Modifications for the SAS Emily Hobhouse

The SA Navy bought three Daphne class submarines. With regard to the South African Navy, the three submarines in service are Maria van Riebeeck (S97), Emily Hobhouse (S98) and Johanna van der Merwe (S99). S97 has been out of the water in Simonstown naval yard for a considerable period now, while of S99 I have seen no sign. S98 was open to tourists at the Waterfront in Cape Town during the 75th anniversary celebrations of the SA Navy earlier in the year. Comparing photos of the S97 and S98, the differences between the two submarines are visible. I used 898 as the prototype for my conversion.

It appears that the SA Navy modified their submarines to accept a greater weight of fuel to extend range. As a result they rode lower in the water aft than their French counterparts. Photos of S98 show a different stern casing, possibly to reduce weight and so counteract the effects of extra fuel. Instead of a square casing covering both sets of tubes, S98 has a contoured casing which leaves the tubes much more exposed and the caps visible. These can be made quite easily from plasticard. The kit casing will need to be filed and cut to shape, and the forward set of tubes require some putty to get the right appearance. The result is aesthetically much more pleasing than the original square casing. This is the
main external difference between the two SA Navy boats I have seen. A major difference between the French boats and the SA Navy ones is the larger sonar dome fitted under the bow of the SA Navy boats. The kit bow will have to be built up using putty and plasticard. This is not a difficult job, though it does take a while to get the right shape. 

The casing deck has a number of protrusions: a flagstaff fore and aft, a handrail section aft of the bridge, a set of bollards forward, and a small cylindrical object just aft of these. I did not think the hatches fore and aft worth representing. The bridge has, according to my photos, only one door on the starboard side, so the kit's bridge's port side door can be filled. The rear of the conning tower has a semicircular protrusion, and further down the rear of the bridge is an indentation. These need to be added. The snorkel mast - I think that is what it is - at the rear of the bridge is placed so that there is a substantial indentation in the port side of the bridge structure.

To the left of the snorkel is a very tall whip aerial. Just forward of the snorkel mast is an antenna mast, and forward of that two fairings, one on either side of the bridge. Further forward the two periscopes are positioned next to one another.

Painting

Originally the French boats were painted overall blue-grey. This appears to have been the case for the SA Navy boats too, although the South Easter article claimed that the boats were painted in red, black and blue-grey. S97 shows an overall blue-grey, the waterline being visible and showing that the boat was still in its original configuration - it obviously does not ride lower in the water aft. S97 is painted in an overall black scheme. I have no references as to the underwater colour, but I assume it to be black too. I therefore painted the kit overall black, and then sprayed a coat of gloss varnish so I could apply decals. The kit decals are of poor quality - they are too wide, although the height is correct. Accordingly, I made replacement decals from a Superscale sheet of US 600 ID letters (sheet 72-228), which includes 6" high letters and numbers, matching perfectly with the 2mm high requirement for 1/400 scale. The only problem was, the decals were black, whereas the submarine markings are red. So I painted the black decals over with red a few times, and cut them out very carefully using a sharp scalpel and ruler.

The plimsoll markings on the hull and the boat name on the bridge were hand painted in red on clear decal sheet and then cut out and applied to the model. After sealing the decals with first another coat of gloss and then a coat of matt varnish, I weathered the boat. Photos show rust and weathered paint on casing and bridge. Lastly I added rigging from stretched sprue, and made flags from thin plasticard which had been dipped in glue, bent to shape, and then hand-painted. The model looks a lot better than straight from the box with very few additions. The conversion to an SA Navy boat is minor and does not take long either. So overall, a very nice kit to build.