For over 30 years, the Revell company has been producing the only styrene version of a US World War II Fleet submarine. This kit, scaled at 1:178, has gone through several incarnations. It has been issued as the USS Growler, later as the USS Flasher, and, most recently, as the USS Lionfish. Although the box covers have changed, the basic kit remains the same, with the tooling unchanged from the original issue. The hull shape is basically correct, and with a bit of research and some work (drill corrected freeflood holes, add sheet plastic torpedo tube shutters, new HR white metal bits, anchor, and cleats) can be modified into a quite decent model. However, the conning tower has always been the weak point of this kit. It only vaguely resembles an early Gato class conning tower as found on Growler, and has large unsightly seams and little detail. It is even more inappropriate for depicting the state of Lionfish, which as a later Balao class had a very different conning tower. Over the years, I have spent countless hours with knife, jeweler’s saw, putty and Bondo rebuilding this conning tower for display models built on behalf of WWII submarine vets. Another sore topic is the guns provided with the Revell kit, which are little better than plastic blobs. Thanks to Nautilus Models, this discouraging state of affairs is now at an end.

I received an early review copy of the Lionfish resin upgrade kit from Nautilus Models. The kit is cast in light tan resin and includes the conning tower, the periscope shears, and a set of guns ( two 20mm Oerlikons, a 40mm Bofors and a 4" deck gun). The masters were done by Jon Warneke, and were expertly executed from actual plans for the early Gato submarine USS Bluefish. The initial kit depicts the conning tower with the Gato class fairwater cutdown seen early-mid 1943. Included in the casting are such detailed features as the bridge instruments, deck planking, navigation lights and the ready ammunition lockers at deck level. The one-piece periscope shears assembly sits atop this, and depicts the two periscopes, the surface radar in the correct early war position forward of the periscope position (moved to behind the ‘scopes later in the war), and the mast for the SD air warning radar. The two periscopes may need to be reshaped slightly and thinned near the top to bring them closer to the real thing. The modeler will also, at present, have to scratch build a set of railings around the conning tower. I’ve used brass wire posts with stretched sprue or fishing line railings, depending on the sub, in the past. The guns that are included in the Nautilus upgrade kit are also cast in resin, and are vast improvements over the Revell versions. The 20mm guns offer a choice of early war solid or later war tripod bases. The 40mm includes gunsights and seats, as does the 4"/50 main deck gun. A 5"/25 gun, as fitted on late war submarines to replace the 4", is in the works at Nautilus.

I also received another version of the conning tower which depicts a Gato class conning tower as it would look late in the war (‘44-’45). This features a further cutdown fairwater (the cutdowns were all done to reduce the sub’s silhouette, as night surface attacks became a more common strategy). In this case, the front of the fairwater was lowered, and 2 large square sections cut out on either side of the tower bridge level. This "covered wagon" style bridge is exactly how USS Flasher and many other Gato class submarines ended the war. The gun set provided is the same as the early Gato outfit, as are the periscope shears. One minor quibble is that the radar on the shears does not represent the late model SJ surface radar in later war position or configuration, as would be appropriate with this stage of cutdown tower.

Both sets of Nautilus resin castings were extremely well done. I found a single pinhole to repair in only one of the two towers. The guns and periscopes were remarkably free of flash and will require very little additional preparatory work.

So, bottom line, is the upgrade kit worth it? The short answer: YES! The Revell kit-provided parts are extremely inaccurate (How bad? Imagine a kit of the F4U Corsair with straight wings!). This upgrade kit raises the model to a higher level, from a rather toylike depiction of a fleet submarine to a serious ship model that one can display with pride. On the horizon is the possibility (if these initial upgrade kits are well received) of a Balao class conning tower (allowing a true Lionfish model to be built) and postwar Guppy conversions (acronym for Greater Underwater Propulsive Power-consisting of streamlined conning towers and bows, no deck guns, addition of snorkel and improved batteries).

Personally, I’m rooting for the availability of the resin Balao tower upgrade. I’m currently doing a Balao submarine (USS Blenny) for one of her former crewmembers, and I have a feeling this will not be my last Balao model by a long shot. I have spent about 40 hours reshaping and upgrading the conning tower and guns on this sub model. The Nautilus Models upgrade kit is $19.95. You do the math. Seriously, this is a major improvement to the Revell kits well worth every penny to the serious ship modeler.

Nautilus Models can be reached at Sales@NautilusModels.com