I’m building the gigantic Revell/Moebius 1/72 Skipjack and I want to build it as USS Scamp. Problem is I prefer the colours of the Skipjack which is black on top and the usual rusty red on the bottom. My question is was the Scamp ever painted in these colours? Did it’s colour change over time?
I can find some black and white photos but not many good colour references so any help will be most appreciated.
Go to NAVSOURCE.ORG and check submarines/nuclear attack. There are color photos of the SCAMP’s launch. Colors show black over red.
This link may not work. Navsource limits hot linking their assets
I know that yard!
My Godfather was stationed at Mare Island in 1960, although not with this boat.
i think you have three options. As launched in Eds photo, with the anti-fouling way above the centerline.
Other photos of her in the water look all black, so at the least the anti-fouling is lower. On the boats centerline was common.
Or after overhaul she may have been painted all black, but I couldn’t see any pictures that way.
Bill
I have seen USS Scamp many times here in New London, including in the floating drydock at the base. Between the mid-1970s-early 1990s, she was flat black above the midpoint between keel and topside, and anti-fouling red below. The red extended continuously around the curvature of the bow. I was also stationed at Mare Island Naval Shipyard between 1988 and 1991, where there were many photos in the various buildings of the boats built there. Good luck! It is a great model!
Bill Morrison
Thanks guys. On the Revell instructions it says to paint the conning tower a mixture of 80% matt blue and 20% anthracite grey.
The top of the hull directly below that is listed as matt black but unlike the Skipjack it doesn’t go to the centreline. The instructions show the matt black stopping at the engraved line.
Why not to follow instructions.
As launched, the anti-fouling is way up high near what might be the fully laden waterline.
If you like that look it can be certainly justified. I think it makes the thing look like a whale. It’s “blimp” shape is certainly distinct.
OTOH there’s plenty of data that indicates a color break right around the centerline from the nose to the prop shaft. It’s pretty attractive.
No explanation for the blue sail. I will opine that might be a try at a lighting effect, but not prototype.
The periscope shears/ covers would be gray with black spots.
if the kit comes with escape markings around the deck hatches, don’t use them unless you intend to make the model showing its shakedown period.
[quote user=“Ghostphantom”]
On the Revell instructions it says to paint the conning tower a mixture of 80% matt blue and 20% anthracite grey. [/quote]
Go back to the NAVSOURCE i recommended and look at the photos of the SCORPION,
There are the last photos taken of her before her loss. She is moored next to the USS TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY, April 1968. The sides of the sail are painted in Haze Gray (the same as used on surface ships). Compare the tone of the sail to the tone of the TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY (same sun angle, relative same distance, same time of day), they are similar. Use Haze Gray (36270) for late SKIPJACK sail sides. Note the feathered black along front/back and where the sail meets the casing
Thanks for that and good point about the shakedown.
[quote user=“EdGrune”]
Interesting site and points. On the instructions it shows Scorpion as having the conning tower as being the same blue grey colour as the Scamp, the sail sides as black and unlike the Scamp the black goes to the centreline (like the Skipjack).
The only 2 subs that seem to be painted the same from the instructions are Shark and Snook.
Looking at that again does the conning tower look haze? It does look lighter than the top hull to me with a blueish tint?
Gentlemen,
The paint scheme changed sometime in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. Those schemes for Scorpion existed as late as 1968. By the mid-1970’s U.S. Submarines were in the basic black and red configuration. Scamp had been black & red throughout most of her life.
Bill
I recommend checking out the web page for the USS Scamp. It is loaded with photos of her at different times throughout her career.
Bill
Thanks warshipguy. Will do just that!
How weathered and rusty would the Scamp and it’s sister subs have been?
Not very. It depends on how long they have been at sea. Submarines look worse when they are returning from extended deployment, but they are immediately cleaned up when in port. Also, there is very little rust on American boats. They are extremely well maintained.
I also have this kit and I emphatically disagree with the color scheme advocated by the kit designers. It is hard for me to see just what they are trying to depict. I have served on six different boats; none looked like that. I have lived near the SUBASE in New London continuously since the early 1990s and have lived around submarines since the late 1970s; I have never seen one that looks that way.
Good luck with your model! I’d love to see photos.
Bill
Shame as I like a nice weathered look on my subs but I might do a bit of rust and weathering for effect.
When you say you disagree with the colour schemes how would you do them different?
I always have a problem with the ways that people paint the bow. For example, one builder painted the top of the sonar dome a shade of gray, claiming that it represented wearing of the plastic dome. I have never seen that effect on real boats. I suppose the basic weathering is okay for a boat returning from deployment, but it is a little heavy. Other builders paint the bow black or a shade of gray, ending the hull red at a point before the dome. Again, I have never seen this scheme on real boats. But, to each his own.
Modelers of submarines try to create some visual effect to provide contrast and interest. But, submarines offer little in that vein. Granted, some schemes were tried in the 1960’s, but these were more the exception than the rule. In one interesting experiment with color, the Royal Navy tried painting a Trafalgar class boat a shade of blue. They reverted to black.
One thing that many modelers do is to put the white markings provided by manufacturers around the topside hatches. Indeed, some photos show such markings. But, these are builder’s markings only; they exist prior to commissioning and are painted over when commissioned.
I hope that it helps!
Bill
Yes thanks Interesting points!