New Models in Stock

The long awaited models from OKB Grigorov have arrived.

We have the following models in stock:

USS Skipjack-class SSN - $20

USS Sturgeon class SSN - $20

USS Permit-class SSN - $20

USS Tulibee (SSN-597) - $20

USS Ohio class SSBN / SSGN - $40

Russian Borei-class SSBN - $40

Russian Yasen-class SSN - $35

Russian November-class SSN - $25

French Redoutable-class SSBN - $35

As you would expect for 1/700 resin kits, the part count is low, with most kits having four resin parts and one photo-etched metal part.

- Hull

- Starboard diving plane

- Port diving plane

- Propeller (photo-etched)

- Dunce cap (the cone-shaped part on the back of the propeller)

There is also a display stand in each kit.

All kits are "full-hull", that is, they show the entire ship, including the part that would normally be underwater. The hulls have a resin block along the keel, which will have to be carefully removed and sanded smooth before painting. If you've never built a resin kit before, this is normal and expected.

Overall detail is good. When comparing the model to the available (unclassified) blueprints that are available, it doesn't look like OKB missed anything. All the various hatches, torpedo tube doors, and intakes are there.

That's not to say that these kits are perfect. There are occasional bubbles, small voids and rough spots in the molds. These are to be expected in resin kits and are easy to fix. The vertical rudders are often rough and lacking the seam that should show the separation between the rudder and the rudder stock, but this should also be easy to fix and again, isn't completely a surprise to anyone who has built resin ship models.

The four SSN kits were examined in detail.

The Tulibee kit has excellent detail, but appears to have the after PUFFS array in the wrong position, at least as compared to the "as built" drawings that I have on hand. The arrays themselves also don't look quite right, but both position and appearance are relatively easy to fix. USS Tulibee (SSN-597) was a unique submarine.

The Skipjack and Sturgeon class kits have excellent detail, as does the Permit-class kit, which is incorrectly labeled as a "Thresher" class (the entire class was renamed after USS Thresher (SSN-593) was lost in an accident in 1963).

Since this was the first order of kits from this company, only limited numbers of each kit were ordered (only one in some cases), so if you want one, call or e-mail soon.

Sales tax is included in the price, but postage will be "at cost".