Fly Model 139 "SURCOUF" in 1:160

**Fishcarver** · #1 12-16-2010, 06:18 PM

Keeping with the unofficial Tractor Plant motto of "better living thru reckless experimentation", I have decided to try a build of the Fly Model #139 SURCOUF submarine cruiser.

This kit has been reviewed elsewhere. In its original form, it is in 1:100 scale.

I'm going to use the colour drawings of the 1940s colour scheme as per Profile Morskie #101.

**Fishcarver** · #2 12-16-2010, 06:23 PM

The first step was to make a good scan of the original kit. Not having room for a 40-inch- (1-meter)- plus model submarine, I decided that some rescaling was in order. "Best fit to page" on 8.5" x 11 stock yielded a model of 1:160 (N) scale.

**Fishcarver** · #3 12-16-2010, 06:26 PM

Now the fun begins! Using my reference material and Paint.net, I replaced the inaccurate sickly green parts of the model with a more-authentic Dark Sea Grey.

Stay tuned, and let us pray.....

Jim

**Don Boose** · #4 12-16-2010, 06:26 PM

Great project! Excellent recoloring!

How could you possibly be so lucky as to have "fit to page" come out to exactly 1/160?

Best wishes as you proceed with this one.

Don

**Fishcarver** · #5 12-16-2010, 06:45 PM

Don: Thanks for the kind words. Actually, 8.5 x 11 is almost exactly 1:160 of A3..... Better living thru reckless. (etc)

It will be interesting to see how this prints out..... no ink at present.....

Season's best!
Jim

**SJPONeill** · #6 12-16-2010, 07:50 PM

This going to be good - I've considered this model as well but the pukey green interior colours kept putting me off...at least Russian river monitors are just shades of grey...

**cjwalas** · #7 12-16-2010, 10:57 PM

I've never been able to track down a copy of this kit, much to my chagrin. But I'm really, truly looking forward to seeing your progress on this one and I concur that your recolor is making all the difference. I'm continually perplexed by many of the publishers' relentless use of simply bad colors on their kits. I may be missing something here (I usually am), but it doesn't seem all that hard to get the colors relatively close. Why do we continually have to recolor our kits to get them to look decent?
Continued success on this most worthy endeavor!
Chris

**Fishcarver** · #8 12-18-2010, 09:00 AM

For those who might be interested, there is some history and tech info on SURCOUF here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Surcouf_(N_N_3)

I printed out the sheets with the formers, and sat down with my trusty digital caliper and a calculator to see what my planned rescale was going to do to the stock thicknesses required for the formers. The heaviest stock required in the 1:100 version (2 mm) reduced to 1.5 mm on the 1:160, and I made a little conversion table for the rest, after doing a series of measurements.

I am going to go ahead now and laminate up the formers/cut them out, and start to frame up the hull.

More to Follow!
Jim

**Michael Mash** · #9 12-18-2010, 10:32 AM

Hello Jim,
Wonderful project. I am short of knowledge about French submarines, but as I understand it, this one carried a float plane? Looking forward to your work and the chance to learn more about this "undersea cruiser".
Mike

**treadhead1952** · #10 12-18-2010, 11:39 AM

Go Jim Go!

I will be lurking along watching your work your way through this one. I have a couple of the Fly Model 1/100 kits and have been holding off until I get a large format printer to be able to pop copies to keep the originals intact.