This page is dedicated to the construction and buildup of my 1:144 scale Trumpeter Seawolf Submarine kit.

The kit was purchased from a local hobby store. When completed, it should measure almost 30 inches in length.

Displacement: 9,150 tons submerged
Length: 350 feet
Beam: 40 feet
Draft: 35 feet
Speed: 25+ knots submerged
Propulsion: S6W reactor
Depth: Greater than 800 feet
Complement: 133
Armament: eight 30-inch torpedo tubes, 50 torpedoes and missiles, or 100 mines

The Seawolf-class attack submarines (SSN) are quieter than the previous Los Angeles class, faster, have more torpedo tubes, and carry more weapons. They use the more advanced AN/BSY-2 combat system, which includes a new larger spherical sonar array, a wide aperture array (WAA), and a new towed-array sonar. Originally intended as a fleet of 29 submarines to be built over a ten-year period, the end of the Cold War and budget constraints dropped that number to three and led to the design of the Virginia class submarine.

This plastic kit is very economical and highly detailed. It's large size lends well to R/C conversion, and I have decided that it will follow my big 1/96 scale Typhoon in the assembly order of my projects. The hull is exactly 3" inside diameter, and nearly 30" long, making a nice, roomy hull to install the electronic components. The picture above show a 2" WTC section layed in the hull.

More to come soon!

October 13th, 2006: So much for soon... oh well. I just purchased a complete Seawolf model from Helder Santiago out of New York. It includes a custom made WTC with piston-styled ballast system. I'm very excited to see it when it arrives. To hold me over, here are some pics of the great work that he's done on the model:

March 30th, 2007: I've decided to pluck away at this model while my car is in for paint. I have a receiver on order from robotcontrol.com, and I hope that it will be here soon. I think that will be pretty well everything that the WTC needs to get going. I'm planning on adding a charging interface for the bulkhead so that I don't need to crack the WTC every time I need to charge the batteries. This will be done with a simple brass stud that I can clip leads to to charge the battery.

Onto the Photos!:

The electronic board pictured above is a neat little piston tank controller board that I got hooked up with by Andy Lawrence out of the UK. The unit gives full control over the piston tank instead of the "full" or "empty" control that I have right now. I'm anxious to get it wired in along with my new receiver.

Also take note of the excellent indexing system for the two hull halves that Helder came up with.