Merit International British HMS X-Craft Submarine 1:35

Construction

On opening the box what you will immediately notice is that there is not a lot to this kit. The hull comes as two main parts with the top decking integrated into the right-hand side. There are parts for the diving planes and manoeuvring planes along with their associated control rods. The hatches are separate so they can be posed open but there is no internal detail so if you want this you will have to scratch build it. There are 4 masts (2 periscopes, a engine induction mast and a compass mast), these can be extended or retracted (the larger periscope and the compass mast) or in the case of the induction mast folded down. There is a small PE fret and a decal sheet with a white ensign flag. There are some other small details but that is pretty much what you get in the box.

I opted to use Eduard’s PE set but to be honest this didn’t in the end bring that much more to the kit so I wouldn’t consider it essential for the build.

So, starting with the build I firstly joined the two hull sides together. This is straightforward and the fit is quite good. If you do want to have the hatches open and show some internal detail I would recommend you add this before you join the hull halves. I drilled out all the drainage holes in the decking and along the hull sides as this just looked a lot better.

With the hull assembled I followed the instruction and added the diving and manoeuvring planes along with their associated control rods. This looked really good until I was told at a show by a modeller who had made this kit that this area was wrong, there were no diving control rods on the left-hand side. This was confirmed with a bit of internet research so it was out with the knife, cutters, filler and sanding sticks. Not a major problem but it would have made life easier if I had known this earlier before I had added all these parts and painted the model! With regards to painting, it’s pretty simple – its BLACK!!

An odd omission

The next issue with the model are the saddle mine attachment links. Strangely the kit has the end shackles but not the rods that go from the shackles to the hull attachment recesses. Again, not a major problem as these were made from brass rod but quite an odd omission from the kit.

Read on…