Oggie Gonzalez’s Flying Sub

Irwin Allen had quite the imagination and the flying sub no doubt was one of his most unique ideas. As we all know, the only kit that was available for years was the Monogram model. Unfortunately it sorely lacked in accuracy and detail. Well now Moebius, with all the attention to detail that they’ve become famous for, has a beautiful, accurate kit available and it’s incredible. The model is scaled at 1/32 and measures over 14 inches from front to stern, about twice the size of the Monogram version. When completed, it makes an awesome replica.

I began with painting and detailing the cabin. As you take the pieces off the trees, you really begin to appreciate the effort given to the detailing. I purchased both the decal and the vinyl floor sheets. I found the floor sheet to be well worth it and this was the first thing I did. You need to be careful when applying the floor sheet but it isn’t too hard. I decided not use a lot of the control panel decals since this involved sanding off the raised details of each area. I painted the detailing instead but did use them for the pilot control panels. After viewing some shots of the interior on DVD, I felt the painting guide provided seemed pretty accurate and used the suggested paint scheme. Testors Steel metalizer was used for the interior infrastructure and aluminum was used for the hatches and front exterior section. The interior assembly was straightforward and the pieces fit perfectly.

After applying white primer, I used Tamiya’s Chrome yellow for the hull color and used Testors Blue Angel blue for the dark highlights. An airbrush is the best way to apply the straight lines needed here. Now with most of my models I’ve used Testors plastic cement but I decided to try a (cyanoacrylate) superglue adhesive gel instead. This was a good call because it helped the pieces stick together quicker which was critical when gluing the main hull. Upon applying the glue I used masking tape to clamp the main pieces together to avoid gaps. The quick drying cement made this process much more manageable and assembly was quick.

I’ve seen one of the original miniatures hanging in the Hard Rock Café in Vegas and it looked thrashed. If you need to have replica of the Flying Sub in your model collection, this is the one to get. I’d highly recommend this kit. It was well worth the money. Moebius is doing such an exemplary job with their kits.

Oggie Gonzalez