1/96 USCGC Polar Sea WAGB-11 (Scratchbuilt)
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by Keith Bender |
1/96 USCGC Polar Sea WAGB-11 (Scratchbuilt)
Fiberglass hull (Scale Shipyard), scartchbuilt
I've always had a fascination of icebreakers and how they work. After
building many Burton Island and Eastwind Revell kits over the years I wanted
something different and I stumbled across a fiberlgass hull from Scale
Shipyard. Back in the 70's- 80's I was messing around in RC and this
was long before 1:350 became a standard scale. Anyway I purchased
the hull and made the Polar Sea which is one of two icebreakers in this
class, sister is Polar Star which today is still in service.
The cutters
are 399' long with an 83' beam. They have six diesel engines for main power
and three gas turbines for a total boost of 75,000 hp. An icebreaker
does not cut their way through the ice, they use their power to ride up
on the ice and the weight of their hull breaks it. Lets move on to the
model.
Having
the fiberglass hull now I need to place all running gear and RC equipment
inside before the main construction could begin. The main deck was made
of 1/8" marine playwood and covered with plastic sheet to hide the wood
grain and protect it from the elements for I did see future use in the
ice and bad weather.
The superstructure
was made with lexan as frame work and sheet plastic to keep it light as
possible. I carved the stacks and crane post from wood, which I don't
remember anymore but it was a hard wood. I made the port side crane
to operate to retrieve stranded models on the lake. I found some gear drive
units at an eletonics store. These were used to swing the crane out and
raise and lower a hook. when on the lake I would put a treble hook on the
crane and this was used to snag a railing or deck fitting of a disabled
model in which had been put to use several times. With the hook being paid
out I need not worry about the model hulls rubbing together and messing
up ones paint job.
At the time of building
there wasn't any CG logo decals in the size I needed. I did take note that
the bumper sticker on the cars entering and leaving the CG Academy did
have the logo on it and what do you know they were the size i needed. I
won't say how I got these, use your imaginenation and don't tell anyone,
besides this was 1988. I painted the hull using Floquil singnel red. At
the time the underwater was red with a boot top but now days all our icebreakes
have the entire lower hull painted black.
The helo on deck is an HH-52. I had
to carve the fuselage from a piece of hard wood and I put a motor from
an N scale locomotive in the fuselage to turn the main rotor. The
HH-65 helos were just coming on line at the time so I made one of those
as well and it is in the hanger.
This model made many trips to many states
for shows and just running in general. It also made it to Boston in August
1994 when the real Polar Sea moored after her trip down from the North
Pole. First time for an American surface vessel. I been in
touch with the skipper so this trip was pre-planned. The officers
and crew enjoyed giving the model a good going over and I came home with
many photos and a sweat shirt that did make it to the Pole.
I all this was a fun build and the enjoyment that
came from it was the best part. In 1993 I gave the model to the Coast Guard
Academy Museum in New London, CT. Hard to believe it's been twenty
years already.
