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  1. USS Skipjack Revell 1:72 USS Skipjack (SSN-585), the lead ship of her class of nuclear-powered attack submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named after the Skipjack tuna. The other boats in the class were:- USS Scamp (SSN-588), launched 1960, decommissioned 1988 USS Scorpion (SSN-589), launched 1959, lost 1968 USS Sculpin (SSN-590), launched 1960, decommissioned 1990 USS Shark (SSN-591), launched 1960, decommissioned 1990 USS Snook (SSN-592), launched 1960, decommissioned 1988 Her keel was laid down on 29 May 1956 by the Electric Boat Division of the General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 26 May 1958 The Skipjack's design was based on the successful Barbel-class submarines that were based on the USS Albacore design. The design of the Skipjacks was very different from the Skate-class submarines that preceded the Skipjacks. Unlike the Skates, this new design was maximized for underwater speed by shaping the hull like a blimp. This required that the single screw was aft of the rudders and dive planes. This so called "body-of-revolution hull" reduced her surface sea-keeping, but was essential for underwater performance. Skipjack's hull was also a single hull design, where the pressure hull and outer hull are the same for most of the length of the ship. The bow planes were moved to the massive sail to cut down on flow-induced noise near the bow sonar array. This design feature would be repeated on all U.S. nuclear submarines until the improved Los Angeles-class submarine. The small "turtleback" behind the sail was the exhaust piping of the auxiliary diesel generator. Other experiments in design also benefited Skipjack by allowing the vessel to be built with improved steel. Even the controls and the anchor were changed in the development of the new submarine. In the core, a "second generation" S5W reactor advance of the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) reactor was installed, allowing the ship to travel at full power for 90,000 to 100,000 miles (161,000 km). Nuclear power had already been discovered, but the reactor was such an advance on Nautilus's reactor that it entirely changed its magnitude and capability. Furthermore, although the S5W reactor was thirty percent bigger than Nautilus's reactor, the reactor compartment on Skipjack only occupied twenty feet of the ship's 252 feet (77 m) total length. (This reactor proved so efficient the Navy began to mass-order them). Finally, the design of the core was such that it became the new standard of accessibility. The S5W was used on 98 U.S. nuclear submarines and the first British nuclear submarine, HMS Dreadnought. The George Washington-class SSBN submarines were based on the Skipjack design. The hull of Scorpion was laid down twice as the original hull was redesigned to become the first US ballistic missile submarine George Washington. Also, the material for building Scamp was diverted into building Theodore Roosevelt, which delayed her progress. The model The kit is a re-boxing of the Moebius release of last year. The box is naturally huge; being roughly the same size as Revells U-boat releases. On the front is a representation of the submarine at speed on the surface. On opening the box it is a little disappointing in that, whilst the parts are large, there aren’t many of them. This seems natural for any model of a nuclear submarine which has very few surface details, unlike the submarines of old. The kit is made up of the hull, sail, and three sprues of light grey styrene. The hull is split into four parts, two bow sections, each 530mm long and two stern, each of 520mm, the split being longitudinally along the hulls sides and transversely at the midpoint. There are between two and four large sprue gates on each part, which look like they will need some care when removing without damaging the mouldings. The rest of the parts appear well moulded with only a small amount of flash, mainly around the sprues, rather than the parts themselves. There are also several moulding pips on some of the smaller parts such as the periscopes and aerials, but nothing to really worry about. The build starts, with the joining of the two forward hull parts. The large pins and sockets should make for a positive fitting, once the sprue gates have been cleaned up. It might be an idea to clean up the seam as much as possible at this point to save on doing one very long seam in one hit. The two part rear diveplanes and propeller boss are built up to be fitted between the rear hull parts, with the subsequent cleaning up as per the bow section. With the two halves of the hull assembled they can now be joined together. There is a large lip that slips into the bow section giving a prospectively strong join. From dry fitting it appears that there shouldn’t be too much of a seam to fill and clean up, although extra care should be taken as it will stand out if not perfectly filled and sanded. With the main hull section complete the instructions call out for the stands to be fitted which will probably make the rest of the build easier, but don’t glue them in as they will need to be removed for painting. Also constructed are the two part, sail mounted diveplanes, in preparation for fitting later. The build then moves on to the sail. This is made up from two halves and the top. Between the halves there is a small wedge shaped part to be attached. Once the main parts are assembled the four clear parts are then added, followed by the previously assembled diveplanes and their joining pin, which goes right through the sail allowing the diveplanes to move together. The completed sail can then be attached to the hull. Moving to the stern there are four blocked lengths that attach between the diveplanes and the rudders. The instructions show that the propeller is to be fitted at this point, but it would probably be best to leave it until all painting has been completed. The upper and lower rudders, each consisting of two parts are constructed and attached to the stern via the unglued rudder post which passes through the hull. At this point the four metal parts, (possibly drains/vents), are glued over the moulded plates on the lower hull. The final parts to be assembled are the various periscopes, masts, snorkel and aerials, the majority of which are in two halves, which when complete can all be added to the top of the sail in their respective positions. At this point it is a shame that the conning position hatch has been moulded closed as it would have been nice to have a couple of crewmembers on watch in an open position to give the submarine a bit of life, at least as an option. With construction complete it’s on with the painting and it’s at this point that you have to decide which of the class is being modelled as each sub has a different scheme. Due to the size of the periscopes and masts, the camouflage scheme as seen on some of the class should be fairly easy to replicate rather than resorting to decals which are required on smaller scale submarines. Decals The decals supplied provide optional pennant numbers and names for each boat of the class, as well as a selection of common decals such as depth marks, retractable bollard markings and two large red/orange panels for the upper deck. I’m unconvinced about the colour of the panels, as from research, they look more orange on the real boats. That said all the decals are well printed, with good colour density and in register. They are quite matt though and the carrier film is quite visible, so will probably require a good gloss coat before applying, and followed by a matt coat to finish. Conclusion Whilst this model appears to be relatively easy to build, the sheer size of the kit will make for an interesting build, particularly with the filling and sanding of the long seams on the sides and around the centre section. The completed model will certainly look very impressive and I’m very pleased that Revell have taken to re-popping the still relatively new Moebius kit. If you like big models and/or submarines then this is definitely one for you. There is also a R/C kit for this model if you really want to have a working submarine in your fleet. Recommended. Revell Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit
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