. I wish manufactures would include brass masts in the kits.

Port side railings are painted as my research of the movie continues both Fore...

....and aft.

Back to the work bench now to complete the starboard railing and finish up the rigging. When this blog continues I hope to have figured out the ocean diorama. Good luck to ME!

As I told my brother, the rigging confusion ended up OK despite the fiddly work required. Looking at the completed rigging, it looks as confusing as the photos I was researching, so - Mission Accomplished!

I also continued the starboard railing installation. so enough chatter let's see some pics...

A bit of a challenge was applying the flag decal to a "halyard". A very clear photo I found showed the halyard location. Being an "interior" piece of rigging aft of the mast I had to do this first.

Attached at the yard now to tie off at the base and keep that wind blown curve in the halyard. Although hard to see in this photo, railing has been added to the platform under the radar screen.

I completed the mast rigging aft of the stack as best I could to equal the support fore of the mast and also took some thread, tied some knots and attached to simulate davit tie offs. Railing is also added to the mast base platform.

I am jumping ahead a bit here to show the previous pic ties attached to the davits, but this followed a decision process on how to complete the davits and attachment of the "Lifeboat". Based on my research I believe the DEs carried a typical 26 ft. motor powered "Whaleboat" which accomodated 22 men. Which is why there are several life rafts etc. also on board.

Here are the davits and boat on the kit sprue. You can see the pins and receiving holes for attaching the boat to the davits - rather poor detail in that!!!

The Tom's Model PE includes the falls and ropes to be used to mount the boat. You also will notice the keel/rudder/tiller PE to be added to the boat. There is even a teeny, tiny prop!

PE is attached to the boat while still on the sprue. I also painted the boat while still on the sprue. Photos and movie footage shows the boat as white with a black hull. The interior was less defined.

This photo shows the completion of rigging and railings awaiting the addition of the Whaleboat. Note the PE mounting "hardware"in the foreground- aft.

Here is the white Whaleboat with black hull. I was a little concerned about my choice to attach the PE boat rigging to the boat first, but....

.....I was able to support the boat at the exact height I needed to line up the PE to the davits and hit it with drops of Loctite Gel.

Success. The attachment is nice and tight. Next with be work on the diorama.

Stand by - That is

All!

I hope everyone had a good Flag Day this past Sunday. I did not get much done as we took the afternoon and motored around in our daughters boat through the Chain "O' Lakes here in Lake Co. Illinois. Here are a few update photos I wish to post in preparation for the planned diorama. After reviewing several YouTube presentations I have come to a decision on the technique I will employ, but I have to get to the store for supplies first.

I repainted the interior of the Whaleboat. Recall from the last post that it was "less defined" as to the what the inside of the boat should look like? Well, I went back to the movie, to the end where the boat is being launched, and this is the result. A lot of wood was showing so I took liberties and did the repaint. I think it is a good thing, it was too much white before.

This I did just for the fun of it.

I have moved the DE forward a little in order that I can show more wake of the DE in the diorama.

RAMMING SPEED1

Now I am off to get glue and Acrylics (toilet paper I have!).

Wish me luck and return again later.

Oh, in the meantime I am rehabbing another 40 + - year old model of my brother's inventory - A Dornier Do 17.

How this proceeds is another post under Project Pages.

The selection of technique for creating an ocean surface came from viewing several videos of other work. Most I found employed the use of Aluminum foil along with tissue/toilet paper and glue. I found a rather simple process used by a gentleman from Sweden who has a series of videos as he is a railroad modeler - mrr-tutorials. Toilet paper and white glue is his technique.

The hull bottom has been added to the DE and both ships placed in the packing foam base. My mix tray consists of an empty mac and cheese container (waste not - want not). I added water to the glue in the tray until I got an easy consistency. Application of the mixture using the large artist brush to the foam was followed by placing sheets of TP and patting down with my fingers then stippling the paper to create ridges where I wanted them. At least 3 layers of TP are needed to stipple out seams and any pattern in the TP. Approximately 36-48 hours of dry time later I went back and added more mixture and TP where I thought it was needed.

