The Alexander Engel Typhoon kit is a very large scale model of a Russian ballistic missile submarine.  It is a static diving boat meaning it will dive while standing still.  For ballast tanks, it uses two large cylinders that have pistons that pushes water put to surface and draws it in to dive.  A pressure sensor is included that prevents the boat from diving too deep by activating the ballast tanks.  It also has a built in failsafe device that also activates the ballast system to surface the boat if the radio signal is lost.  An available option that I purchased is a mechanism for raising and lowering the periscopes remotely.

The first thing I noticed about the Alexander Engel Typhoon kit was it impressive size.  It came in two boxes, one containing the hull, the other had everything else.  Both boxes are well packed and there was absolutely no damage from shipping.  Upon opening the box containing the hull was I very impressed with what I saw.  The hull is well scribed and looks first rate.  It's large size makes it look like a mini torpedo especially since the conning tower is not attached.   The nine inch girth is impressive and leaves plenty of room for building and adding options.  The other box contained all of the parts necessary to build the boat.  Many of components are pre assembled, including the two diving tanks and gear drive.  All of the parts look to be top quality.  There was a bit of a delay in shipping because they were developing the English instructions.  It was worth the wait, the instructions seem to be pretty clear (you never really know until you are building the boat).  I think this is going to be a very enjoyable kit to build and operate.

My experience with the vendor has been pretty good.  When I first ordered the boat, it was delayed due to aforementioned English instructions.  I sent a few emails asking when it would ship, not all of then were answered but once the kit was ready, I received an email with a postal tracking number.  Only then was my credit card charged.  While building it, I noticed that I was missing a part that holds the hatch seal in place.  After a short email to Engel, the missing piece was shipped.  It did take quite some time to arrive but this was probably due to the 9/11/2001 attack on the world trade center.  When I was building the periscope mechanism, I had a question on how it went together.  My email was answered in about fifteen minutes!  It doesn't get any better then that.

Last Updated: 07/03/08