USS Los Angeles Class Submarine

This was a pretty nice kit to build. I had never built a submarine before, and I was a little surprised at how small it was being it was 1/350 scale. Ships that scale are usually a fairly decent size. The instructions are somewhat easy to follow. The kit comes with 3 building options, and the instructions can be a little misleading at first on which parts should go with which ship number you are building. A good look through before any building starts should help. There was no flash on any of the parts and aside from a little misalignment with the upper and lower hulls, the fit was pretty good. The photo etch that was supplied was very nice. The kit comes with the option of using either a photo etch propeller or a plastic one. It also comes with a nice etch label to go onto the stand. For the price, I'd highly recommend it for anyone. I put the one I built on the stand, but am thinking about getting another one to be able to practice making water dioramas.

Like most modern submarine models, there are not a lot of pieces to assemble, so it is a simple build. There is a LOT of accurate detail molded into the hull and sail, making this a very realistic representation of America's premier fast-attack sub. The one thing to watch out for are the 6 itsy-bitsy tiny cleats that install along the top of the hull - you will need tiny tweezers, patience, CA glue, and an optimistic disposition to get all 6 of them in. Since Hobby Boss included the alternate pieces to make 3 different variations of the 688 class sub, you can easily convert this to any particular boat in the fleet by just printing out decals of the hull number you need - I made mine the SSN-697 Indianapolis.

Hobby Boss does the best 688 kits in terms of scale, overall hull and sonar dome shape, masts and antennas, etc. Kit parts fit very well and assembly is very quick and straight forward with only some token sanding and prep before paint. While H-B offers other 688 kits, this one covers most of the variants in this class of sub. The only complaints in this kit I could find are the draft marker decals (raid the decals out of a Dragon 688 kit, they are much more accurate), the 6 fixed cleats are great but almost impossible to install due to the small size of these parts (you could try filing the heads of some shirt pins to get the cleat shape then drill out the hull to attach them). Lastly, the bow planes for the later ships in the class are accurate but they are not located at the center line of the hull. Check the internet and you'll find some accurate side views then some minor cutting and fitting will locate them in the right spot.One small complaint is the photo etched clamshell doors for the bridge in the sail. They do not fold upward on the real article. Otherwise, this is an outstanding kit. Assembly is best done using Tam's extra thin cement for the plastic parts and, you'll have to trust me on this, Testors black chrome enamel is the closest finish to the actual upper hull and sail.