Well, I've been lurking to date, but am now throwing my hat in with a build of Waveline's resin and white-metal casting of the USN SSG-574 Grayback, the lead ship of an attack submarine class converted early in her career to carry and launch the Regulus II missile. As such, the Grayback and sister subs were the first submarines to carry nuclear missiles, and served on deterrant patrols in the Pacific from 1958 to 1964, when the Regulus missile program ended. Grayback was then decommissioned, but recommissionedand and converted in 1964 to serve as a specialized transport submarine, in which capacity she served until 1984.
Box top:
This kit should prove straightforward in assembly. The hull is a one-piece casting, with little evidence of pour stubs.
There is some resin flash clean-up required in a few locations, and a few places where panel lines and details could be sharpened, such as you can see in this stern topside photo:
Here is a photo of bow details. The bow profile, dramatically changed to accomodate hanger space for the missiles, will be a focal point of the model:
Here's what clean-up looks like on the resin pour stub on the underside of the bow. Squadron putty (for color contrast with the light grey resin) and a Flex-i-file do the trick here:
White-metal details for the stern. The shapes of the prop guards are accurate, bust I suspect these pieces could be thinned a bit for greater accuracy:
Periscopes and radars for the sail. Archival photos indicate further masts and details that I'll have to consider adding, but the scale and detail of these parts is strong:
Here are the hatches and launch ramp area; casting is crisp and reasonably detailed here, so this won't get too much attention from me:
Photo from NavSource, to give you an idea of the busy-ness of the launch rails and missile. My photo of these resin parts is rather blurry, so not posted here. The missile is cast in three parts (body and wings) and is missing some JATO-style booster rockets underneath. The resin parts for the launch ramp have been simplified, and are a spot to give some thought to adding some suggestive detailing.
I'm sanding and parts-fitting at the moment. Will assemble and paint the missile and detail the launcher first, then address the masts, then assemble hull and sail for painting and weathering, and then add details of launcher, sail planes, masts, and props. If folks have suggestions as to an alternative sequence, I'd welcome them. I also need to plan early for how this is to be mounted for display.
I'm liking the look of the builds posted to date, and am looking forward to sharing my own. Hoping the holiday ahead provides some good building time on this (and a long-delayed IJN Amagi)!
- D-Boy