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I thought I would post a few pictures of the Polar Bear Models Golf II resin kit. Polar Bear operates out of Severodvinsk, Russia, and makes virtually all Russian submarines in resin. I will do a build article on the Golf II in the next SCR. This kit is a bit of a challenge, as there are prominent seams that run the length of the submarine on both the deck and the keel. Removing/filling in without destroying details is....interesting. There are some other areas of the model assembly as well that can be perplexing, so say the least. The upside is that the kit matches exactly the drawings I have obtained from Russian of the Golf II.
The Golf II (Project 629A) was a diesel powered submarine that housed 3 missiles in the sail. These were large, liquid fueled missiles that required a keel extension to accomodate the missile length. They were launched from underwater, and their range was 750 nautical miles and the warhead was a 1 megaton hydrogen bomb. In 1968, one of these submarines, the K-129, was lost in the mid Pacific Ocean in 16,400 feet of water. After the wreck was located by USS Halibut, employing towed camera/sonar, it was decided to try to recover the front half of the wreck (which was in 3 pieces on the ocean floor). The CIA directed expedition, Project Azorian, built a large ship, the Glomar Explorer, which lowered down a sophisticated grappling device to enclose the wreck and lift it to the surface. This 1974 mission was partially successful.
The director of the lift operation, David Sharp, has written a book about the operation (The CIA's Greatest Covert Operation: Inside the Daring Mission to Recover a Nuclear-Armed Soviet Sub), which is currently under development by producer Ridley Scott as a feature film (tentatively entitled "Neither Confirm nor Deny"). I have emailed David over the years and was surprised to find that he did not have a model of the Golf II, although he still has a small piece of the K-129 hull itself. I bought two kits, one for him and one for myself, and the photos below are of the kit I assembled for him. I will be driving down to Annapolis from the Boston area in early April to hand deliver it, 'cause I don't trust any of the delivery services to get it there in one piece.
The Golf II (Project 629A) was a diesel powered submarine that housed 3 missiles in the sail. These were large, liquid fueled missiles that required a keel extension to accomodate the missile length. They were launched from underwater, and their range was 750 nautical miles and the warhead was a 1 megaton hydrogen bomb. In 1968, one of these submarines, the K-129, was lost in the mid Pacific Ocean in 16,400 feet of water. After the wreck was located by USS Halibut, employing towed camera/sonar, it was decided to try to recover the front half of the wreck (which was in 3 pieces on the ocean floor). The CIA directed expedition, Project Azorian, built a large ship, the Glomar Explorer, which lowered down a sophisticated grappling device to enclose the wreck and lift it to the surface. This 1974 mission was partially successful.
The director of the lift operation, David Sharp, has written a book about the operation (The CIA's Greatest Covert Operation: Inside the Daring Mission to Recover a Nuclear-Armed Soviet Sub), which is currently under development by producer Ridley Scott as a feature film (tentatively entitled "Neither Confirm nor Deny"). I have emailed David over the years and was surprised to find that he did not have a model of the Golf II, although he still has a small piece of the K-129 hull itself. I bought two kits, one for him and one for myself, and the photos below are of the kit I assembled for him. I will be driving down to Annapolis from the Boston area in early April to hand deliver it, 'cause I don't trust any of the delivery services to get it there in one piece.
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