SS Models Alliance Review

SS Models
1/350 Scale HMS Alliance Submarine

Reviewed April 2025
by Felix Bustelo

HISTORY

HMS Alliance is the last surviving A-class or Amphion-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid on March 13, 1945, launched on July 28, 1945 and commissioned on May 14, 1947. The Amphion-class submarines benefited from the Royal Navy’s experience in World War II. The submarines measured 281 ft 4.75 in (85.8 m) long, with a beam of 22 ft 3 in (6.8 m) and a draught of 17 ft (5.2 m). They displaced 1,385 tons surfaced and 1,620 tons submerged. The submarines had six 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes forward, with two external tubes. On the stern, four torpedo tubes, again two external, were fitted. Deck armament consisted of a single 4-inch (102 mm) gun and a 20 mm Oerlikon. The fin, as built, resembled those found on the T-class submarines.

Alliance was one of the seven Amphion-class boats completed with a snort mast. The remaining nine boats all had masts fitted by 1949. A snort mast consists of two hoistable pipes, one for letting air into the boat the other for expelling the exhausts. The snort head both separated air from exhausts and closed automatically when the head dipped below the surface. From October 9 to November 8, 1947, Alliance took an experimental cruise to perform what was essentially a stress test of the snort mast. She remained submerged for 30 days in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa.

Between 1958 and 1960, Alliance underwent extensive modernization to make her faster and quieter when submerged. All external torpedo tubes and guns were removed. The hull was streamlined and the fin replaced with a larger (26 feet 6 inch high), more streamlined one constructed of aluminum. Initially, post modernization, the wireless transmitting aerial was supported on a frame behind the fin but was later replaced with a whip aerial on the starboard side of the fin which could be rotated hydraulically to a horizontal position.

Between 1973 until 1979, she was used as a static training boat. In August of 1979, she was towed to Vosper Ship Repairers Limited's yard at Southampton to have her keel strengthened so that she could be lifted out of the water and preserved as a museum ship and memorial to British submariners who have died in service. Since 1981, HMS Alliance has been on display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport. Beginning in 2011, Alliance underwent major repairs and restoration which was completed in March 2014.

SS Models Alliance

SS Models 3D printed kits have been the subject of spirited discussions on the ship modeling message boards recently, with a fair share of fans as well as detractors. They have been available for sale exclusively on eBay, at least in the United States. While browsing Amazon to look for stuff to spend some gift cards I received for Christmas, I came across a wide selection of SS Models kits. I joke around saying “Lead me not to temptation, I can find it myself”, so I decided to purchase the HMS Alliance full hull kit. The price was only $30.00 with an instant coupon and $6.00 shipping from China, so the price was right … at least I hoped.

The kit came in a sturdy flip-top cardboard box and the one-piece full hull comes wrapped in a bubble wrap sleeve with the print raft on the rest of the parts in another such sleeve. Using the Anatomy of the Ship volume on HMS Alliance by the late John Lambert and numerous photos online of the ship preserved at Gosport as references, I examined the kit.

HULL

Let’s talk about the positives first. At first glance, the hull shape looks ok. In 1/350 scale, the model hull should measure about 9.65 inches (245 mm) and the kit hull is pretty much spot on. The limber holes along the hull are pretty much accurate, I would say about 96%, and I do like how the stern torpedo tube opening and grid is captured. The rudder and aft hydroplanes are incorporated into the hull and look good.

However, there are serious inaccuracies compared to the drawings in the AotS volume and museum ship photos. The most glaring question is where are the bloody forward torpedo tubes? They are completely missing from the kit hull as well as the strakes at the bow that surround them. How could this have been overlooked, especially when they are so prominent in photos and plans? Also omitted are the bilge keels along hull side bottoms. In their place are faint lines in the hull, which will act as a guide to attach some plastic strip to scratch make some. Along the hull bottom, there is a large opening that I am not sure belongs there.

The bottom of the hull has some very minor remnants of the supports that attached the hull to the printing raft. These can be easily sanded down. Some bits of printing supports remain on the stern which can be easily removed. The hull has openings to fit the forward dive plans and on the port side, the anchor. The deck itself has some faint details and bollards. There is a stub forward to fit the Asdic dome and one to fit the tall fin structure.

The Smaller Parts

A small print raft enclosed in a protective cage contains the remainder of the kit parts. For the purpose of this review, I removed the cage in order to take better photos of these parts. The fin is another disappointing part of this kit. I don’t understand why there is a large tic-tac-toe grid on the port side and what looks like a giant ladder on the starboard that are deeply engraved in to the sides of the fin when there is no such evidence of anything closely resembling it on any plans of photos of the submarine readily accessible on the internet. What was the source of this fantasy? These will need to be filled in with putty and sanded smooth. Also, the front face appears a bit flat to me and should be a little rounder. While on the topic of the front face, a watertight access door that again is quite prominent in drawings and photos is omitted, but that can be easily remedied with some photo etch. The fin profile is generally accurate with the exception of the front face. All of the periscopes, antennas, and snort mast are included in a retracted position with no option to have them modeled raised without scratch building and some surgery. This is disappointing, as I like to model my subs with everything raised out of the sail/fin. The fin does have the base for the whip aerial on the starboard side (you will need to make your own) and the gun hatch at the front base of the fin. The latter is where a gun was stowed until it was needed, rather than having it fitted on the deck.

The other parts include the forward diving planes, which are meant to be attached in their extended position though I think that they could also be stowed. Other parts include the Asdic dome, anchor, propeller shafts and struts, and 3-bladed propellers. There are some parts included that are again more fantasy than actually fitted on the submarine. These include a very tall mast with yardarm, rather tall jack and ensign staffs (at least that’s my guess as to what they are) and a pair of short sections of railing that are to be fitted at the base of the mast. All I can say is these latter parts should be tossed into the trash.

Instructions and Decals

No instructions are provided other than the CAD render on the box label. Taking a closer look at the CAD render, I would have realized what you see is what you get. There are no actual painting instructions other than what is suggested on that label, which is wrong because Alliance is overall black. No decals are provided as well.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, this is a very substandard kit, which is not surprising based on what I have read about SS Models kits. Granted, I have seen some larger subjects built up into nice models, but not without a lot of effort and willingness to accept some inaccuracies. I guess a fairly decent model could be made with this kit, but the complete omission of the forward torpedo tubes is rather unforgiveable and will take major effort to remedied and you shouldn’t have to.

Thankfully, I was cautious and did not spend too much money purchasing it. I hope that some other, more reputable and detail-oriented kit producer would go ahead and release a model of HMS Alliance in 1/350 scale – are you listening Iron Shipwrights, Starling Models or Atlantic Models? As for me, I will resist temptation and not purchase another SS Models kit unless I hear that they are much improved. Bottom line, avoid this kit at all costs.