Revell's SSBN Andrew Jackson - Cutaway

ghostrydr

post some pics when done!

I just got this kit off of Ebay. The interior was garbage and my intention all along was to just glue the hull sections together for a static display of a 616 class SSBN. The detail is a bit spartan, but it will look okay to most people that will see it in my den because they have no idea what one looks like anyway. I rode the Daniel Webster for a while out of Dunoon and this is the only 616 class I can find, resin or otherwise.

Assembling the hull sections was time-consuming because of all the putty it took to get it looking half-way decent. The problem I am having now is that the putty seems to suck up the paint and even though the seams are no longer there, you can still see some of them through the Tamiya flat black I'm using for a base coat. I used Tamiya hull red on the bottom and it looks better. I am now going to mask off the red lead area and re-shoot the upper portion of the hull, missle deck, sail and rudder areas with Tamiya semi-gloss black to see if it covers the seams.

I modified a small part from the kit to resemble a missile tube bladder and painted it the green color I rember them to be, and then I used my dremel tool to hollow out the underside of the missile tube muzzle door and painted that semi-gloss white. Still trying to figure out how to get a number that small on the inside of the door...

I was contemplating scribing additional detail for the missile deck to include the VLF radio bouy bay doors, MBT vents, BST-1 bouy doors and safety track forward and aft, but I think I am going to blow that off - too much for this little boat. I would like to accurately represent the nitrogen overboard diffuser as well as the sonar bump up front, that ought to be easier.

I also wanted to scratch build the towed array housing down the after pressure hull to the stern plane. You could almost use the missle tube halves supplied with the kit...

As for the mast and antenna arrangement, there is not much you can do unless you cut new holes in the sail for accurate placement and scratch build realistic looking masts and antennas, sub id beacon, and while you're at it go ahead and build the windshield for the bridge.

For now I am just going to finish painting it, see if I can get those itty bitty little decals on the masts supplied with the kit, stick on the draft numbers and call it a valliant first modeling effort since I was about 15.

Have fun from a retired bubblehead!

Hi Breezely1;
Thanks for the nice words bud.. Your Dad and Uncle must be happy..

Hi guys,my dad and uncle were DBF. I never rode them but have built them for 16 years. Also my primary interest among military subjects on the outside. Have nothing but the utmost respect for you guys and anyone else who has sailed.

Muchos grassos for the pic link. The teeth had been painted out by the time I reported on board, but you could still see them on the bottom of the anchor. Look close in front of the fairwater planes. The Von S. was the only boat to have cow catchers. I know why, but I can't tell you ;P Actually I split my time between boomers and 688s. You're right about the vertical stabs on 688s.

Submariners once...
Submariners twice..
Holy jumping.................
I'm sure you know the rest.

Hi a3rdriha;
Welcome aboard shipmate. Nice to meet a "Brother of the Phin" much less a Boomer Guy..
I was DBF and Boomer.. 70-76... I never did the Loch, But I have done Rota , Pearl, and Guam. Did 2 WestPacs on Lee and 2 Northern Runs on the 616. Are you in USSVI? If you have an interest their are a few Great BBS boards out there you may find interest in be forewarned they like to beat up on Boomer Boys... Most members are DBF and Attack Boat guys.. I'm sure you know the type.. Many of the old boats have their own web sites. The R.E. Lee has a Great site at WWW.ssbn601.com.
I model mostly Cars ( rods and Muscle cars) and a occaisonal Helo. But this monster on my workbench is gonna get done. ( Revell 1/72 Ty VII Boat ) I have a few Rickover stories too... That man had to be the most feared man the Navy ever had... I never saw so many Os Pee their pants even at the mention of a visit or a Ricky Ride... .

a3rdriha - Here's your shark:

http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08632.htm

Click on the picture to enlarge

I have a picture of Spadefish SSN 668 with a sharkmouth but your boats was a lot cooler.

Former boomer sailor, new to these boards. This subject is exactly why I went ahead and signed up for FSM boards. I just picked up the AJ model myself. The story I have always heard, was that the kit was first released as at least semi-accurate. The Navy, and the "Kindly Old Gentleman", (Rickover) raised Cain. So the kit was reissued in the highly modified form we all know and love. I know it's not accurate in the least. I don't think the MC is even particularly accurate. But, it's the only game in town. I'll just have to settle for getting the colors right. The official term for the interior color was "Clipper Blue". As smoking lamp was usually lit, it quickly aquired a sickly yellow patina that turned it greenish. Missle tubes on my boat , SSBN 632 Von Steuben, were painted sand pink. At one point the Von S had sharks teeth pained under the bow. Many other boats have made that claim, but I saw them there when we had the boat in drydock at Holy Loch. There's a few little details I'm planning in order to customize it to the 632 boat, but I wish the interior was better presented.

