by Kieran Griffith
1/350 K-276 Kostroma Sierra II Class SSN (Yankee Modelworks)
The Kostroma (formerly Krab) is a Sierra class submarine which was Russia's following class to the partly successful Alfa class submarine. The Sierra class has two light and strong titanium hulls which enable the class to dive to greater depths, reduce the level of radiated noise levels and increase resistance to torpedo attacks. The Sierra 2 class has a considerably larger sail which is 16.5ft longer than the sierra 1 class. The sail also has a curious flat, square leading edge which must impact hydrodynamic noise emissions. The masts are offset on the starboard side to make way for two escape pods in the sail. The starboard side also has a 10-point environment sensor fitted at right angles to the front end of the sail. Also, the sierra 2 class has a much larger pod on its after fin. The pod houses the Skat 3 passive ultra low frequency towed array radio antenna.
The Model as with all of Yankee Modelworks resin models is practically perfect but I did have a bunch of trouble taking off the massive resin bulge left when they poured the resin in to the perfect mold. I nearly broke the model it was so hard to get off. Apart form that it was very well worth the price so keep up the good work Yankee Modelworks! The painting was a bit of guesswork since I could not find exact photos of the Kostroma. But it had the rubber tiles to keep it quiet on the outside and after this many years the rubber tiles should have gone very brown so the paint job is a mixture of black, gunmetal, gold, red and brown I think that gets the shade of an old lady of the Soviet Nulcear Submarine Fleet.
