i'm going to be starting the USS Lionfish soon, anyone have any suggestions for the build? it's a WWII U.S. Balao class submarine, anyone done this class before?

Hey Alan,

Gunny has built that kit a couple of times. If you can swing it, Nautilus Models makes some nice resin conning towers, called sails, for the Lionfish kit.

~Gator

Hi Alan!

The Revell Lionfish is a classic, mate, and OOB, is not a bad looking kit, but as my cajun goomba Gator has stated, there are some major advancements in aftermarket upgrades for the Lionfish kit that will make your finished subject a museum piece, as well as much more accurate...the kit practically builds itself, and id alot of fun, great starter kit for the first time sub builder...if you have any problems, just let us know, we'll take care of em, the best that we can!
Keep Modeling,
~Gunny

Prepare for sticker shock when you see the prices of Nautilas conversion sets. They are accurate and made to go with the kits, but frequently they cost more than the kit or on one of the $100+ kits about 3/4 that.

AM kits - yup! My wife has been kind but has kept track - I've spent about 5 times the 1:72 VIIC kit on AM stuff. I'm into the $750 range now, counting everything. And I thgink I need a few more bits. Plus the 2nd hand glass display case I bought for $650 (but hat has room for the Gato!)

If I had kids I'd not have this obession, er, hobby, and would be living in a tent.

Advice - pick only what you think is really necessary to "sell it" and what you can't easly scratch build. Keep us posted on the build!

I am not sure what scale you are looking for, But we have a large line of fleet boat upgrade kits in all three scales (1/178 1/144/ 1/72) at fair price. Mario

http://ibs.eastcoastarmory.com/

I have an album at photo bucket with 160 pictures I took of her a couple of years back. I tried to capture the boat from a modelers point of view. Anyone is welcome to use the pictures as they see fit but if you post them to a forum or site please give credit for the source. I hope you find them useful.
Here is the link.
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q10/Deavans/

I've seen Marios work on his conversion kits and they are very nice, I've heard nothing but good things of him as a vender so don't worry about ordering from him.
Don

As already noted the "Lionfish" (its been boxed as several different boats) is a classic. The hull is a pretty nice representation of the Gato/Balao classes of fleet submarines, but the sail and deck armament are fairly crude. Once you decide on a particular subject, you'll probably want to open up the appropriate limber holes (and sand off the extras) and look to either scratch building or going with aftermarket parts. My model of USS Jack (SS-259) [http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x59/blesht/SS259/df13scd.jpg] is the Lionfish with some scratch built parts and the Nautilus "Bluegill" conversion and wooden deck. You definitely should check Mario Grima's work (look in the submarine gallery of modelwarships.com) to see what kinds of things can be done using the Revell kit as a base. There are many others who have made exceptional models using this kit. Have fun with it and let us know how you progress.