Reviewed by Timothy Dike
| HISTORY | |||||||||||||
| The HMS Endurance was originally built as the MV Polar
Circle by Ulstein Hatlo shipyard in Norway in 1990. She was chartered by
the Royal Navy for eight years before being purchased and renamed Endurance.
Her mission is to support British surveys in the Antarctic and to show
the flag in those areas claimed by Britain. In addition to her research
duties, the Endurance is a class 1A1 icebreaker and ideally suited for
operation in ice filled waters.
Endurance has suffered from a number of mishaps including a loose rudder that left her stranded in Argentina when a strike was called as most of her crew was in port. After the strike work resumed and she went home for more permanent repairs. In 2008 she had a near catastrophic flooding episode that left her without power and in danger of sinking. After being towed to Punta Arenas she carried home on the semi submersible transporter ship MV Target. The latest reports of the damage are not good and the ship is to be scrapped. This new kit from MT Miniatures represents the modern era Antarctic
Patrol Ship the HMS Endurance. It is available as kit shown here or pre
assembled and painted.
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| HULL | |||||||||||||
| The hull is cast in waterline style and casting is pretty nice overall. There is a touch of flash on some edges, but it is light and should cleanup with a minimum of effort. The surface detail is pretty good, although I really don't care for the cast on Aztec stairs. These are mostly hidden when the deck is installed so I doubt most will mind. Mounting hole are provided for the superstructure and the crane. | Click images
to enlarge |
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE | |||||||||||||
| The superstructure is one piece and includes all the upper deck, bridge, and aft helo deck. Windows are recessed into the surface with well defined openings. This part would be ready to use if not for the three resin sprues glued to the front edge. These will have to be removed and sanded smooth before mounting this part on the hull. |  |
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The one real down side is the use of the Aztec stairs
where inclined ladders should be. This is a common thing found on a lot
of kits, but I wish manufacturers would just omit them and let the modeler
added PE ladders if desired. Fortunately they are a lot easier to remove
on the softer resin of this kit than on some plastic kits.
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| METAL PARTS | |||||||||||||
| The rest of the parts are cast as white metal fittings. They include the mast, cranes, ships boats and the Lynx helicopter. There is light flash on some of these parts but typical for cast metal parts. |  |
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| PHOTOETCH | |||||||||||||
| A single brass fret is included with the railings and safety netting. The main rotor blades for the lynx are also provided in photo etched brass. |  |
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| DECALS | |||||||||||||
| Three decal sheets are provided with ship numbers, and deck markings. Helo markings are also included. |  |
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| INSTRUCTIONS | |||||||||||||
| The instructions are a single page in an exploded view format. |  |
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| Conclusions: | |||||||||||||
MT Miniatures' short for Matthew Tarrant Miniatures is providing some unique ships for 1/700 waterline modelers. This one makes a nice research ship to break up the monotony and provide some color among your gray warships. It looks simply enough that most any modeler who is familiar with photo etch can tackle it in an evening or two. It can also provide a nice base for a superdetailed Antarctic diorama. This is MT Miniatures - 1/700th HMS Endurance Item number MTM001 with a price of only 25.20 GBP or about $40.34 at today's exchange rate. See the MT Miniatures website for details. |
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