by Mario Grima
1/178 USS Wahoo SS-238 (Revell)
In this 1/178 Revell Lionfish kit conversion I used a Nautilus tower, and a JB (Jim Bird) cast metal mast array. The scope heads are the revell kits, The 4" deck gun is also the stock revell kits which I upgraded with of my own IBS parts. Railings are GMM 1/200 scale. I wanted to make Mush Morton's Wahoo, as she would have looked before the final refit were she would eventually have the rear prop guards removed along with the protruding stern degaussing cable. Also In the final configuration she would have had the 20 canon mount affixed on the support where the original 3 " gun had been behind the tower and small round limber holes on the deck edging added. On this model because of the time frame it should not have the rear cannon mount so I made it removable. There is most likely a few more differences between the way tower bows (round) in its back to that of the Wahoo. On the Masts for anyone who is not familiar with Jim's metal mast array, its a nice detailed crisp piece that makes build up very simple.He has them for different time frame variants. I based the extensive return trip weathering & chipping on a Photo of the Wahoo in the new Gato -Submarines in Action Book which Is a very helpful new book.
