| The Guppy Class Submarines were former
World War Two fleet boars such as the Gato Class Submarines. The Greater
Underwater Propulsion Power Program, or Guppy for short, was a way to upgrade
older subs to give them better underwater performance and ASW capabilities.
These subs provided an economical alternative to hold the line in the post
war years until more modern submarines could be built to replace them.
Many were then transferred to the navies of other countries allied with
the US. When Italy joined NATO, two of these subs, the SS-220 Barb, and
SS-247 Dace, were transferred to them. They became the ITNS Enrico
Tazzoli S-511, and the ITNS Leonardo da Vinci S-510 of the Italian Navy.
These subs help patrol the Mediterranean until Italy was able to produce
it's own more modern subs. They served well into the 60's. |
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| HULL |
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| This new kit from Regia Marina is of a subject you don't see every
day. The kit represents the Italian Guppy class submarines Da Vinci or
Tazzoli. The kit is full hull and nicely cast. Detail is pretty good for
such a small kit as this. |
click images
to enlarge
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| I compared this sub to some of the Guppy's that
Mario
Grima has done and find that it closely matches the Guppy I modifications
that were applied to the Gato class. There are some small casting gates
along the bottom of the hull, but otherwise flash is kept to a minimum.
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| DETAILS |
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| Since the hull and sail are all cast together there are only a few
details to add. Tail planes, prop guards, props, and snorkels. These too
are nicely cast with barely any flash. |
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| A display base is included for full hull display. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| The instructions are two pages with drawings and history
and specs in Italian. The illustrations should provide enough information
to build this sub. But I would like to see some more detail.
Manufactures buildups of Tazzoli S-511, and
the Da Vinci S-510
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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 Conclusions:
This is a nice kit of a rarely seen Submarine. I'm glad to see it produced
in 1/700 scale. This kit can be used to build the Italian or even American
Guppy subs. It retails for 16.00 EUR or about just over 19.00 USD at the
current exchange rate, making it a bargain. Regia Marina kits are available
at Pacific Front
Hobbies in the US. |
