Red Rackham's Treasure (Shark Submarine)

Ok. Let's start with the box. The Tintin Shark sub is a pretty small 1-man sub, so the 1/100 scale Tamiya Me 262 seems like a good choice for a roughly 1/72 shark submarine. 

Won't need many of these parts. Basically everything but the fuselage halves is going in the spares box. 

Size comparison with the 1/72 Tintin Chipmunk confirms the size is about right. 1/100 might even be a bit big... but a better match than a 1/144 I think 

I knew those pill blister packs were going to come in handy. Just a quick proof-of-concept canopy. Strangely modelling cement doesn't work, I had to resort to super glue to get the framing on. Dare I try to magic up an open canopy? 

A quick coat of future seems to help the clarity of the canopy. You can see it, but the flooring and the rear firewall are scratch built and dry fitted.  

Scratch building the cockpit. Added firewalls, roughed out the control panel, and added tanks. 

Added a few more details... pedals, handles and a corrugated floor. I also cut out the forward fins. You can't really see it in the pic, but I beveled the edges. 

Basically just buttoned up a dry fit to make sure everything still fits. 

Drilled out the wheel from a Spad XIII for the steering wheel.  

Not sure the rear tank will be visible in the final construction, but it's in there regardless of how much you'll be able to see. 

I did a bit more scratch building and added some sidewall details. 

details primed and painted. I added bits of wire to the sidewall as well. 

I'm quite happy with how the control panel turned out. Different coloured dials and buttons are visible. 

The scuff marks on the floor didn't quite come out the way I wanted. Man those tanks look like Minions now. 🙂 

All buttoned up and on the blocks. The front fins on both sides are made from a single bit of styrene sheet and then scored, bent and glued in place at the correct angle. 

Thank goodness some of the cockpit interior is still visible. 

Not sure I should have bothered with the rear tank. You probably won't be able to see it once the canopy is on. Oh well, I just had it lying around. 

Hmmm.. that wing gives me an idea... 

Getting the scratchbuilt fins all the same shape/size was one thing, but aligning them and drilling the pilot holes for the locating pins was another... whew! 

looks pretty straight to me... and there's still enough room for a propeller at the back. 

This will require a bit of putty and sanding... 

Putty applied. While that's drying, I got to work on the base stand. I also started work on the canopy. Glued the frame to the base and will carefully bend it over the top. 

Sanding done... but looks like it still needs some touch ups. 

Top fin and propeller scratched up and canopy cut to size. More putty required. 

Made a bending block using epoxy putty and bent 1mm wire around it. 

Clamped/glued/trimmed each of the sections. 

Using the metal as a guide, I sliced/trimmed between them, and voila! 

Open cockpit it possible. Only problem is I rushed and got CA glue on the clear parts. I made a back up to try again. 

Sanded and primed... and then more putty and more sanding...  

Metal foil backed with adhesive, you say...? Hmmm... 

Had to re-adjust the main vertical fin to fit the lower profile, foil-line canopy. But after more sanding, she's primed and ready for paint. 

I almost forgot to add the mouth to the underside. Luckily I remembered before I did the final prime coat. 

Put down some paint on the stand. 

Forgot to measure the mouth placement. Good thing it fits! 

Well, now it's white... 

Added some leather wraps to the stand. 

UPDATE - Fresh out of the 3D resin printer... my new and improved Shark Submarine! 

Trying to make sure the two halves don't warp out of alignment during the final curing/drying process. 

I don't want to tie the wires TOO tight in case it breaks. 

The alignment is pretty good. Now to adde the DC motor. The tail is quite skinny, so I needed to add an extension to the axel. I hope it works! 

All glued together and in place. Now comes the fun part. 

Putty! Despite my best efforts, the thin walls of such a tiny model still create several gaps in the fit. 

 

Two-tone paint just complete. I just a printed plug to "heat and smash" mould the canopy. It's a tight fit, but good enough. 

All assembled!