Return of the Buccaneers
by David Griffith

1/700 Return of the Buccaneers (Hobby Boss)

I was looking through the shelves of my local hobby shop and came across the Hobby Boss range of 1/700 submarines. Very simple, quite nicely moulded, and at only £4 a pop, you couldn’t go wrong. They yelled at me to buy several and make a diorama. I bought two Gatos and two Balaos. I planned to illustrate the variety of armament fits and camouflage measures that these boats carried, and also to take inspiration from photos on Navsource for the appearance of a busy Navy Yard quay.

The basic structures of the subs were built up from the box, only four parts each. The guns were replaced, the spares box yielding bits to represent 4” and 5” deck guns, and 40mm AA guns with exquisite Niko parts. A few pieces of photo-etched railing completed each boat.

The harbour lighters were scratchbuilt from plasticard of various types and then resin copies made. I sent the original masters off to Harry Abbott of Battlefleet Models, and he has added them to his range of diorama accessories. The tugboat is from Battlefleet.

I made the dock from a piece of balsa wood with a sheet of 10 thou plasticard on top, and strips around the edge. I textured the plasticard by brushing liquid cement on it in order to soften it, and then tapping with a piece of wet & dry paper, just to take some of the stark smoothness away. The railway lines were simply scribed into the plastic.

The crane was from Loose Cannon. The little buildings were from Battlefleet’s Dockside Structures set. The piles of equipment and stores are just odd little pieces of plastic strip, rod and chopped up small parts from the spares box. I’m not giving prizes to people who can recognize what parts from what kits have been cut up!

The diorama represents a sub returning from a successful patrol, pirate flag flying, and being greeted by comrades, wives, girlfriends and probably assorted ladies of easy virtue. I painted the banner with a totally fictional name. As far as I know, there was not a USS Anchovy. This is just to stop any smart a*** from saying, “Oh, but the USS Goldfish had its 40mm in a different position, wore a different paint scheme, and by the way, it was sunk in 1944, anyway!”