Miscellaneous Subs
by Ken Hart

Miscellaneous Submarine Models (Various)
  1. A cut-off view of USS Flasher SS-249, built from the old Revell 1/178 scale US fleet submarine that everyone has made thousands of variations of since the kit was released. Revell first released this kit as the USS Flasher SS-249 in the 1970s, then, with the boxcover art changed, re-issued the same kit as the USS Growler SS-215 in the 1980s, then later re-issued it again as USS Lionfish SS-298. I've seen other limited variations of Revell re-issues of this same kit, too, such as USS Drum, etc.
  2. A close-up showing some modification and correction of the Flasher model's bow and forward deck.
  3. A starboard side oblique of the 1/178 Flasher.
  4. From Japan, the Nichimo company has released a few decent submarine kits during the 1980s and 1990s. These two 1/200 scale U-Boat models, if I remember correctly, came together in one kit box, offering a Type IXB (U-107) model, and a Type IXC (U-511) model. These two I'd built straight out-of-the-box. I also built a Nichimo 1/200 scale WWII Japanese I-19 submarine model out-of-the-box, which, I do recall, was a pain in the butt of a kit, with lots of teeny, tiny parts.
  5. An original 1960's Aurora kit no.728 WWII Japanese I-19 model in 1/333 scale, built out-of-the-box. This one was one of Aurora's most accurately detailed submarine models. The real IJN C-type submarines were actually very well-built ships, though, thankfully, they were never used to their full potential.
  6. A small model of the diesel-electric powered guided missile submarine USS Growler SS(G)-577 in 1/400 scale cast solid resin from Slagle Models in the late 1980s, early 1990s. The Slagle brothers began to market many of Paul Fisher's original small-scale Dragon Model & Pattern Works molds, but they weren't minding the business well enough, and it went belly-up.
  7. Another 1/400 scale solid cast resin model from Slagle Models, this one of a simple, sparse Skate-class SSN which I'd built as USS Seadragon SSN-584. There was a long list of different small resin models being prepared for release, but they never went far. Paul Fisher wasn't happy with Slagle's lack of quality in casting, nor in their poor marketing, and so he revoked licensing to sell his molds. Paul Fisher was the original designer and maker of the many small plastic 1/700 scale modern submarine kits later sold worldwide by DML -- Dragon Models Limited. When Paul was pioneering these model molds, an accomplice wanted to take them to big money backing, but Paul was reluctant to compromise his desired accuracy in detailing and authenticity. The accomplice stole the designs and the name Dragon Models, and found financial support in Hong Kong -- that's how DML came about.
  8. DML flooded the hobby market with their numerous small, inexpensive, and very inaccurate modern submarine plastic model kits. I kit-bashed a few of their Los Angeles-class kits to build up the US Navy's mainstay of Cold War workhorses in 1/700 scale -- USS Permit SSN-594 (left), USS Sturgeon SSN-637 (center), and USS Los Angeles SSN-688 (right). I was considering building a huge diorama spread featuring several variations of these little plastic kits, until I came to know Paul Fisher and how DML was a rip-off from his original ideas and designs. Besides, it didn't take a genius to see how poorly detailed any of DML's small or larger-scale submarine models were.

Ken Hart


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