Airfix 1/350 Trafalgar Fleet Submarine - 3rd Feb update

[Deleted]

Hi all,

after a friend of mine saw the recently screened and outstanding superb TV documentary 'The Silent Service' he asked me to build his kit of the Trafalgar class British nuclear submarine.

The TV Doc went into great detail of the UK and US's cold war battles with the Soviet fleet. Those were brave sailors, on both sides.

One part left me speechless, when the first Soviets put their new ICBM armed aircraft carrier, the Kiev, to sea they had no idea that less than 15 feet under her keel was a Royal Naval sub!

Can you imagine being in a steel tube under this?

picture for reference only.

On with the thread.

Boxart which shows some nice details for painting / weathering

There are only two sprues. Details are nice if a little soft here and there but nothing a trace with the scribe won't sort.

Decal sheet includes sonar panels and the names of all the boats in the fleet

Painting guide is nice and clear. Give a choice of black or black .  This is a bit disappointing as unlike most other submarine services the UK do paint the boats depending on what they might be up to. There's a blue/brown dazzle scheme as shown in the Airfix mag. A semi-gloss blue and a semi-gloss dull red scheme trialled by Babcock for the RN (and maybe even used in service) 

In the first Gulf War two boats were painted, one brown/sand and the other sand/green.

So after only an hour, you get this. The parts fitted well so just a bit of clean up on the joins when all is fully set.

As this is a build for a friend with the promise of a nice bottle red to launch her, this one I must finish

ACW as ever

[Deleted]

Steve,I saw that on the iPlayer the other night,and yer right,it was a cracking documentary.I know,this is a relatively small kit,but they do look VERY good,when they're finished well!!!

[Deleted]

Dec 22, 2013 16:27:28 GMT -5 @chrisb said:

Steve,I know,this is a relatively small kit,but they do look VERY good,when they're finished well!!!

No pressure then!  Not only do I have to finish it but now I've got to finish it well     

[TRM]

Nice one Steve!! Of course it does remonde me I have something that needs finishing...but then again, what doesn't?!! LOL!! Keep it going!!!

[Deleted]

Oops missed yer there MrT   
I thought I remembered you started a sub a while back, a US bomber wasn't it? If so it's bigger than this one by quite a bit 

Not not much progress today apart from cleaning up the seams so not worth a pic yet.
oh yeah, the colour has been chosen. It's semi- gloss blue over black HMS Torbay just after her re-fit. Lucky choice for me as this means I don't need to try and replicate missed rubber tiles ... Phew! 
Here's a pic of her in her blue with a standard black for reference. Pic for reference only.

[Deleted]

Hiya MrD, 
I had no idea of just how 'hot' the Cold War was for our submariners until I saw the doc on TV. Brave men one and all 

A guy I know was aircrew on Nimrods when the pack of Soviet subs charged through the line, "the surge" he called it. His crew spent hours hunting them without much luck!
He's got a picture of an Su27 Flanker buzzing their Nimrod real close to drive them off as they were tracking another Soviet carrier a few years later. You can literally see the Russian pilots eyeballs !

[bbd468]

Hiya Steve, can i take a Submarine ride too? I know there may be a weight issue with me, so you'll have to kick Nemo off to compensate......hes already been on a Sub ride!   J/K Nems.   Either way, im in!

[Deleted]

Welcome aboard Brother Gary !  There's plenty of room in here... Just sit in the middle of the boat would ya?   

[bbd468]

LMAO   Not the first time ive been asked that!

[modelfreak72]

Well that was quick! Looking good Steve!

[Deleted]

Cheers MF72   In fairness there weren't many parts and they went together well    Welcome to the blog BTW 

[wbill76]

Cool project Steve, looking forward to more on this one!

[Deleted]

Hi,

quick update, more to push me along than anything else    My mate is asking when he might see his kit back as a completed model!

Anyhoo, real poor iPhone pic of a black sub against a white background

Coat of blue going on the upper hull surfaces and tower. Better photos when that done

Cheers

Steve

[Deleted]

Black and white is cheaper to print too 

As for the tiles, I've found another picture of HMS Torbay with a part black and part blue upper hull. The main areas appear mottled , the tiles?, and the bare metal areas are gloss black. The walkway on the upper hull is matt black/grey non-slip.  A bit more masking but I think it'll look better in the end 

I need to get her moving though in any case 

[wbill76]

Any progress is good progress Steve! Now you've got some pressure to finish it...the owner's calling!

[Deleted]

After reading a few comments from the Boss on the lack of ships... I thought I'd update my submarine build, well it's in the water ain't it ?

The plan was to paint her in overall navy blue as HMS Torbay, however when I looked closer at the picture I noticed a difference on the tower that really needs to be added to the kit to look right. So a change of plan, we're doing HMS Tranchant instead.

This is the one with sky blue, grey and black and more importantly, can be built from the box

So, for reference only, here's where I'm going

and here's where we are

You'll see that I over painted the black with grey matt. This was masked where the anti-slip walkway was then the sky blue parts painted

tomorrow the sea grey. I must have this done by the end of the month, me buddy wants it back

[bbd468]

Hiya Steve! Good to see an update bro, gonna look pretty sweet me thinks.

[modelfreak72]

Looks good Steve!

[DeafStuG]

Nice start with painting. :-)

[wbill76]

Nice start to the paint work Steve! Nothing wrong with switching ships to what can be built from the box...the other solution would get to show it as 'submerged' in a dio!

[Deleted]

Feb 4, 2014 21:15:44 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

Nice start to the paint work Steve! Nothing wrong with switching ships to what can be built from the box...the other solution would get to show it as 'submerged' in a dio!

Mmmm now there's an thought... 

[`Boots`]

Tick, tock.....tick, tock .........sorry mate, ya got loads of time yet

Looking suitably tube shaped and submersible fella.........fabulous job!!

[wbill76]

Feb 5, 2014 13:40:26 GMT -5 @dickyf said:

All this talk of submerged model kits - I was just reading an article about styrene being present in water - how great is that?? I'm off to get another glass!!!

Like you need another source of supply!

[Leon]

WOW this is looking good Steve.

[deafpanzer]

So smooth! Seam is invisible... great work!

[robbo]

Got this kit in the stash so looking where your going with it

[bullardino]

What a nice job you're doin on this, Steve