I have often loked at these kits, especially after converting a similar MTB made by the same company, so know how reasonably easy it is to do, so when "YET ANOTHER" "Ebay Bargain" came up, I could not resist. YEP, a "part built" 1/35 scale s boat, mine for a mere £40 ! And these kits run for between £99 - £175.
So the boat arrived today, opened the box and have to say the original builder has not done a bad job so far, the hull support cross beams are superb and really stiffen the hull up a lot. I am leaving the upper deck off for a while untill the motors and shafts are fitted and tested, but at least with italeri, they supply a set of minI self tapping screws to hold the deck down, so very useful for setinning up, but not really much good "waterproof wise" once ready for the water.
One job to sort out, was to seal the forward torpedo tubes, to reduce risk of water ingress in to the hull at speed, so the nicely hinged outer doors have had to be glued closed, I also cut the inner ends of the tubes flat and bonded on a plastic disc to these ends to act as secondary seal too.

After a lot of searching [for other builds] and speaking to a few suppliers, I decided to opt for 4mm shafts, rather than the majority of builds using 3mm. The main reason was the price and cheaper availability of 4mm threaded props to be honest.
The centre prop is 280mm long, the 2 outers will be 310. the outer props also have 8mm outer diameter cases, but this gives an advantage, it allows me to use the outer case as the outer shell of the original shaped prop support tubes. The centre shaft outer case being 6mm dia, was easy enough to bore out the original shaft mount in the hull keel.
The shafts needed to be long, to allow sufficient depth inside the hull to get space enough to fit the motors, so they are running slightly more of an angle than the originals, but once the support mounts and rudders are added, the difference will hardly be obvious.

It took a lot of thought and time to sort the outer shaft positions out, firstly to make sure they ran as level as possible, afterall, you don't want too high an angle on the propeller, or its trying to lift the stern out of the water, rather than push the hull forwards.
So I decided to cut the shaft tubes, off the original mounting plates, mount the r/c shaft tubes in situ, then simply build up the gap in between the two.
Once the third shaft is in place, I will make up the tube end "A" supports and fill in the gap where the main supports should be for the outer tubes.

I have also now placed an order for some robbe rudders, these will be cut down to better suit the hull. Especially as the original rudders are solid items and not split as some kits are.

Whilst awaiting the third propshaft, I have decided to start super detailing the forward deck. I noticed that in some of the pictures in the booklet proved in the kit box, some of the later boats had a second deck hatch, just in front of the armoured bridge, so with a little plasticard and some spare handles in the kit box............job done.
the brass window etch panels are a nightmare! I have made up 2 sections, and had to have a break, maybe do 2 more tomorrow!

After looking at a lot of similar builds and actual boats, I have decided to go for the "Baltic fleet" Matt white base and deep sea blue paint scheme, being less boring than plain grey upperwork. The blue was the closest I could source to the actual colour used.

I hope it looks as good on the water as it totally "spooked" my eyes whilst painting the pattern on !
Perhaps I should of decorked some anaesthetic before picking up the brush

Finally after several weeks of waiting for the right parts to be delivered. I don't know why but some supplies seem to go to pieces when they get busy and either forget to put bits In an order, or worse still put the wrong bits In completely.
So I now have the correct size couplers to attach motors to shafts, so all 3 AP 480 motor are now In place and attached to the earlier Installed propeller shafts. I have made the motor mounts accessible, so Its simple to replace motors If need be later on.

Whilst waiting for the couplings I have started on the weathering of the armoured bridge too, just to see what It will look like later on In the build.