today's work

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Permit me to introduce myself: I'm David Douglass Merriman lll One of the finest scale model builders you'll ever have the pleasure of knowing.

Introduction made.

Ellie and I formed D&E Miniatures nearly fifty years ago. A sole proprietorship business, we initially built industrial display pieces for defense contractors, one-offs for collectors, and also produced and sold both vacuformed and cast resin model kits. We later expanded our activities to include work for the motion picture and TV industry designing and building effects miniatures, and concluded our business producing product for the r/c submarine hobby.

My first r/c model submarine was a spin-off of a job we did for the Librascope company, a 1/96 scale AKULA submarine they used at trade-shows to illustrate the 'Soviet Threat' to potential customers. The model you see hanging from the ceiling.



Built in the late 80's the model was basic of detail, and some features just were not correct with what we now know of these boats today; the display was 'best guess' for what the AKULA looked like -- based only on some grainy pictures gotten from a Jane's Defense Annual and a few other even more dubious sources.



About a year after that job I took the tooling and laid up a hull and cast resin and metal appendages and produced an AKULA suitable for radio-control. My first r/c submarine. The innards went through many, many iterations, but eventually I had a reliable, well running model submarine.





Years later I gave this boat to a friend who operated it a while with some success. The model eventually wound up recently in the hands of my Torpedoman buddy, Dave, 'Jake' Jacobson.

The time had come to repair damage and get my old AKULA back up and running with a new r/c system and removable water tight cylinder. That work is ongoing and should be wrapped up in a week or so.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

[TAGood827]

Tim, it's time for you to discover the rewarding world of, scratch-building stuff.

Yes sir, I know that's where this is headed.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

David,
do you use Brylcreem in your hair? I remember as a youth, they called it “greasy kid stuff”. My dad, a retired jarhead, used to make me get a flat top at the barber, and that’s what they used to keep the front up.

Nope. Crisco. It's in the hair-care isle at Walmart.

[Das Boot]

David,
do you use Brylcreem in your hair? I remember as a youth, they called it “greasy kid stuff”. My dad, a retired jarhead, used to make me get a flat top at the barber, and that’s what they used to keep the front up.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I've always felt I was always a little behind on things.


Thanks for the info!


Tim

Tim, it's time for you to discover the rewarding world of, scratch-building stuff.

[redboat219]

Bob was working on his own 2" wtc which was based off of the 2.5" R&R cylinder ( reversible pump with vented tank ballast system). Maybe he can provide you with one.

[TAGood827]

Tim,

We worked as a vendor to the Caswell company initially. Eventually, Mr. Caswell sold his 'submarine' side of the business -- as well as our services -- roughly ten years ago to Mr. Martin of Nautilus Drydocks, who became the sole distributor of D&E Miniatures products, including our line of fittings kits.

Eventually, after my retirement (soon after my partners death), I sent all tooling and most masters of the fittings kits (the SEAVIEW fittings kit among them) to Mr. Martin. What became of all that, I do not know.

You're on your own, pal.

David

I've always felt I was always a little behind on things.


Thanks for the info!


Tim

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

@HeWhoShallNotBeNamed,

Dropping another Seaview question for you.

During a late night research session, I came across an old post from you regarding a D&E Seaview Sub-Driver Kit available from Caswell Plating for the 1/128 Seaview model by Moebius. I went over to Caswell to see if it was still available but I didn't find it listed on their site. This post and the linked PDF Build Manual was from 2008 so I wasn't totally surprised.

Is this kit still being manufactured, perhaps by someone else? Or has it been replaced by a new, better version?

Just for reference.


Thanks,


Tim

Tim,

We worked as a vendor to the Caswell company initially. Eventually, Mr. Caswell sold his 'submarine' side of the business -- as well as our services -- roughly ten years ago to Mr. Martin of Nautilus Drydocks, who became the sole distributor of D&E Miniatures products, including our line of fittings kits.



Eventually, after my retirement (soon after my partners death), I sent all tooling and most masters of the fittings kits (the SEAVIEW fittings kit among them) to Mr. Martin. What became of all that, I do not know.

You're on your own, pal.

David

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

@HeWhoShallNotBeNamed,

Dropping another Seaview question for you.

During a late night research session, I came across an old post from you regarding a D&E Seaview Sub-Driver Kit available from Caswell Plating for the 1/128 Seaview model by Moebius. I went over to Caswell to see if it was still available but I didn't find it listed on their site. This post and the linked PDF Build Manual was from 2008 so I wasn't totally surprised.

Is this kit still being manufactured, perhaps by someone else? Or has it been replaced by a new, better version?

Just for reference.


Thanks,


Tim

Tim,

We worked as a vendor to the Caswell company initially. Eventually, Mr. Caswell sold his 'submarine' side of the business -- as well as our services -- roughly ten years ago to Mr. Martin of Nautilus Drydocks, who became the sole distributor of D&E Miniatures products, including our line of fittings kits.



Eventually, after my retirement (soon after my partners death), I sent all tooling and most masters of the fittings kits (the SEAVIEW fittings kit among them) to Mr. Martin. What became of all that, I do not know.

You're on your own, pal.

David

[TAGood827]

@HeWhoShallNotBeNamed,

Dropping another Seaview question for you.

During a late night research session, I came across an old post from you regarding a D&E Seaview Sub-Driver Kit available from Caswell Plating for the 1/128 Seaview model by Moebius. I went over to Caswell to see if it was still available but I didn't find it listed on their site. This post and the linked PDF Build Manual was from 2008 so I wasn't totally surprised.

Is this kit still being manufactured, perhaps by someone else? Or has it been replaced by a new, better version?

Just for reference.


Thanks,


Tim

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

[trout]

Putting on decals, I like a gloss coat. Even weathering there are times a gloss coat is beneficial, panel lines as an example. Gloss allows the paint to go into the grooves and clean up easier. On a flat finish, it will "stain" the finish and darken areas you may not want impacted.