Photos by the author
HISTORY:
The French submarine cruiser
"Surcouf" , built in 1929 and disappearing February 1942, is one of the
mysteries of the sea. The "Surcouf" still holds the distinction of being
the worst sub disaster on record, claiming 133 lives. I found
three major themes as to how and why the "Surcouf" sank or was sunk. The
official record remains that the "Surcouf" was struck by the American tanker
vessel off the Panama Canal and sank with all 129 crew and four observers.
Two other themes concern the operation of the "Surcouf" as a Free French vessel engaged in commerce with the Nazi Germany U-boats. One version contends that the "Surcouf" obtained secret torpedo data while refitting in New Groton, CT. She was followed by two United States submarines and sunk. The second also contends that the "Surcouf" was dealing with the Nazi U-boats by buying diesel oil in United States and British ports, then selling it to the U-boats. Again, two United States submarines were sent out and sank the "Surcouf." Various stories have surfaced of divers that found the "Surcouf" or people who knew how she went down, but no conclusive evidence seems to exist, nor was there a listing or reference that cited the exact location of the wreck. More information will accompany articles as the model is completed. The first half of the inside cover seems to be a short history, but it is in Polish.
FLY MODEL GOMIX Kit number 139:
The French Submarine "Surcouf" Completed build size:
110 cm long 9 cm wide (This does not take into account the wingspan
of the Besson MB 411 float reconnaissance plane [11 cm], or the turret turned
ninety degrees to either side. The area covered then becomes 110 cm long
by approximately 20 cm wide.)
INSTRUCTIONS:
One half page of basic construction instructions inside
the cover. All of the instructions are in Polish.
DIAGRAMS:
4 pages of
diagrams, counting each side as a page. See the two top pages above and
the pictures below. In each photo, the left page is a full page of
diagrams. The right half page above is printed on the back of the right
half of the page below. The half above are diagrams and the half below are
templates for the various rods, barrels, staffs and poles you fabricate.
The color scheme is jagged on the conning structure with a significant drop from one panel to the next in the line between the green and gray coloring.
The cannon, deck guns and small pieces appear in black. No color photographs were found. Illustrations, postal stamps and paintings agreed in this basic paint scheme with the flags and pennants showing the only bright colors. There is a large discrepancy to the turret. The cover plating does not match the structure it is glued to. The cannon slots do not match up and the cannons cannot be mounted with the plates as drawn. I modified the parts to narrow the center section between the slots, allowing the cannons to be mounted while maintaining the color scheme. This was done with a scan and paste. The turret is shown with the provided pieces in place and the obvious problem with the cannon.
PRINTING:
Registration marks are within
one line width on all pages and colored area exceeds the enclosed spaces on all
pages. The fit of the majority of the parts indicates that the printing
was nicely done. All errors found were from the original artwork, not the
printing. The fit of the plates to the complex hull curves shows the
pieces were printed correctly.
RESOURCES:
Other than
color information the documentation is overwhelming. Any search of the
Internet leads to hundreds of sites that cite further Internet sites, books,
documents and records. A detailed list of references used will accompany
the final construction article.
CONSTRUCTION:
PATIENCE is the word for a kit
of this size and complexity. KEEPING YOUR HANDS CLEAN AND FREE OF GLUE is
also a must. It is very easy to spoil the finish of the model with grease,
dirt or glue because you do not wipe your hands between EVERY application of
glue. I use my fingers at times to smooth joints. Keeping a wipe
towel handy keeps your model clean. A small metal or plastic cylinder,
such as a pen or burnishing tool is a great aid in blending all the end to end
joints of this model!
As usual, this is not a complete kit, containing all you need to build other than cutting tools and glue. It is a set of templates and diagrams that allow you to build a structure that is covered by the parts in the "kit," with major components such as the seaplane, crane, and turret that do not require outside materials. I did add string to the crane to simulate the cable and pulley system.
The support rods, staffs, poles, small gun barrels and railing require a fair level of expertise and scratch building. In this case, to build the numerous support wires, posts, tubes, railing and small barrels, you can come up with materials such as wire, tubing, spaghetti or wood. Your local hardware, art supply and grocery can supply what you can use. The scale of the kit requires innovation to build the stepped large antenna poles. They are so large I found chop sticks or wooden dowels the only reasonable material. While I don't normally use food items in building, preferring to avoid bugs, I found raw spaghetti a sandable material that made nice gun barrels and tapered staffs. I sealed these with color and Krylon clear coat paint. Support rods such as S-3,4 & 6 were cut from a stiff wire. These ride in paper tubes to hold the control planes and cannon, allowing them to move. The large scale makes the railing more difficult. Usually I use thread stiffened by glue to create railing and these support the cannons and control planes. You could surface glue without the support. The rest of the parts dress up the model to make it look real. The conning tower is particularly bare without the scopes and antenna.
