1:700 turns a wartime boat into a ten-centimetre object and a modern missile submarine into one of twenty-four, and that is the point. This is the scale of fleets: a pen with three boats alongside, a tender and an escort, all built from the same shelf of boxes. Because warship ranges are dominated by 1:700, a submarine here always has something to be photographed next to.
Builds are short. The hull is usually one or two pieces, the seam is a single quick pass, and the whole model stands or falls on the paint: a straight waterline, a tonal break under it, and a conning tower that still reads as a separate structure.
Wartime and modern boats, often as multi-hull boxings, plus waterline versions intended to be set into a sea base. Part counts are deliberately low; the periscope shears are usually a single moulding, sometimes with a small etched alternative in the box.
Fittings at 1:700 are smaller than the tip of a cocktail stick, so most of them are better painted while still attached and separated last. A fine-tipped brush from modelling brushes does more work here than any tool.
Keep the base from model paints thin and slightly lighter than the reference photograph suggests. For wear, a single pass with weathering products along the waterline and a touch at the hatch is plenty — anything heavier looks like dirt rather than age at this size.
A lone 1:700 hull looks lost on a shelf. Set two or three into a small sea or harbour base, or put a submarine alongside a vessel from ship model kits in the same scale — the size difference is the story.
Hull numbers at 1:700 are a few millimetres across, and a decal film that silvers is more obvious than the number itself. Apply over a gloss patch, press the carrier film down into the plating with a damp brush, and seal it before the matt coat goes on.
Because the builds are short, this is the scale where a project can be a group rather than a single model. Three identical hulls in sequence also let you practise the same finish three times, which is how a technique actually gets learnt.
Every scale is listed under submarine model kits.
