Tracked submarine!

Andrew Gorman · December 01, 2025, 04:47:02 PM

Mostly inspired by the WWII Seeteufel, but bigger and earlier. with input from the 1937 future war tank and various land battleships. Maybe MTB size (ca. 80'?). It floats, it submerges, it trundles up on the beach to wreak havoc and sinks beneath the waves. Main components are the hull of a Lindberg Nautilus, some cigar tubes and a resin recast of an XSL-01 off center nose cone. More will be added as the spirit moves. The big oval pieces may end up as part of the conning tower. Tracks will be modified from a cheap T-90 kit from AliExpress. The Battlefront 4 turned out to only have two tiger tanks in it, but I did get a refund from an honest eBay seller.
Seeteufel:
https://naval-encyclopedia.com/ww2/germany/seeteufel-1944.php
Future war tank:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TankPorn/comments/6g5f4h/future_war_tank_this_land_battleship_can_form_the/
Submarine land dreadnought:
https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroFuturism/comments/6ybzn8/the_submarineland_dreadnought_tank_will_dominate/

RAFF-35 · December 02, 2025, 02:33:43 AM

Damnit! I was going to do a Seeteufel derived idea for this GB

I thought it was obscure enough for no one else to do it

McColm · December 02, 2025, 02:38:33 AM

Quote from: RAFF-35 on December 02, 2025, 02:33:43 AMDamnit! I was going to do a Seeteufel derived idea for this GB I thought it was obscure enough for no one else to do it

There's nothing to say that you can't build the same thing but in your own way or the alternative.

Andrew Gorman · December 02, 2025, 08:24:23 AM

It's just inspired by the seeteufel, but more input from land battleships. Build away!

kerick · December 02, 2025, 09:02:04 AM

I'm sure there is no way two of these would come out anywhere near the same so I say build both.

Andrew Gorman · December 02, 2025, 06:40:11 PM

Made some progress. The cigar tubes were not styrene, but I was able to use them to rotocast (spin by hand in front of a bright light) a hollow interior mold with my two year old resin that miraculously still set. Added some of the stern taper, with a lot more to do. Need to cut the bow at an angle. Part of the 1/700 Typhoon will probably end up as part of the conning tower. Hemisperical turret from a nazi flying saucer kit should work on the deck. The T-90 kits were billed as 1/48, but that only works if you include the length of the gun barrel. It's something like 1/67 based on the hull. The tracks are overly simplified, but will look better opened up where they can be seen. Using resin, epoxy and isocyanate glues are things I usually don't do.

Andrew Gorman · December 04, 2025, 09:03:37 PM

I'm waiting for tube glue to set... I still enjoy squeezing it out of the tube. In a total bone headed move I forgot that the hull is going to be upside down, and chopped it up the wrong way, resulting NOT in a clipper bow but a ram bow... I tried to rationalize the ram bow, but it made the hull a centimeter or two shorter and I think I can make the clipper bow work. As a friend of mine used to say, "D.U.M Dumb"... The whole assembly is about 30% smaller than I imagined it to be so a lot of perfect parts are too darn big... Otherwise progress is good. Pictures when there is something to see.

Andrew Gorman · December 06, 2025, 10:15:33 PM

Coming together... I decided to embrace the ram bow and recover the cm or so of length loss. Just need to re skin the gap. Stern is looking pretty good, but my original main battery idea will just not fit on the smaller than imagined hull. My ship anchors and propellers are not really scaling out so I have to brainstorm, dig deeper or make my own. And if I continue to overthink, where would this beast be effective? A shallow rocky coast to crawl out of would help but with deeper water to submerge not far away. The gulf of Maine? my coastal geography is not that great.

kerick · December 07, 2025, 11:10:54 AM

The beaches of Hawaii. You might as well go for someplace beautiful while your at it.

NARSES2 · December 10, 2025, 05:35:41 AM

Quote from: kerick on December 07, 2025, 11:10:54 AMThe beaches of Hawaii. You might as well go for someplace beautiful while your at it.

North Shore of O'Ahu

Joe CalPo · December 16, 2025, 12:05:23 PM

Simon Lake's early submarines had wheels! They were for trundling the bottom of the water rather than going up on land, but why not?
There's even a replica of one in a town near me, Atlantic Highlands, NJ.

kerick · December 16, 2025, 09:28:15 PM

Quote from: NARSES2 on December 10, 2025, 05:35:41 AM
Quote from: kerick on December 07, 2025, 11:10:54 AMThe beaches of Hawaii. You might as well go for someplace beautiful while your at it.

North Shore of O'Ahu

Drive your submarine onto the beach on the North Shore, park it at Matsumoto's Grocery Store and stop in for some shaved ice. Rainbow flavor with a scoop of ice cream in the bottom of the cone. So good on a hot day!

NARSES2 · December 17, 2025, 06:00:22 AM

Yup

kerick · December 17, 2025, 06:37:44 AM

You sound like you've been there!

The middle pic on the right is the old store that was basically a shack on the beach. I was stationed in Hawaii in 87-91 and we went there often. They have an all new store now and still great.

Captain Canada · December 17, 2025, 09:32:09 AM

Cool build for sure ! Love the submarine dreadnought. It's got 500 cannons on it !