Soviet Submarine S Class (Series IX/IX-bis)
Reviewed by Sean Hert
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The S Class series IX/IX-bis Soviet submarines was a class of 57 submarines build before, during and after World War II. This prolific class was constructed at many yards across the Soviet Union. The IX-bis had improved handling and performance over the preceding IX boats. AMP Models is a small Ukrainian company with only a handful of releases at this time. This second Soviet sub is packaged similar to the first, in a sturdy cardboard box, with the parts in resealable bags. The kit is comprised of 2 plastic sprues and a small fret of photoetch, which in this kit hails from Eduard. This kit includes parts and instructions to build any of 3 different IX or IX-bis subs in 3 different time periods; S-51 in 1944, S-13 in 1945, or S-1 in 1936. |
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| SPRUE A | |||||||||
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Sprue A has the two hull halves and a narrow deck piece to fit between them. The hull halves sport engraved lines for the torpedo doors and some limber holes. There is some flash present on these parts. There is a sprue that runs along the back of the deck part, which will complicate removal of this part, and in this sample of the kit, caused a large sinkhole; this sinkhole should be covered with the conning tower. Neither hull half, nor the deck piece, show any sort of location aids; no pins, slots, tabs, etc. While not uncommon with kits from smaller companies, fair warning to exercise caution when building. There is also some dirt and grease on the hull halves, so be sure to throughly clean before you paint. |
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| SPRUE B | |||||||||
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This sprue has the remaining plastic parts of the kit; conning tower, periscopes, dive planes, rudder and deck guns. There are also 2 sharply pointed cones to be attached to the photoetched props as the hub. There are variant conning tower pieces for each of the 3 sub variants. |
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| PHOTOETCH | |||||||||
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AMP has taken the detail up a notch by contracting with the Czech firm of Eduard to do the photoetch fret for this kit. This stainless steel fret has some great details on it, like netcutters, navigation lights, conning tower details, and railings for the cigarette deck. |
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| DISPLAY BASE OPTIONS | |||||||||
| A basic display base is included. |  |
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| DECALS | |||||||||
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The included decal sheet has a number of curious markings. This kit uses decals for many of the details of the SHCH; the limber holes, deck hatches and bridge windows are decals instead of molded details. There are hull markings for both "S-51" and "S-1" included ("S-13" had no hull identifiers). |  |
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| INSTRUCTIONS | |||||||||
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Instructions consist of a 3 A4 sheets, photocopied on both sides of 2 sheets, for a total of 5 pages. Text is in both Cyrillic and English. Assembly is very straightforward, and should not prove very difficult. The painting guide is simplified, with basic colors called out. Some further research may be required for more accurate color selections. There are steps for building three differect submarines, so choose which subject before you begin assembly. |
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| CONCLUSIONS | |||||||||
AMP's continues to release interesting subject matter in this second offering. The detail is is good, and kit looks like it will assemble easily. The lack of locator pins and the use of photoetch may prove challenging for some entry-level modelers, but this kit would be a great entry step into "intermediate skill" modeling. Thanks to AMP for the review sample. It is listed as #302 1/350 Soviet Navy Submarine S class series IX/IX-bis for around 20.00 USD. AMP kits are available from the following sponsors- |
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