Zvezda 1/350
Russian Nuclear Submarine
K-141 Kursk
During last club meeting a colleague brought along a stash of twisted plastic.
As it turned out, these were all types of sprues he got free from Revell as samples.
Among them I've found a submarine - Zvezda's Kursk. Apparently Revell is re-boxing
this kit. As I've never built a submarine before, and wouldn't buy one, that was
a one-off chance.
The kit is very simple, so it turned out to be a perfect weekend project. From Saturday
afternoon, till Sunday night - if it wasn't for Revells acrylic flat coat, which didn't
work, so it took Monday evening too. But that was it.
Still, the kit asked for some sanding and filling. A coat of Surfacer 500 fixed that all.
The color was mixed from Tamiya's acrylics, with MIG dirt pigments on top. Clogged the
airbruch, but when sprayed at a low pressure, created a slightly rough effect I wanted for
the skin of the boat.
This quick job was really satisfying, considering that an aircraft model takes me usually
couple of months to finish. OK, my quality requirements are different for airplaes, too,
but subs are fun, and I'm sure it's not the last one.
Concerning the real sub - a pride of Russian Navy, and a powerful counter-surface-vessel
weapon wielding an array of supersonic anti-ship missiles, high-speed (supercavitaion?)
torpedos sank tragically in 2000 - taking a number of sailors to their watery grave - some
of them alive... Waiting for death in 100m of Barent's Sea is a guesome prospect...
A number of conspiracy theories came up - sunk by American, British, Canadian sub or
Aliens. Maybe a new secret weapon? The rescue actions of Russian authorities leaves
plenty of room for complains, too.
What ever really happened, I'd like to honor the memory of these men, who died in service of their country...
In Moscow, in front of the Central Museum of Armed Forces, there's a monument to the dead sailors.
The plaque says: To the memory of the crew of the atomar submarine
cruiser "Kursk" perished during the fulfillment of their training-combat mission.