Pages two through six are templates of the "eggcrate" base on regular paper stock. The notches indicate a width equal to doubled cereal box stock or heavy poster board, which is what I used. Page one has diagrams front and back for covering the "eggcrate" and building the MB 411 seaplane. Page seven is also paper stock. It has the parts of the sea plane and the silhouettes of the posts, tubes and barrels on the front. On the back of page seven are two views each to construct the props and shafts and the seaplane winch and crane. I cut out the structure templates then glued them to the heavy poster board with 3M spray adhesive. Any glue stick or thinned glue should do. The major challenge is to use the least amount of glue and moisture possible to prevent warping. You just want to tack the templates to the heavy stock for a pattern while cutting. Large shears help cut through heavy stock, but small slots and disks require multiple strokes of a sharp knife.
This method requires cutting out the pieces and notches a second time. The glue helps prevent the top layer from sliding if you shear with scissors and allows you to sand the card material to the lines of the parts. The thickness of these pieces is dictated by two things; the width of the notches as designed, and the strength needed to support a 1.1 meter model covered in card stock. I adjusted the notches for the slightly thinner material and had few problems fitting the eggcrate structures for the hull, turret and conning tower together.
The covering consists of six pages of
parts on regular card stock. The hull is not covered by long strips, but
by plates, similar to the original submarine. Each "plate" has uniquely
curved sides that fit together to form the compound curves of the hull.
These have been mostly very accurate and fit to the center of the eggcrate
edges. The wooden deck pieces are nicely printed.
The components of the
seaplane crane are also of card stock. The seaplane, as mentioned, is
printed on regular paper. I used card stock to form it. The paper
was too flimsy for the wings and supports and a moderate weight card stock made
all the difference. Build the egg crate hull structure upside down on a
level surface.
Dry fit all the bulkheads to the keel to insure the notches are cut so the tops and bottoms are flush with the keel. While it is not indicated, you will have to cut through to the notches in the bulkhead or the keel to get them on. I chose to extend one side of the bulkhead notch cut up to the top to slide it on the keel. You can build it in three sections or glue the center keel B together then add; the bulkheads, the cut out sections of A (these three large parts become 44 dividers to stabilize the bulkheads), and the lateral strips D then C. I built the keel as one piece to insure it stayed straight, and to allow use of the external strips C and D to accurately place the bulkheads. The joints between keel pieces and the strips are purposely offset to keep the joints accurate. It helps to dry mount the strips C and D while custom cutting the sections on A to fit between the bulkheads. This also allows you to insure the notches in the bulkheads and strips are correct for the strips to fit flush to the edges of the bulkhead as appropriate. Custom cutting of the three A sections into 44 pieces is necessary because you will normally not have a material sandwich (the template, glue and reinforcement material) that is exactly the thickness indicated by the notches. This means all parts, including the center keel are just a little off. This becomes critical when mounting the covering plates. I put the D strips on before the C because they fit against the keel. This keeps the distortion of the edges to a minimum. The C strips were a problem. The bulkheads at the bow and stern of the strips were not cut for the strip to fit. This is shown in the photograph.
I deepened the notches in bulkheads 3 and 15 and added notches to bulkhead 16, not even marked but strips C indicated they fit over the bulkhead. This was not an effort to change the hull shape, just an error in the shape of the C strips and marking bulkhead 16. I cut the outside ends of all four C strips to fit the curve of the hull.
Once the egg crate was completed, I used a long sanding block to blend any minor surface differences from cutting. I sanded in a fore and aft motion to make sure the sides were as smooth as possible. This also "thickens" the edges of the bulkheads and support strips insuring a wider glue surface and a firmer grip as the glue wicks into the edges.
Now I cut out the hull plating. Place the number of each part on the back as you cut to avoid confusion. I cut and color all before assembly. If you cut and edge color as you need the piece, numbering is still nice if you get interrupted. You can cut along the edge of the color then trim to fit, or trust the cut lines and cut away excess color. I found the cut lines very accurate. I did use Crayola pencils to color the edges of the plates and the corresponding areas of the egg crate edges to avoid "white" lines at the joints. You will have to trim the top line of plates to fit to the deck. I chose to mount the deck and use it as a reference for cutting.
Using a metal straight edge, I cut along the bottom edge of the deck strip and glued the top of the hull plates to the bottom of the deck. This worked well and kept the edge of the deck level. It has a tendency to sag between bulkheads as the glue dries. Be sure to put shaft 53c (the forward control plane mount) in before plating the structure. Pay close attention to the areas marked with a "W" for removal. It is easy to miss the hole in the keel and very difficult to cut with the bulkhead in place.
You can work on sub-units while the egg crate is being built and drying at each stage. The plane, crane, turret, and conning tower can all be built as desired and mounted as prebuilt units. This fills the time while waiting for parts to dry completely. With the egg crate, complete drying is critical to avoid pieces shifting. Should something dry out of line, do not hesitate to carefully cut it out and glue it correctly. Errors are magnified by distance from the center of the model!
The plane went together well. I was a little confused by the rolled prop shaft due to the overlapping lines on the drawing, but everything fit. I replaced the paper wind screens with clear plastic from blister packed purchases. This is where clear plastic is used to hold an item to a card. This plastic will shrink with a hand held hair dryer to form canopies and bubbles on models.
