A journal following the history, design, construction and operation of Bernard Kempinski's O Scale model railroad depicting the U. S. Military Railroad (USMRR) Aquia-Falmouth line in 1863, and other model railroad projects.
©Bernard Kempinski All text and images, except as noted, on this blog are copyrighted by the author and may not be used without permission.
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June 8, 2017

Model WWI Era Sub Chaser


Over the past few weeks I have been building a 1/35th scale model of a 110-ft wooden WWI era Sub Chaser. This is a static model destined for the the Lyceum Museum. It will be part of their display on Alexandria's role in WWI.   The exhibit is scheduled to open at the end of June 2017.

Many people today do not realize that Alexandria once had a thriving manufacturing sector. During WWI, factories and ship yards in Alexandria produced twenty wooden sub chasers (numbers 189-208), ten larger steel freighters, and several float planes for the war effort.  Now, those industries are gone replaced by law firms, lobbying groups, web advertising agencies, and tourist services.

The model is not yet complete. I have been posting build photos on my Facebook Page. Here are some in-progress shots. The model is mostly scratch built, but I am using some detail parts from the Dumas R/C kit. That kit is destined for use on ponds and doesn't really meet museum quality standards.

If you want to learn more about the WWI sub chasers, there is an excellent web archive at sub chaser.org



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