Hobby Boss has issued many 1/350 submarines from modern day to WWII. This offering continues the WWII kits with a 1941 version of a Gato class submarine successor, the Balao class, and the submarine that carried much of the burden of the submarine war in the Pacific.

This offering is the lead class in this series as the USS Gato, SS-212 from 1941. The kit includes three sprues, a stand, a photoetch name plate and a small decal sheet. Molding is crisp and clean with no flash. The kit is 26 parts including the photoetch and the stand.

The assembly instructions are two steps with the first adding the hull and bottom parts and the second were finishing the conning tower and detail. Fit is very good with only a little putty on the bottom.

One thing to note that there are molding limitations in this scale as far as smaller parts. One thing missing are the propeller guards from the back. I can recommend Eduard’s set for the sub which adds the propeller guards as well as many other details.

Painting is simple in that submarines of this period were flat black all over. I did this and added bronze to the propellers. These subs saw hard work in slat water so I brought the pastels and water color pencils to break up the colors and added the four decals, a flat coat, and done.

For the stand, I painted the photoetch name plate flat black and then sanded the raised info which comes through gold. A few touch ups and done.

This is a simple kit and can be super detailed if wanted. Fit is very good, it covers an important sub, and is highly recommended.

My thanks to MRC and Hobby Boss for the opportunity to enjoy the kit.