B-271 Kolpino Submarine (1:350 scale)

Another recently found interest of mine are submarines. This interest appeared after visiting the Seaplane Harbour museum, in Talin, Estonia. The center piece of their collection is the submarine (EML Lembit) with the impressive distinction of being the one with the longest service life on record (first commissioned in 1934 and decommissioned in 2011). This visit was so impressive (at least for me) that I decided to build a small collection of submarine models.  I settled for 1:350 scale as I think it provides a nice compromise between size and detail. For my first project I was looking for something simple and I ended up picking a modern submarine (which usually have more streamlined shapes), a Kilo class, from Bronco Models.

Its construction was trouble free and the limited number of parts made it a very quick project. The only aspect that detracted from the look I was aiming for were the various antenna, periscope and other sensors, which were nicely molded in plastic, but slightly over-scaled. It was decided to replace this parts with scratched built items, made from brass rod and tubing.

These items were shaped mostly using a file while holding the brass stock in a pin vise or on and mini-drill (turning it and shaping with files and sandpaper). I have also used a very small mill setup to make the periscope and the radar style antenna, although they could be shaped with the same pin-vise and file method (but I would have to pay more attention, maintaining constant angles while filing the parts to shape). This is a simple way to improve details that other wise would be hard to create using the kit’s plastic parts.

This same method can be used to create all kind of simple parts for any model and it is a simple way to improve these small submarine models. I hope you find it useful for your own projects.