| The HMS Repulse was a World War one Battleship that was upgraded to modern designs. A member of the Repulse class she is best know for her fatal voyage with the HMS Prince of Wales in the opening days of the Pacific theater side of the second world war. | |
| I recently acquired this kit from a friend and even though it is now out of production, I wanted to share it with you. It is a shame that Imperial Navy is no longer producing as this kit is really not bad, especially when one considers that it was among the original resin kits offered. One thing that caught my eye right away was the great cover art on the box, you might recognize the style as that of Dan Jones, publisher of Plastic Ship Modeler. |  |
| The hull is very nicely detailed and includes fine scribed deck lines. I found only one problem and it was a casting problem that left and air bubble on the bottom of the hull. This is along the waterline and is easily fixed by sanding without any detail loss. |  |
| The superstructure parts are pretty simple and are molded with very little resin over pour to clean up. There are a few bubbles in the resin that will have to be filled first though. |  |
| The main gun turrets are well molded with separate barrels provided to give the modeler the option of using some of the aftermarket brass barrels if they chose. The secondary armament is ok, but the light anti aircraft guns are not really molded too well. I would recommend getting some of White Ensign Models weapons sets and replacing these. |  |
| The various small parts such as davits, boats, and mast parts are all molded pretty well. One bonus and I wish more manufacturers would take notice is that material to make the masts is provided. Two sizes of plastic rod are included and these will be sufficient to fabricate the masts. One Walrus seaplane is provided as well. |  |
| The instructions are hand drawn but easy to read and include more than enough information to complete the kit. There was also a camo sheet provided to help paint her in the scheme at the time of her loss. I would recommend getting the new Camouflage Volume 1 Royal Navy 1939-1941 to get the latest info on the pattern Repulse wore in her early career. |  |
| Update: Imperial Navy is back as Imperial Hobby Production. | |
