_viper_,
Thanks for the compliment.
After risking everything by cutting the bow off of my Scharnhorst, I found that it was quite liberating and that cutting into a cheap sub is nothing in comparison.
My observations for the Hobby Boss Yasen:
There are a couple of what I would consider "poor" choices but not mistakes on their part.
There is no waterline stripe decal.
Although one is shown on the box cover, there is no bow symbol included in the kit.
I wish they would have included both of these decals. I plan to make my own.
Possible mistakes:
The rear most 1 or 2 "limber holes" on each side of the hull might be slightly out of position. But I'm not sure, so I'm not going to change them.
The conning tower might be a little too short in height and the front slope might not be steep enough. Again, I'm not sure, so I'm not going to change them.
Actual mistakes:
There is a raised bump on each side of the upper hull, near the rear half of the conning tower. The raised bump is too short in length. It should start where it does, but it should be about twice as long as it extends back towards the stern as it currently does. I currently have one of these fixed and plan to make a duplicate of it for the other side.
The bow is no where near streamlined and tapered enough. The model looks to begin its taper near the forward most depth marker decal. The taper really needs to begin with a sharper angle back under the beginning of the conning tower, (representing the transition from the double hull body to the single hulled bow) then continue with a more shallow taper beginning near the forward diving planes. Very few photo's capture this detail. Most seem to either be unclear (wrong angle), or accidentally blocked (tug boat), or purposefully covered over since it is also the torpedo tube area. I have this taken care of already. Details were lost in all the sanding, but I think it's worth it for the correction of the overall shape.
The final mistake is what I will call the "hazard stripe" decal on the bow. Whether accidental or on purpose (to hide the bow taper error) I don't know. The instructions show the decal positioned too high on the hull. They show it positioned above the bow diving planes. It should be positioned lower on the hull. The decal should be centered, half of the decal above the bottom edge of the bow diving plane hatch detail and the other half of the decal fully below the bow diving plane hatch detail. With the "hazard stripe" in the correct position you can see even more clearly that the bow slope is wrong. The other mistake is that the "hazard stripe" decal is too short. It should extend further back along the hull. I would say closer to the half way point between the rear edge of the bow diving plane detail and the first "limber hole". I'll attempt to make my own decal for this longer stripe.
Typhoon progress:
I've finally managed to get tinypic working again.
Here is the stern with the newly hardened putty pieces in place.
And here it is with them mostly shaped now. I can tell that I'm not going to get quite as good of results as I was hoping for due to the complicated shape required and my limited skill. I have also placed tapered wood dowels on the ends to represent the new ends of the propeller shafts. (what a bad cell phone camera)
I hope you find this useful and thanks for looking,
Dan.