Naval wizard Starling Models has just released a superb 1/350 mixed-media HMS Sea Rover submarine, as CHRIS CLIFFORD reveals.
Submarines seem to be growing in popularity as kit subjects, but arguably it falls to ‘boutique’ manufacturers to produce the less obvious subjects, British vessels included. A saviour for many modellers interested in this genre is UK firm Starling Models, which has already released several British World War two submarines in cast resin, with photo-etched (PE) brass and 3D-printed details.
Above: A feats of fine detail adorns the cast resin hull, which has the rear hydroplanes in situ.
Its latest effort is HMS Sea Rover (item STK14), the 217ft-long S Class Group III sub completed in 1943, which served mainly in the Pacific Theatre. This is a quality package, with a one-piece cast resin hull that oozes detail. Aside from the hull, the remaining larger components – such as the conning tower, periscopes, Oerlikon and 3in guns, forward hydroplanes and the screws/shaft mounts – are in pink 3D-printed resin. The detail on the conning tower is especially noteworthy. It falls to the PE fret to provide fittings for the guns, railings, antennas, deck grilles and the like.
