1/350 350-11 Toms Modelworks Baloa Class With GUPPY Upgrade - Portsmouth Or Electric Boat
Resin Model Kit, Box Condition: VG
Rare. This is a complete multi-media kit and not a conversion. It includes a wide variety of parts to build one of several different Baloa Class Submarines once they were given the "Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program" (GUPPY) conversion. Features a beautiful high-definition cast resin hull, choice Electric Boat or Portsmouth resin sails, many cast metal and brass PE details, different fittings and radar for different boats and more. Includes text and illustrated instructions. Never started and inventoried complete with all parts and includes instructions. The Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program (GUPPY) was initiated by the United States Navy after World War II to improve the submerged speed, maneuverability, and endurance of its submarines. The navy began the program by testing and reverse engineering two German Type XXI U-boats—U-2513 and U-3008—obtained as war reparation. That analysis led to four goals—increasing the submarines battery capacity, streamlining the boats' structures, adding snorkels, and improving fire control systems. The navy immediately focused on designing a new class of submarine, but the Bureau of Ships believed the fleet of existing Gato, Balao, and Tench-class submarines could be modified to incorporate the desired improvements. In June 1946, the Chief of Naval Operations approved the GUPPY project. The initial two-boat test program, implemented by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, eventually grew into several successive conversion programs. Those upgrades proceeded in seven variants, in the following order: GUPPY I, GUPPY II, GUPPY IA, Fleet Snorkel, GUPPY IIA, GUPPY IB, and GUPPY III. Some boats that went through an early phase were then upgraded further in a later phase.
This item has been sold.
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