I've always found submarines
fascinating, yet I must admit my depth - no pun intended
- of knowledge of their functions & systems is surpassed
only by my ignorance of quantum physics. In other words,
I don't know very much about them, other than the fact
that they're one of the few types of seafaring vessels
that are actually encouraged to sink.
This was a deceptively
time consuming kit. There are very few parts so it looked
like it would go together in about ten minutes and get
finished off in an afternoon. In fact, the upper and lower
hull parts fit quite poorly so a lot of time was spent
filling, priming and sanding to get a smooth finish. Care
was needed to ensure that the round hull stayed round
and no flat spots developed during this process. Despite
the small parts count and miniscule dimensions of the
completed model (a hair over 6 inches long) it actually
took me several evenings to complete.
I used White Ensign Models
Hull Red and Humbrol Coal Black for the main hull. The
painting instructions call for the demarcation between
the two colours to go right around the bow in a straight
line and I initially finished it this way, however on
reflection and looking at pics of the Seawolf taken shortly
after it was rolled out of the assembly shed it would
appear that the nose is made of a different material.
I have a vague memory of reading somewhere that radar
housings in submarines are actually fibreglass or some
kind of composite material. Having seen pictures of other
models with the nose a solid colour I decided to go the
same route and overpainted it in Coal Black, on the basis
that fibreglass wouldn't need to be painted anti-fouling
red like the rest of the hull. That's my theory and I'm
sticking to it.
Hobbyboss would also have
you paint the periscopes and other sticky-out bits on
the sail (or is it a conning tower??) white with black
splodges, however pictures show these to be light grey
with dark grey splodges so that's how I did mine. I'm
guessing the splodges are some kind of 'dazzle' camouflage
that helps disguise them when they stick out above the
water.
The decals are nicely printed and thin but a couple of
them did silver a bit even on the semi-gloss black finish.
Note also that the instructions show the numbers 21 too
far forward but of course I didn't discover this until
it was too late. They should be pretty much in the middle
of the sail/conning tower/thingy. Final finish is Poly
Scale clear flat as usual, except the aforementioned nose
in semi gloss black.
Back
to 1/700 Subs Main