by Mario Grima
1/72 USS Puffer SS-268 (Revell/IBS)
The model represents the USS Puffer as she appeared in Subic bay after the war hostilities ended circa late August 1945. During this period US Submarine crews enjoyed decorating their submarines. Some painted towers with mission marking ,dragons, Mascots , bow shark mouths, war flags, kill flags, etc..... . USS Puffer went above and beyond in that the entire submarine was painted like a giant barracuda fish/sea monster. How did this occur? Puffer had a secret weapon on board besides its torpedoes and deck guns. This secret weapon was a sailor by the name of Robert Kennedy, (Not related to the President one) Robert was a fantastic artist. The Puffers end of the war decorations are the most exotic an American WWII Submarine that I have ever researched. The Puffer itself had a very active war record, and was noted for a very long grueling enemy dept charge incident.
For the Revell model Gato conversion, The models hull was made as WTC accessible hull, with all control rods in position for rc functions. For the cut down Gato conversion itself, I treated the revell tower as the way the Navy yard would have done to real gatos. I was very pleased with the outcome. To make the pointy tail end of the tower , I developed a plug thats designed to adapt to the stock revell tower. Once the tail is cut off the plug is glued in place. . I made two different variants of this plug and a third is in the works in order to cover all cut down Gatos with the pointy or blunt ends and is the cheapest conning tower conversion that you can get for the 1/72 revell gato at IBS. I also used some Eduards Gato PE sets, Modelflags 48 star US war time flag. The stock revell masts were re altered for the puffers style masts and the electrical lines were also added to the masts. The 5" deck gun, the SS radar mast, water shields, extra gun lockers , feeders , corrective marker buoy ,anchor/anchor wells, inbound bumpers all IBS.
The models markings & artwork- The Shark mouth , puffer fish tower figure, the pine trees, sunk ship silhouettes I painted free hand following actual photographs from the sources below. .
References & Sources - Special Thanks To Frank Berger, for sharing his Dad's War photos on the Baya website, Craig Mcdonald who's dad served aboard the USS Puffer during WWII, & author "The USS Puffer in WWII" Mcfarland & Company, Inc. Publishers . Thanks to their help and Professor McDonald's Puffer book, a lot of light was shed on the Puffer to fill in some of the missing puzzle pieces for me. Special Thanks also to Navsource & the Baya Website Also one more special thanks to Robert Kennedy for his service, imagination & creation.
