Kit manfacturer: Hobby Boss

Vehicle type: Submarines

Engine type: Nuclear

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Model scale: 1:350

Good day, dear colleagues!

I present to your attention my model of the nuclear submarine “Astute” of Royal Navy.

Submarines of the type “Astute” are the latest ones in the Royal Navy, the head boat of the project is H.M.S Astute itself. It was founded on January 31, 2001 (shipyard BAE Systems in Barrow-in-Furness), launched on June 15, 2007, transferred to the Navy on August 31, 2008 and entered into service on August 27, 2010.

Twice the submarine “lit up” in the news: October 22, 2010, it ran aground in the area of island Skye, and April 8, 2011 the watchman killed an officer of this submarine when it was standing in at the base.

The main performance characteristics of the submarine:

• Displacement above water 6500 tons, scuba displacement 7800 tons.
• Overall length (at the design waterline) 97.0 m, largest width 11,3 m, draft (at the design waterline) 10.0 m.
• Power plant is single-shaft, it consists of 1 “Rolls-Royce” reactor PWR2 and 2 turbines “Elstome”. The submarine is equipped with a water jet nozzle.
• The speed (underwater) is 29 knots, the maximum immersion depth – 300 m.
• Armament: 6 nasal 533 mm TAs with the possibility of launching of missiles from them.
• Missiles KR “Tomahawk” or RCC “Sub-Harpoon”, torpedoes “Spearfish”.
• The ammunition includes up to 38 torpedoes, missiles or mines.
• Crew: 98 people, including 12 officers.

Brief submarine model description

Now up to the model. The kit is by Hobby Boss, the connectivity of halves of the housing is not very good, I had to put spacers inside the halves, everything else was very nice. As for the improvements: I fixed jambs of the manufacturer concerning doors on both sides and added cutting rails (Daniel’s model (Danila 77’s) helped me very much, I based my work on it). I added wind deflector on the cabin and some small things in VU (I guided by the photos). I welded decals with Mr. Mark Softer fluid. I didn’t want to dirty and spot the submarine model, and I left it clean. Painting was carried out with acrylic Italeri and Tamiya, I also used black wash by Vallejo and grey wash by Mig Cold Grey.

Enjoy watching.

Best regards, Alex

Don