Russian Cruiser Varyag 011 in 1/350 Scale

Now it was time to add the photo etch railing. I had a good amount of 1/350 scale modern railing left over from other builds, particularly other Russian vessel builds (Kuznetsov carrier, Petr Velikiy nuclear cruiser, and the Charbanenko Udaloy II destroyer), and so I used it to complete the Varyag.

As with most Russian vessels...lots of railing is required because of the many auxiliary decks housing all sorts of electronics.

When that was completed, it was time to do touch up work on the vessel. Invariably, despite all best efforts, there are off color spots where the last attachment to the sprue was cut, or where you have finger print marks, or where glue either gives a different finish, or in some cases gets marred itself, messing up the color. I go through at the end and touch up all of these places I can find.

After that, it was time for two coats of clear dull (flat) coat, and then the finish pictures of the ship:

And then quite a few close up pictures for this vessel and its many details:

Finally, I wanted to include a few comparative pictures. First is the pic of all of the Russian escorts for my Kuznetzov carrier.

The nuclear powered, Kirov class battle cruiser Petr Velikiy is in the background, with this new Varyag, Slava class cruiser next to it, then the Charbanenko Udaloy II class destroyer is in front of that, and finally the Severodvinsk, a new Yasen class nuclear attack submarine is in the very front, peeking in there from the right.


Then I took a picture of the Varyag next to a US Arleigh Burke, Flight IIA class AEGIS destroyer. The Varyag displaces 12,000 tons and the Arleigh Burke is around 9,500 tons.


Finally, a more apt comparison is with a US Navy Ticonderoga class AEGIS cruiser, which displaces over 10,000 tons next to the 12,000 ton Russian Varyag.


And there you have it, the Russian Slava Class Cruiser, Varyag, 011.

This was the last of my escorts for my current modern 1/350 scale aircraft carrier strike groups. I have now completed groups representing:

- The US Navy CSG - Centered on the CATOBAR USS Enterprise, CVN-65 (One day I will replace her with a 1/350 scale mode of the Ford Class carrier, USS Enterprise, CVN-80).

- The French Navy CSG - Centered on the Charles de Gaulle, the only non-US Navy nuclear powered CATOBAR aircraft carrier on earth.

- The Chinese Navy (PLAN) CSG - Centered on the Chinese STOBAR carrier, Liaoning, CV-16 (One day I will replace her with a 1/350 scale model of their 1st true indegenous carrier).

- The Royal Navy CSG - Centered on the HMS Illustrious, Invincible class Ski-Jump carrier (One day I will replace her with a 1/350 scale model of the new HMS Queen Elizabeth).

- The Russian Navy CSG - Centered on the Kuznetsov STOBAR carrier, 063 (The Kuznetsov is the carrier upon which the Chinese carrier is based from the 2nd Russian carrier they never finished).

- The Japanese Navy (JMSDF) CSG - Centered on the Hyuga, DDH-181, VTOL carrier (One day I will replace her with a 1/350 scale model of the newer, larger Japanese VTOL carrier Izumo).

I have started another group, but there are no models for its escorts (TYpe 22 destroyer and other FFGs). I had to base this carrier on the French 1/400 scale model of its predecessor, the Foch. That carrier was sold to Brazil and became the Brazilian carrier, Sao Paulo..

- The Brazilian Navy CSG - Centered on the Sao Paulo, A12, CATOBAR carrier, the refit French Foch, Clemceau class carrier sold to Brazil when the Charles de Gualle came in service.

I also hope one day to be able to find 1/350 scale models for the following carriers and their escorts:

- The Italian Navy CSG - Centered on their STOBAR carrier Cavour.

- The Spanish Navy CSG - Centered on their Ski-Jump carrier, Juan Carlos, upon which the two Australian Canberra class carriers are based.

- The Indian Navy CSG - Centered on either the Vikramaditya (a recent complete refit of the Russian Gorshkov), or their new, indigenous carrier, Vikrant. Both of those are STOBAR carriers.

- The Australian Navy CSG - Centered on either of their Canberra class Ski-Jump LHDs which have the capability of embarking F-35B strike aircraft.

I would like to have CSGs of all of the modern Navies who posses them. Big goal I know...but I have already completed well over half of them and am just waiting for the kits to do the rest.

Again nice, impressive ship a " true warrior " when viewed from the front with her 16 SS-N-12, recent stealth ships with VLS more easy to build

The 4th to Nikolayev to finish would be scrapped presumably, finaly Russia don' t get it.
If USSR don't fall VMF have had in 1995 : 4 Kirov, 4 Slava, 2 Kuznetsov and 1 Ulyanovsk but history have decided otherwise and frankly i prefer it

Can you Jeff please show a view with she and Kirov alongside.

I will try and get another, but this pic shows the Kirov cruiser, Petr Vilikey, behind the Slava cruiser, Varyag, with the Udaloy II destroyer, Charbanenko, in front of those two, and a Yasen in the very front. All in 1/350 scale.

SS-N-12 reload, impressive !

Those are big honking missiles!

I really like this view of the ship (model) showing that big load of those big honkers.

Jeff Head said:

Finally, I wanted to include a few comparative pictures. First is the pic of all of the Russian escorts for my Kuznetzov carrier.

The nuclear powered, Kirov class battle cruiser Petr Velikiy is in the background, with this new Varyag, Slava class cruiser next to it, then the Charbanenko Udaloy II class destroyer is in front of that, and finally the Severodvinsk, a new Yasen class nuclear attack submarine is in the very front, peeking in there from the right.

​

Then I took a picture of the Varyag next to a US Arleigh Burke, Flight IIA class AEGIS destroyer. The Varyag displaces 12,000 tons and the Arleigh Burke is around 9,500 tons.

​

Finally, a more apt comparison is with a US Navy Ticonderoga class AEGIS cruiser, which displaces over 10,000 tons next to the 12,000 ton Russian Varyag.

​

And there you have it, the Russian Slava Class Cruiser, Varyag, 011.

Click to expand...

Wow, looking great. I especially like the comparisons with other ships; we don't often get to see these ships meet each other in real life or to get pictures of them, so this is definitely the next best thing.

It would be great if you build models of DDG-1000 and 055 when the latter gets a kit for it, and compare all of the aegis type destroyers, aegis type cruisers, and large surface combatants all together for a big family photo