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Emmet Molloy
14 articles

The fleet submarine USS Bowfin (SS-287)

August 15, 2022 · in Ships · 8 · 1K

This is from the old Lindberg kit, first introduced in or around 1948. I found this at an Ollie’s Outlet store in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. It was intended to be the USS Gato with decals and the name on the box, but I thought it to be a Balao class so I printed out the sub’s badge on my printer and cut it out and pasted it on the base and I hand wrote her name on it. I added other things as seen. It’s been through the “ringer”, but weren’t they all? A lot of subs sank a lot of Japanese shipping in the Pacific and helped us win the war. And a lot of submarine sailors are on “eternal patrol” somewhere in the depths of the sea. Bless them all.

Reader reactions:
6  Awesome

2 additional images. Click to enlarge.


8 responses

  1. Another superb build, Emmet!

  2. Your ship collection, including this sub, is amazing, Emmet @bmolloy
    Great work.

  3. Neatly done, Emmet.

  4. That looks very nice..., I’ve seen that kit around but hadn’t realized it dated back so far originally . I like the base you made for it. I have a very old Nichimo I-19 sub that I cleaned up and repainted in an effort to restore it. t’s on a similar base. I need to finish it up. Yours has given me the motivation to pick up on that project again.

  5. Thank you . Yes this kit was released in 1954, so I have read. The submarine herself was launched in January 1954 and commissioned in September 1954. So if the information I read on the kit is true, Lindberg must have released the kit sometime that year. Her design began in March of 1950. That base for the sub is a piece of modeling plywood that I bought at Hobby Lobby and colored with a furniture touch-up marker.

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