Notice here that I have added some extra falls to the davits in accordance with movie research.

I like how the DE looks to be cutting through the "water". The water based acrylic paint is in the house and ready to be applied once the "ocean" is dry - that will be the scary part. I still have to obtain the acrylic gloss clear coat to give the wet water effect. The tutorial says that four coats are needed - it will be a while before this puppy is complete, but confidence is increasing!

I'm back after a day off to hob nob with my brother, have lunch and shoot down each others 1/144 scale WWI aircraft! The moment of truth has arrived and I began my first Acrylic Paint Ocean Diorama - admittedly nervous I dove in. I found an inexpensive Testors set of acrylic paints and took a chance - it worked out just fine! Since this is the deep Atlantic I used only Black, Blue and White. Here goes...

Black pretty much takes over even at a three to one ratio of Blue over Black. It is the addition of White that draws the Blue out.

Mostly a stippling process of the black and blue with white highlights added on ridges and along the hulls where the water is breaking or in the wakes of the two ships.

I cover everything including the edges.

The ocean is ominously dark. I hope when I start the clear gloss acrylic that the surface will come alive. Right now as she dries, it does not look too bad for my first effort.

Here is additional explanation of my modeling decision as I wait for paint to dry before application of Gloss Acrylic to the Ocean. I found it challenging trying to create an accurate depiction of the movie vessel combatants with the models I have. I earlier explained modifications to the Type VII "C" U-Boat to make it appear more like a Type B, although there are other things I could have removed from the the sub to make it more "movie" accurate.
Today's discussion is focused on the Destroyer Escort. It is a Buckley Class DE, the USS England. The movie was filmed using the Buckley Class DE, Whitehurst. While very similar, it is the 1957 Whitehurst and not the WWII Whitehurst, as is the USS England. This has presented many challenges in terms of trying to accurately reproduce the movie scene while trying to depict the fictitious USS Haynes, a WWII Buckley Class Destroyer Escort. I have used many views in the movie (the Whitehurst) for depiction of the the deck and platform railings, and the 26ft. Motor Whaleboat. But there are components of the model kit, the WWII USS England, that don't conform to the 1957 USS Whitehurst. A glaring example is the more modern radar that is shown rotating in several movie scenes. No such equipment is on a WWII DE. The England also has torpedo tubes amidship, which the Whitehurst most likely had but were removed in favor of additional equipment and life rafts. The Buckley has the Hedgehog Projector which, if used, may have sunk the U-Boat, but that would ruin the story! The movie dialog refers to the DEs lack of torpedoes during the identification scene as the commander (Curt Jergens) has his eye to the periscope - " American escort destroyer, one stack, 3 inch guns fore and aft, anti-air craft amidships, no tubes" then by viewing the silhouette book - 'Buckley Klasse Destroyer Escort, turbo-electric, top speed 25 knots, carries stern racks and k guns, capable of dropping 17 patterns, latest under water detection gear,'.

There are other dissimilarities such as my installation of the Twin Bofors, which the Navsource site lists as part of the USS England armament. When the USS Haynes goes to battle stations you see the 1957 Whitehurst quad Bofors mount! No idea if this was a refit or not.

Following the dialog noted above (no tubes) the opening scenes have the kitchen waste being dumped over the fantail where the USS England has rear firing torpedo tubes.

Ah, well, we do what we can and go with it.

Now I have to run out and buy Gloss Acrylic!!!

Happy Independence Day to all Americans wherever you are. And good health to everyone. It's finally time to wrap this project. Coat after coat of Vallejo Water Effects have been added along with additional tissue for water volume. It just so happens that the Movie The Enemy Below is playing on FXRetro, and I am watching as I type.

Vallejo has arrived.

Just like paint I stipple in the clear water effect.

I can squeeze and then spread/stipple.

Bits of toilet paper are put in my tray along with Vallejo.

Dip and ....

....Place to create wake and waves.

Getting better.by adding more toilet paper and coats of acrylic "water". I can add about every 12 hours. I stopped after about 4 or 5 coats - a three day process.