by Mario Grima
1/144 USS Grunion SS-316 (Trumpeter)
In building this submarine, I wanted to use as much of the kit as I could. So I used the kit tower and kit stock gun for the 3". The 3" was up detailed using parts from the IBS 1/144 4" submarine deck gun kit gun. I don't feel that the Trumpy 3" is a bad gun just an under detailed one. The water cooled browning 50 cal AA gun was also up detailed including the coolant tubes to the barrel jacket ,trigger bars and a 100 round "thombstone" ammo can The IBS anchor well upgrades were also added. The added stern plane guards and prop guards are made of metal. The torpedo doors on the bow were reworked to look more like the early Gatos. The stern doors are in the open position so they protrude outward on the back. The early Gato under hull vents were drawn out with a ruler/marker and were then drilled out. The edge railing was added to the tower sides. I choose the lost submarine Grunion since the conning tower appeared similar to that of the stock Trumpy Gato kit.
