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The US Navy's Thresher class nuclear-powered attack submarine was a major advancement in nuclear submarine design that benefited from the lessons learned from the use of the 'Albacore' hull in the Skipjack class. The Thresher's hull was approximately 26 feet longer than the Skipjack class, though, and more akin to cigar-shaped, rather than teardrop. Because of its greater size, the Thresher class was not as fast as the previous Skipjack class, but the larger hull allowed for advanced sound and vibration isolation that gave the class the leading edge in underwater stealth at the time. Although the Thresher used the same S5W nuclear reactor plant as the Skipjack, its design was significantly different and many of its design features continue to be used in contemporary US submarine designs, such as the bow-mounted sonar, athwartships torpedo tubes, and deep-diving capability.
The lead ship of the class, the USS Thresher, SSN-593, was lost during post-shipyard sea trials on 10 April 1963. For many years, her sinking was blamed on the theoretical failure of a seawater pipe in the engineering spaces that resulted in a reactor shutdown or 'scram.' NavSource.org has a discussion of the loss and its possible causes which I highly encourage anyone interested in the sinking to read. Their discussion casts a great deal of doubt on the silver-brazed pipe failure theory.
Following the loss of the Thresher, the class was officially renamed the Permit class after the second ship in the class, the USS Permit, SSN-594. I have a particular affinity for these ships because the first ship I served aboard was the USS Barb, SSN-596.
The one-page instruction sheet has a brief description in Cyrillic and English of the Thresher/Permit class, along with an illustration of the paint scheme of the Thresher. This is the same scheme worn by the Permit class ships throughout their service. The back side of the page has a diagram illustrating assembly, including the 7-bladed screw.
The decal sheet is very simple, with hull numbers for the sail and forward hull, along with ships' names for the aft hull. Also included on the decal sheet are the forward draft marks and draft marks for the rudder, and red ovals for the emergency distress buoys. I think I would spend the extra money to buy the Thresher decal set from Yankee Model Works, though.
The hull is molded in two pieces, upper and lower half. This makes it easier to build the kit as a waterline model, although one would either have to cut away most of the upper half of the hull or 'submerge' the upper half into an appropriate base to portray an accurate water line.
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I was very impressed by the level of detail present on the hull; the various details are cleanly depicted in fine recessed lines. Among the topside details is the safety track along the port edge of the non-skid area. This appears to be a little oversized. The model also has a raised line on the deck to the starboard of the weapons shipping hatch just aft of the sail which initially threw me. After looking at a few photos, I realized it really has been a long time since I'd set foot aboard a 594 class - I'd forgotten about this topside detail and honestly don't remember what it was, but I can say that fear not, this is not a mistake to be filed off. In addition to the plethora of topside detailing, submarine enthusiasts should be impressed by such esoteric below-the-waterline details as the torpedo tube ejection pump doors, seawater hull penetrations, and the mushroom anchor. The manufacturer clearly worked hard to ensure the accuracy of the model. Purists might be distressed by the use of recessed lines to portray the waterline and the outline of the non-skid areas on the topside and the fairwater planes. This is reminiscent of the models of many years ago that used this kind of technique to aid modelers in applying paint or decals.
The kit contains many small parts to help dress up the model, such as a full complement of masts and antennae. In this scale, it is difficult to tell what they are, unless you are familiar with these ships and the instructions don't explain what they are or provide any guidelines for painting. Therefore, one would have to work off photos of the actual ships.
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A small piece of photo etch is included with the kit; the main item being the 7-bladed screw. The PE sheet also has parts for displaying the model with the retractable cleats extended, but the instruction sheet does not show how to do this either in the artwork or in words. Baffle plates for the sail snorkel exhaust are included on the PE sheet. They are a little oversize and would extend out from the sail about twice as far as the actual baffles, so a modeler should trim them down in size or replace them. Curiously, the outline of the baffles is reflected in a recessed line on the deck as well.
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Dimensionally, the model measures out to 9.5 inches, which is 277 feet. Actual ship length was 278 feet 5 inches. The diameter of the hull is 1.1 inches, which calculates out to 32 feet, which is just a tiny bit over the actual diameter of 31 feet 8 inches.
IMHO, this kit is long overdue as it offers an alternative for those who prefer to work with styrene rather than the resin kit that is already on the market. It also comes at about half the price of the resin kit. A note to those who are looking to portray a 594 class submarine in service after about 1980: this kit depicts an example of the class prior to the installation of the towed array, which was on the port side of the ship. Also, be aware that some of the 594 class were 'stretch hulls,' which were 13 feet 9 inches longer and had an enlarged sail. This kit is a short hull variant. Also note that later in their service, 594 class ships were outfitted with vertical stabilizers on the ends of the sternplanes that housed part of the conformal sonar array. This model reflects the original sternplane design of the 593.
I highly recommend this model. I got mine from the fine folks at Hobby Terra, where it is available for $16.
John
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