Cyber Hobby has created another fine pairing in its Orange Box line of price-beating kits. The second ever 1/350 scale ship set (Item No. 1048) boasts USS Yorktown (CG 48) and a Soviet Alfa-class submarine. First, a little background information on these two vessels that once prowled the world’s oceans as adversaries. USS Yorktown was a Ticonderoga-class cruiser in the US Navy after its commissioning in July 1984 before being decommissioned in 2004. Perhaps its most famous incident occurred in the Black Sea in February 1988. While claiming the “right of innocent passage” through Soviet territorial waters, USS Yorktown was rammed by the Soviet frigate Bezzavetniy. Some labeled this “the last incident of the Cold War.” The other boat in this twin set is an Alfa-class nuclear-powered hunter/killer submarine. This Soviet Project 705 type was the fastest and deepest-diving military submarines ever built. This somewhat experimental 2,300-ton design was highly adapted as an interceptor, with the first of seven subs commissioned in 1974. All were decommissioned by 1990 after having served in the Northern Fleet. Alfa-class boats were 81.4m long, and required a crew of approximately 30 men.

Cyber Hobby has boxed both these models into one large package, but to the delight of all has succeeded in maintaining a very reasonable price. To give these highly accurate plastic kits a new lease of life, the set includes brand new decals from Cartograf. Once upon a time, these two vessels from opposite sides of the Cold War divide may have stalked each other, but now modelers can display them side by side. As previously released model kits, the 1/350 USS Yorktown and Alfa-class submarine come with Dragon’s pledge of quality.