1/350 USS Halibut SSGN-587 Nuclear Cruise Missile Submarine (Pit-Road)

This is the Pit Road Combat Sub resin series kit from the early 2000's.  I haven't built many submarine models; but, when I saw this kit and photo on an on-line auction site, it attracted my attention (something other than a tube with a conning tower) so I purchased it. I built the model straight out-of-the-box.  The kit is composed of  some 20 resin parts, 10-15 white metal parts, and a small bag of various sized brass rods.  The castings were excellent and required only minimal clean-up. The same was true for the white metal parts.  The instructions were in Japanese; but, had very good "exploded" assembly diagrams. The "little"  Regulus I cruise missile was was well done. The model was painted in the all black scheme using various Poly Scale "black" shades.  The build took about 25 hours.  If you want to pay the price (apparently this kit is an collectors' item now), this is an excellent kit to compete in a few hours.

As a side note, as I was building the Regulus I cruise missile, I wondered why the kit did not have the Regulus II version instead.  I did a little research; and, discovered that by the time the Halibut was launched/commissioned in the 1958 time-frame, the Regulus II program had been cancelled.  The Halibut accomplished her missile patrols in the early-1960's with Regulus I missiles.  The cruise missile patrols in the Pacific was another aspect of the USN submarine program that I was not familiar with.  So, in addition to building a model, I increased my knowledge a bit.
 
 

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