Regia Marina

1/350 "Toti" Class Submarine (Waterline Version)

Kit Number: MMI034

In-Box Review by  Bart Cusumano, IPMS# 31882

MSRP: 20 Euros (about $30 U.S.) Packed in a small, bright red cardboard box, this 1:350 scale kit by Regia Marina of the 'TOTI' class Italian sub is a waterline offering of the same subject reviewed by Dave Morrissette on this website. So, what do you get in the box? The kit is a multimedia affair. To begin with, you get 7 nicely cast resin parts - one being the main hull and 6 being the smaller parts like snorkel and periscope parts. On first glance, the main hull casting (all 12.5cm of it!) appears to have what appears to be some sort of mold line that runs from the bow, along the forward port side all the way up the sail. According to reference material, this is not a mold line, but a feature of the hull. The feature as depicted in the kit along the hull, is a bit over-scale and is probably best removed and replaced with some fine wire. The line running up the sail does appear to be in proper scale. The hull casting is devoid of its resin carrier block, but there are remnants of the pour stubs that you will need to remove in order to attach the hull to a base. Cast detail on the hull is well done and will look nice with proper prep and painting. There are no air bubbles present on the surface of the hull, but if you look closely, you can see them just under the surface. As a result, be careful while doing your resin prep and cleanup to avoid opening any of these up. The smaller resin parts are attached to a carrier block and are shrouded in resin flash. Personally, I would replace the resin parts for the snorkel and periscope parts with brass rod (or something similar) but the kit parts are molded straight and are usable. Photo etched parts are supplied on a single fret and are very nicely done. The parts feature relief etching and are quite tiny - there are 61 PE parts on a 5.7cm x 2.7cm fret. Get out those Opti-Visors! The boarding ladders are a work of art, but will require extremely careful removal and handling. These PE parts will give this petite kit a nice scale appearance. You also get two very small decal sheets which provide hull markings. The markings are all done in an off-white color, with options depicting numbers for four different ships. The instruction sheet is a single sheet (8-1/2" x 11-3/4") printed in black and white, two-sided and is very nicely done for such a simple affair. All text is in Italian with English translations in all the appropriate parts - like assembly and color call-outs. Speaking of colors, they (thankfully) recommend Tamiya and Humbrol colors by their numbers. A thoughtful inclusion of the instruction sheet is the direction to three websites for reference purposes (that's where I found the detail on that mold-line-looking thing). Two of the sites are well worth the trip to them, but the one site (www.marina.difesa) didn't seem to have any useful info. Although difficult to navigate at times (it's all in Italian) it's worth the effort and yields some very useful reference material when building this kit. You can also visit the Regia Marina site for some nice photos of built-up examples of this kit. If you're into 1:350 waterline naval subjects, this kit of Italy's first post-WWII sub is definitely worth your time. For such a tiny kit, it is packed with lots of nice detail. I'd like to thank Regia Marina for the review sample and John Noack for giving me the opportunity to review it.

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