by TK Yeo
1/350 Akula II SSN (Bronco)
This was my 1st commission build, for a friend who owns a model shop in Singapore. The quality of this kit was good, with sharp details and generally good fit. And it comes with a nice display stand, with a photo-etched name plate.
Construction was straight forward. The bottom hulk was made up of 2 halves, and the top deck was in 1 piece. I completed construction just under 1 day, including sanding, and preparing the small parts.
On to painting. I first painted the bottom hulk with Gunze Hull Red, followed by shading it with lighter Hull Red, to make the paint work looked more 3-dimensional. Then I masked the bottom hulk, and painted Matt Black for the top deck, followed by shading it with Grey. With the major paint job done, next were the smaller jobs: Gold for the propeller, Silver for the periscope/antennae, White/Red for the escape hatch.
There were quite many decals for this kit. So, I sprayed the whole kit with Gloss Coat first, before applying the decals. The decals were surprisingly not too difficult to handle. Some of the decals were long narrow white strip, and I was really worried they will break. But none of did! With everything settled, I sprayed a final Matt Coat.
Final touch was to drill a small hole in the bridge and added a 0.3mm brass rod as flag pole for the Russian Navy flag, and it's done!
