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USS ANDREW JACKSON SSBN-619


superchief
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superchief

A state of the art kit in 1960, this offering from RENWAL models was very popular with ship modelers. At 19" in length the sub was 1:200 scale and was similar in detail to the Revell 1:250 scale nuke sub. Both models were released at a time that sent the USN bigwigs into a tailspin as the sub's design was "top secret" . There was a bit of controversy about these "detailed" models suggesting that the Soviets had gotten a free look at America's latest weapons. In actuality the interior workings of these nuclear deterrents were mostly "fiction", the model executives just guessed what the subs design looked like. The Revell version for example had only 8 launch tubes for the Polaris missiles and the reactor and motor rooms were just conjecture. Still both sub models caught the imagination of us kids no matter how in accurate they were. There were a ton of plastic parts that little fingers tried to glue into place mostly turning them into "glue bombs" like mine. This Renwal model is a "repop" of the original kit released in 2004 by Revell (they own many of Renwal molds). It was a trip down memory lane building this kit as an adult, making sure the parts all fit and go easy on the glue! My interior paint scheme isn't "regulation" but I designed it to be an "eye catcher" with all the different paint hues, makes it easier to pick out the model's detail. One of the missile tubes has a spring launched Polaris missile and really works. I replaced all the periscopes with brass tubing and used photo etch to replace the ladders. On the original model there were "girly pictures" molded into the bulkhead in the crew's berthing but the new release has them deleted, don't want the kids to get any ideas....

post-162620-0-69210800-1494780383_thumb.jpg

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The Meatcan

I'm with Mike; always wanted to build that kit back in the day but just way too many small fiddly bits for a kid.

 

Great looking build superchief! Thanks for sharing.

Terry

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  • 2 weeks later...

A real treat to see this, Sir!

 

I remember this one very well; thought it about the neatest model I had ever seen....

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