-"...He has flooded his tubes, Kaptain!"

-"Has he opened his outer doors?"

-"No, Kaptain..."
...The Hunt for Red October, Paramount Pictures, 1990

Ah, but Matty's Models is opening the outer doors - or, more precisely, is greatly improving their molded representations in the FBM nose cone:


Click on Image to Enlarge At left, using pairs of square-section plastic tubes, two pair create the foundation for 4 doors positioned much more reliably - both w/r/t the bow, and to each other - and having their own, internal vertical and horizontal references. With the first-pass result shown at right. Just a fraction of the original tubes remaining - but the resulting openings are far more uniform in size and spacing than if simply carved out by hand (as in the last version). Note this version will also include the tube-flooding ports - one on each cheek - and possibly also the anchor locker, shown tentatively started here.

On the 2nd pass, refining the openings, the part now looks like this:


Click on Image to Enlarge The tube doors are just beginning to aproach their final shapes (which, surprisingly, are more complex than you would've thought!)


OK, two pairs of tubes for four tube doors - elementary.

But what, then, does this represent:

Click on Image to Enlarge Guess it - and there are actually two correct answers - and you will win one free (with your subsequent order from Matt Stein Models, or for just the price of actual shipping), as soon as they start rolling off the line.

I'll give all y'all two weeks (from the above date) to send me your best (single) guess.

"Verify range to target, Vasily - one ping only, please..."

Cheers,

-Matty