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Hello all! I thought I would try something a little bit different for a change. I have been building quite a few kits (and a scratch build) that took a lot of work, and needed something that I could just throw together. Looking through my stash I found this little kit. It did not have many parts, it was a relatively easy colour scheme and I decided to give it a go. Then I found it had options for plastic or etch parts in many areas. And it needed rigging. So, it turned out to be a more protracted build than I expected, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The etch threw up some challenges - for example, bending etch into an even curve is not a strong point of mine, and it was surprisingly easy to create the railings at the end of the sail (conning tower?). I just used a paint brush handle at an angle and my thumb and it seemed to work, and more importantly, fitted! I trimmed off the moulded on cable cutter on the lower bow and replaced that, the one on the upper bow showed it to be assembled off-ship, but I fitted the cutter first, then the two pairs of support posts when that had set. The triangular bits at the aft end went better than any other thing of that type I have fitted on other warships (like stovepipes). I rigged it with Caenis thread and used the box art as a rough guide (it shows a different style of conning tower to the one I used). I also went back to Humbrol enamel paint as my acrylics did not have the suggested shades, and I can only get Humbrol flip top versions of 127 and 125 which I have found are not too good. When painting this by brush, I realised why I liked to paint via enamels (you can work the paint for quite a while) but also realised why I did not like painting with enamels (you have to wait so long before you can give a second coat!). The painting guide suggested 'Dark Gray 2' for the upper deck colour, with no suggestion other than Mr Hobby H83/32, so I ended up doing it Humbrol 27. Enough waffle, here are some pictures: The colour guide gave one curious suggestion - the main gun was suggested as Humbrol 155 Black, which last time I looked was Olive Drab. That aside, I thought this was a wonderful kit to build - it was well moulded, had good detail and went together like a dream. It needed very little cleaning up and the etch worked nicely too. This has given me a taste for submarine kits, I have another three to hand to build if I feel like it! Thanks for looking, all the best, Ray

One of my mates at work was leaving so I quickly threw together the Hobby Boss 1/350 HMS Astute as a leaving present. I didn't even get time to get some decent pics but it is a nice wee kit that goes together well. The decals are murder though. Very hard to manipulate, very easy to damage and wouldn't stick properly. They were also given a coat of Tamiya Smoke to tone them down a bit as they are quite bright with strong colours.