Freetime Hobbies ( www.freetimehobbies.com ) is advertising several new kits that even a non-submariner like me finds interesting: the U.S.S. Skate, the Turtle (American Revolution), the Hunley (Civil War) and a British K-class steam powered (!) sub from World War I. (I looked that one up on Wikipedia; it has quite a story. The ships came to be known as the Kalamity Class.)
I definitely want a Turtle. And maybe a Hunley - but not till I find out how it compares to the resin versions already out there.
Later edit: I just ordered the Turtle. Mine was the last one; Freetime now lists it as out of stock. Sorry guys.
Mikro-Mir kits are limited run, so you get everything that is implied with that description. I have seen some very nice builds of Mikro-Mir models though, so they are buildable. I have a Schetel-Sachsenberg torpedo boat on the bench at the moment:
i have been looking at the Hunley for a couple of months now waiting to see if anyone had built her and what they thought. I also want to build the Turtle which I just recently saw on evilBay.
I just checked out Freetime Hobbies and the Turtle is also out of stock!
I have all of the American nuclear submarine kits produced to date by Mico Mir, and have ordered the Lafayette. I like these kits. Although some of the detail might be soft, I have found that the kits fit together well, and look better than the DML kits. As a retired USN submariner, I love the opportunity to model the fleet in which I served for over 20 years.
I like to use wood candle sticks as pedastals mounted on a stained wood base. I simply drill holes in the bottom of the hull after filling the lower half of the hull with resin to serve as a solid medium in which to hold the mounting posts on the candle sticks. I paint the pedastals brass or gold and place the mounted submarine in a display case. The candle sticks and the base board are available in any craft store or Walmart.
For 1/700 scale boats, I have used light blue cloth to cover a stepped base. After covering the stepped base in a pleasing display, I mounted Soviet submarines on different levels and placed all in a case. Thus, I have my cold war display for both Soviet and USN submarines. It proved an interesting approach.