The Dragon 688 USS Hampton isn't too bad. They've added optional parts to correct some of the deficencies in their earlier kits but the VLS arrangement in the bow is all wrong. Also never build a 688 class submarine with vertical stabilizers on the tail. They just did not have them. This is a common error dating back to the movie Hunt For Red October. The Dallas was shown with vertical stabilizers. No!

I don't know what this model is supposed to be . It's not a 598 boat & it's also not a 616 or 608 boat..It has a 598 type sail and a almost correct 616 hull... I wouldn't spend a dime on this kit . It was done in the mid 60's using much speculation on what the Boomers looked like..The screw is also wrong for any class except skipjack,,,The interior is all wrong for either 598 or 616 class boats.
I qualled on both classes R.E. Lee ( 598)and Lafayette (616). The Dragon OHIO class Boomer is a nice kit as are their 688 class kits. For early class boats you really need to go with a resin kit...

Subfixer is quite right about the interior of this kit - Throw the parts in the spares box, seal it up and detail the outside - Maybe leave the missile section intact and open up the missile hatches (As long as this kit has 16 tubes....It does,dosen't it?) add a more accurate mast arrangement to the sail and don't forget the orange distress buoys (one fwd, one aft) and then you should have a reasonable facsimile of the real thing.

Try a site like www.navsource.org for some good reference pictures of the Andrew Jackson and the other ships of the class.

This is a really interesting exchange, for historical reasons. I believe the kit in question is the old Renwal one. It started out as the George Washington, with both halves molded in grey and the starboard side hinged to open up. The two forward missile tubes had springs in the bottoms to "fire" miniature Polarises. (Polarisses? Polari?) I think it was re-released as the Thomas Jefferson and the Andrew Jackson, both still under the Renwal label. My recollections are confused, partly because of my poor old brain's advancing age and partly because there were in fact two cutaway models of the George Washington class that came out almost at the same time. The other one was by Revell, and was considerably smaller. The starboard side of that one snapped on and off.

I built both of them when I was in elementary school; I remember being particularly impressed by the decal instrument panels in the Revell kit and the steaks hanging in the meat locker of the Renwal one.

One or both of those kits made the headlines briefly but spectacularly when Admiral Rickover screamed that they constituted a violation of national security. The kit manufacturer (I think it was Revell) calmly replied that all the materials it had used in researching the kit were non-classified. I wonder now whether Rickover knew that the interiors of both kits were largely fictitious.

Anyway, both of them, irrespective of their dubious accuracy, are interesting artifiacts of the history of the plastic model.

Thanks Subfixer.

I think I will make it open but considering this will be the first in 25 years, I may close it after I see this finished product.

Let me tell you the truth, if I was to build that model, I wouldn't show the inside at all. It is so inaccurate that it could be considered a fantasy. I am not sure of the history of this model but I get the feeling that it was based on a Popular Science article or maybe MAD magazine. The exterior would make a good model though, if you painted over the clear part. An alternate way, perhaps would be to show the missile tube compartment because it is an OK representative of the real thing. The tubes are painted a dark glossy green as are the torpedoes up forward in the torpedo room. But, if you do decide to build it showing the interor exposed, paint the bulkheads (walls) a pastel green, the decks gray (except the messdecks or galley area) a color representing linoleum tile, the machinery both gray and that pastel green you use on the bulkheads, and the inside of the sail (conning tower) black. I am sorry to have to be so hard on this kit, I am not a perfectionist but this this thing makes me actually cringe. Good luck with it and let me help you if you want.

Thanks Subfixer

I was hoping you would be one of the one's who answered. They are suggesting a Matt Sky Blue for all wall surfaces and a Wood Brown for the Missile Silo's. These seam wrong but as I said, I have never seen the inside with the exception of movies, and we all know how they take liberty with things.

The model also has a torpedo area, mess hall, bridge, berthing areas, etc. The details looks decent and I know that at that scale it couldn't be much better.

I wish I knew how to post pictures, but if you go here http://satyap.csoft.net/satyap/albums/models/ssbnandrewjackson/
you can see someone else's version of the model.

The inside of a sub has so much crap in it, that if you made it accurately , you'd only be able to see a fraction of what's in there. The reactor plant would be a real model to do just by itself! If you give me some specific questions, I might be able to help you out.