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I just received two polystyrene kits of Parche, SSN 683 from the Ukrainian outfit, Mikromir. These are the early Spec Ops version, with the saturation diving chamber on the stern and a guesstimate as to under hull installations. The other is the later 1990 post conversion Parche, with the forward 100 foot hull extension and again, a guess as to under hull installations. The guesses are based on Hal Sutton’s conjectural drawings on his Covert Shores web page. I am somewhat skeptical about the under hull large gondola on both versions, as it would add considerable drag. I also don’t know why such a large installation would be necessary. If you have always been intrigued by the “Special Projects” subs, you can pick these up for $25-30 a piece and build your own spook fleet. In that regard, I should mention here that the resin 1/350 USS Halibut kit, which can also be built as a Special Project model is now in limited restock at Freetime Hobbies.
Also from Mikromir, a kit of the one off Tullibee, SSN 587. This was a prototype for a small, nuclear powered hunter sub. It featured the first bow sonar sphere and a DC turbo electric drive, rather than steam turbines coupled to the propeller. The kit comes with the PUFFS arrays, both the earlier, smaller set and the later much larger set. I have a resin version of Tullibee that I am completing as early Tullibee, and will do the Mikromir polystyrene kit as the later version.
Overall, the Mikromir kits are decent, have good accuracy, are fairly inexpensive, and can be built into nice display models.
Also from Mikromir, a kit of the one off Tullibee, SSN 587. This was a prototype for a small, nuclear powered hunter sub. It featured the first bow sonar sphere and a DC turbo electric drive, rather than steam turbines coupled to the propeller. The kit comes with the PUFFS arrays, both the earlier, smaller set and the later much larger set. I have a resin version of Tullibee that I am completing as early Tullibee, and will do the Mikromir polystyrene kit as the later version.
Overall, the Mikromir kits are decent, have good accuracy, are fairly inexpensive, and can be built into nice display models.