This is sort of a mini inbox review and quickie build blog all in one. After tinkering my way through the Hobby Boss U VII kit, I decided that I liked the way the little guys went together and I enjoyed having something that was a quick easy build and paint with the emphasis on painting and finishing.
Hobby Boss gives you the kit, instructions and painting guide all on the box in one fell swoop. They go to great lengths to protect the tiny parts as is evidenced by the way they package these things.
The instructions are printed on the back of the box along with a painting guide.
The parts are packed in the box in such a way that it would almost be impossible for any shipping damage to occur. The outer wrapper contains even more wrappers.
And after a scissor happy sesion to open everything up, remove the foam strip from the conning tower and get all the parts you get out on the bench this is what you have for a parts count.
I do like the way that they engineer these little kits, it lends itself very well to build up and painting. The little base that you get comes with the title already printed on both sides for you, no decals to mess with. The kits parts are cleanly molded with some very nice molded in details.
I attached the foward diving wings and the props with guards and after diving wings molded as one piece before removing anything from the fret that the hull bottom is molded as. After the glue had dried, it was a simple matter to shoot on a coat of darker gray than the kit is molded in. The only detail painting that I did was some Metalizer Brass to the tiny props. Adding the few remaining parts to the upper hull section was done before removing it from its' fret as well.
When I removed the upper and lower halves from their frets, a little trimming and sanding to ensure that everything was smooth, straight and free from any paint so the glue would work was the only real hard part. Putting the two parts together was no problem and after they had set up a bit I was able to turn my attention to doing some shading and weathering. All told, it probably took less than three hours to arrive at a completed model, the only thing that I did add was three lengths of stretched sprue to represent the lines that ran fore and aft from the sail.
To give you an idea of how small this thing is, here is the obligatory "penny" shot for comparison.
I have the Gato Class kit waiting in the stash for the next time I feel like modeling in a rush.