The crane was very complex with the multiple pulley wheels, but all parts fit well. I used a heavy carpet thread to form the pulleys and cable to the plane. This adds a lot to the crane and fills the gap between the pulley segments. Use minimal glue to avoid warping these small parts. A toothpick or similar helps to hold and position the multiple disks to form the pulleys. I used a needle to thread the pulleys. The metal needle placed the string accurately and insured there was room between the pulley and supporting parts for the thread.
The dive planes have shaping end caps on the inside edges. Again, small amounts of glue applied with a device such as a toothpick help you shape the complex curve and bend of the end caps without putting glue on the outside of the planes.
The rudder is of similar construction. Patience and care give a nice blended shape.
The crate structure for the conning area and turret fit very well. Part 58h is used to form the plane chamber in the aft conning area. I colored the inside black before assembly. If you are going to leave the hatch closed, this step is not necessary. If you display with the plane chamber hatch open, the long dark tube adds a lot.
Unfortunately, this is where the artist's drawing and coloring broke down a bit. The plates covering the forward end of the turret, forming the cannon slots, do not line up with the structure. I am making new plates with scan and color programs to correct the errors shown above. You can see from the angle of the test cannon that the slots must be widened or moved. I chose the latter. The "racetrack" slots would become egg shaped to the center if you cut for the cannons to fit. From the photos above, you can also see the large step down in color along the conning area.
The detail of
the model and drawings are reasserted in the construction of the turret base
with the paper bearings, allowing the turret to rotate like the real item.
The rest of this paragraph will only become clear as you build the turret base
using the diagrams provided! The only problems occur with parts H2 and
55e. As colored and tabbed, part 55e fits over the end caps H2d so the
parts H2d are flush with the ends of the cylinder formed by 55e. The round
hole indicated in H2c is too small for this cylinder to rotate freely and must
be enlarged. The cylinder fits on H2b which fits into part H2a without
problem. H2c is glued to H2a and H2d lower is glued to H2b. H2d
upper is glued to 55f. The entire assembly is attached to the hull by
carefully placing and gluing H2a to H1a. If you cut the hole in H2c as
indicated and glue parts H2d on as end caps that fit outside 55e, you can
counter sink the mount through H1a and H1b down to the part A section bulkhead
supports to level the deck :-) Part H2b is cut apart like the sections of
parts A to fit between the bulkheads and keel as indicated. The diagrams
and parts as drawn do not make this clear.
Note how the deck (top
wooden printed parts in place) is level from the front of the sub across the
turret base. The center column below the blackened edge is the critical
parts 55e and H2d area.
When completed properly, the turret base is level with the rest of the deck and rotates freely. The gaps in front and back of the turret base are normal and similar to the real thing. Note the end caps, 55d that cover the turret base end as it rotates. I will use colored scrap stock to cover the areas fore and aft of the turret base beneath the deck to seal these areas.
You can see in the turret base photo that the hull plating has continued. I am currently plating the hull, conning, and turret structures. I am also fabricating the "S" components from stiff wire, spaghetti, chop sticks and dowels. This is as far as I have gotten in research and construction.
I will be adding additional detail to my model. The photos and art all show a very prominent cable guide on the top leading edge of the hull. This, bollards, and other details will be added to really finish off the model. None of this is necessary for the build. You can build the model without additional materials or coloring and have a nice looking model. The additional details and effort help finish off this most unique model and make it a real display piece for your collection. While other submarines had planes or missiles in chambers and unique details, the "Surcouf" is the only one I have found to carry the dual designation of Cruiser-Submarine. It seems certain it is the only submarine to mount twin eight inch cannon in a moving turret. While a long project, I am sure you will enjoy the large scale and details on the finished product.
Summary:
| Model: | Surcof |
| Publisher: | Gomix/Fly Model |
| Designer: | Piotr Turalski |
| Scale: | 1/100 |
| Difficulty: | Card modeling experience required. Some previous ship experience would help. Scratch building necessary for fully detailing this unique kit. |
| Number of Parts: | 127 Structure Templates, 38 pieces Scout Plane, 86 pieces to create the seaplane winch and hoist assembly, 95 poles/antenna/rail posts/ etc. (note: all 95 pieces are fabricated from outside materials not part of the kit), 8 railing sections (fabricated outside the kit), 112 pieces to cover the structure and detail such as flags and life rings. Minimum part count: 469 pieces. (Listed as having 400 in advertising on the Internet) |
| Instructions: | See above |
| Diagrams: | See above |
| Fit: | Excellent as to layout with paper as expected from this type model. |
| Coloring and Artwork: | No description or photograph displays the "Surcouf" in the color scheme chosen by the artist. The submarine is generally shown to be a consistent gray tone with a wooden deck and a dark paint below the waterline (red lead?). |
| Printing: | The printing quality varies. It lacks any fine detail with some discrepancies to the photos and art of the real sub. |
