Sometimes all you need is a little sandpaper ...

Modeling Subjects Scratchbuilding
1

… and a lot of patience.

Here is a little something I made to go with my 1/144 Japanese Betty torpedo bomber display, a Type 91 Mod 2 aerial torpedo and trolley. I’m pleased with the way this turned out. The real deal was not quite 18-inches in diameter, 18-feet long and weighed 1,840 pounds. Scaled down to 1/144 that’s about 0.12-inches by 1.5-inches. A piece of sprue of suitable diameter was cut to length and then the back third was sanded down to get the tapered tail, while the nose was rounded off. A grainy black and white photo provided enough details to bash out a trolley with scrap plastic and my Waldron miniature punch-and-die sets. And no, it’s not completely accurate - the Type 91 had eight fins in three different styles on the back end. I thought I was doing really well to get four glued on more or less square. But it does have the two brass props on the end!

2

Looks good :smiley:

After staring at it awhile though, I realized what looked weird was not the torpedo, but the rocks it was on, maybe a finer sand would do better?

I like the little dude checking out the props too :slight_smile:

3

I think on second look I agree with you about the ground cover, bertman, but … the model railroad section of my local hobby shop is rather skimpy, and I was seized by a fit of “get it done NOW,” so went with what they had. From a distance, it looks OK.