Red October / Typhoon 7

Hey Everyone

First, just a little about me since this is my first post. I’m a 22 year old college student who recently rediscovered a hobby from the past that my father and I used to do together. Working on models in a dorm room is not ideal, but I’ve got extra time on my hands and to keep myself from gaining the freshman 15 (even though I’m at sophomore status) I decided to pick this hobby up again. I played football in highschool and suffered severe nerve damage to both of my shoulders, which makes me shake a lot sometimes and working with models definetely brings it out, but its something that I like to do because it is not easy for me and is rewarding. I’m probably jumping in too deep to begin with, but like I said I’ve got lots of spare time and eager to learn more about modeling. Anyway, on to my current project…

I’ve decided to build a replica model in 1/400 of the Typhoon Class submarine from the movie “The Hunt for Red October”. In the movie, the Russians called it Red October, while the Americans called it a Typhoon 7 (because they only had 6 typhoons in thier computers at the time to identify with). I tried searching on the internet for photos and information about the sub that was used in the movie, however I came up with nothing but an old page about the model released by revell called the red october. However, after inspection it seems all revell did was repackage a typhoon ssbn in a “Hunt for Red October” box. So I watched the movie very carefully, took about 4 hours as I was taking screen shots and studying things. I came up with the following information from the movie…

Red October is based on a tyhpoon class submarine

Red October is 3 meters wider and 12 meters longer than the regular typhoon

Red October has 32 missle silos and not the usual 20

She obviously has the caterpiller system

The outside markings (decals) are set differently from other typhoons, and there is no red star on it whatsoever

She has a ladder on the starboard side

And many other small things that are difficult to explain…

I have purchased a 1/400 revell skill 3 typhoon ssbn class submarine which I’ll be using, so I’m kit-bashing.

There was a great secene in the movie where you can see a schematic for the Red October so that has been very helpful. So Far I’ve got about 10 hours logged in and haven’t even touched a model piece (I’m having a lot of fun doing the research).

I do plan on making it the 3 meters wider and 12 meeters longer (in scale of course), adding the missle silos, getting correct decals, adding catterpiller doors and everything else. If anyone has any input or anything that would be great, just thought I’d make a first post and let everyone know my idea. The only thing that is difficult to determine are the colors, there is only one scene where you actually see her out of water, but you can tell she is at least 2 different colors from the underwater shots, just can’t tell what…anyway…thanks for looking and I welcome all input…

Welcome back! I’m right there with you. 22 years old, college senior, studio apartment.

I don’t have any info on the Red October, but it looks like you’ve done some good research. Good Luck.

Yeah I took 2 years off, so I’m a 22yr old sophomore, I feel so old, I think I’m older than my math prof… anyway, thanks for the reply

It would be interesting to pick up a Seawolf class sub, they would look great next to each other…

Sounds like your initial research is going well, as far as the colours go, it seems to be a two tone dark grey/almost black…though the Russians did love their red primer.

Well, bad news…after calculating how much I need to add to the depth and width I discover that my missle silos will be out of proportion, this looks like something that really needs to be scratch built. I obviously do not yet have the skills to do this and especially with the limited space I’m working with. I will have to put this project on hold, although extremely dissapointing it may be for the better, in the mean time I can built out of the box and getting better at model building and when the time comes have an even better red october. Off to the hobby shop…

Hmmm. I would take that as a challenge! Get some stock styrene, gap filling glue, and a bunch of sanding sticks…before you know it, you’ll be hauling in 1st place awards with your kitbash/scratchbuilt “Kraznyoctobre” (sic)

greg

I 've googled to no success, so this information may be wrong as I haven’t been able to check it.

The above -surface shots on Red October were on a movie prop built around a barge that was towed around. I remember that it’s dimentionally off, but I haven’t been able to find out how, so you might not want to use any shots of it as a basis for dimensional changes.

Welcome back to the hobby! I was able to model through college although it wasn’t easy at times… had to airbrush out the window and only when my room mates weren’t around :wink:

yeah, it actually doesn’t work being 12 meters longer, because I need to add 6 missle tubes, and with making it to the correct length only leaves room for 4 more missle tubes, so i may have to forgoe the correct dimensions, i’ve actually been thinkin i may have jumped to the conclusion that it can’t be done, and since the red october was never a “real” ship i guess i have some artistic license to work with…ok you convinced me its back on

yeah I wasn’t using any shots for dimensions, not even the print sceen from the movie, was just looking at the film to see how they made the ship looks as far as decals and things like that

Good show! Once you get into what if’s, and scratchbuilds, the hobby takes on a totally new dimension, and I am sure looking forward to seeing your progress…be sure to post pics during surgery, we all love to see the ships come together.

greg

If you would be interested in the real thing as opposed to a movie prop, you should go to the SubPirates web site and look in the Russian submarine section for the Typhoon. It is very well worth it.

http://www.subpirates.com/

thaks this is a great site for anyone looking to build a typhoon wich a lot more detail than the kit provides, they have a lot of pictures here of the real subs where as searchin i could only find 3d models and schemeatics…great post, thanks

I ran into a reference to the movie sub in an odd place some time ago. I was working on a history of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, whose archives are at the university where I work. In one of the Coast Guard Auxiliary district newsletters there was a brief story about the making of “The Hunt for Red October.” If I remember correctly, the movie company built a full-scale (but presumably hollow) replica of a Typhoon (with the addition of the fictitious “caterpillar propulsion system,” which was moored somewhere in LA Harbor when filming wasn’t actually under way. The thing didn’t have an engine; every morning during the filming two tugboats, one at each end, hauled it to where the camera boats were waiting, out of sight of land. The progress of a huge Soviet submarine progressing across LA Harbor obviously attracted some attention. The Coast Guard Auxiliary had the interesting duty of setting up an escort, to keep sightseeing boats and pleasure craft at a respectful distance.