ModelWarships.com Review

Airfix HMS Warspite
1/600 British Battleship

History: One of the most appropriately named battleships with a service record to match, the Warspite had a storied career: >From the excellent Warships of the World (see reference section below for url): Queen Elizabeth Class Battleships Quite possibly one of the best British battleship classes built. These ships saw service through two world wars and performed admirably in both. They were extensively modernized before WWII and were quite handsome in appearance. Warspite Builder- Devonport Naval Dockyards Laid Down- Oct.31/12 Launched- Nov.26/13 Commissioned- Mar./1915 Operational History: minor collision with HMS Barham Dec.1/15 took part in Battle of Jutland May.31/16 rudder jammed during fight and received 15 major caliber hits repaired at Rosyth by Jul./1916 major collision with HMS Valiant Aug.24/16 repaired by Sep.28/16 minor collision with HMS destroyer Jun./17 partial modernisation Nov./1924-Apr./1926 drydocked and paid off Mar./1934 at Portsmouth for complete modernisation completed by Mar./1937 RECOM Jun./1937 in Meditereanean Fleet as Flagship narrowly missed shelling a passenger liner 1937 accidently fired into city of Valetta with pompoms 1937 supported Norweigian campaign Apr./1940 took part in Narvik Fjord Battle, shelling German destroyers returned to Medittereanean Fleet after campaign took part in Battle of Calabria Jul.9/40 hitting Italian battleship Giulio Cesare at a range of 26,400 yards took part in Battle of Matapan with force of Valiant, Barhama and HMS destroyers destroyed 3 Italian cruisers Mar.28/41 severely damaged May.22/41 by 500lb bomb at Crete remained in action and returned to Alexandria May.24/41 for temporary repairs near missed by 1,000lb bomb at Alexandria left for USA May.25/41 repiared at Bremerton Aug.11/41-Dec.28/41 joined Eastern Fleet Jan./1942 returned to Meditereanean Fleet Jun.17/43 took part in Operation Husky at Sicily escorted surrendered Italian warships to Malta Sep.10/43 took part in Salerno landings and was severely damaged by 3 German guided bombs Sep.16/43 temporarily repaired at Malta partially repaired at Rosyth Mar./44 participated in landing at Normandy sent to Rosyth for regunning after landing hit magnetic mine after repairs at Portsmouth Jun.13/45 patched up once more at Rosyth carried out bombardments against Brest, Le Havre andf finally Walcheren in Nov./1944 placed in Category C Reserve Feb.1/45 sold for scrap Mar.12/47 left Portsmouth Mar.12/47 but broke tow Apr.23/47 on way to breakers ran aground in Prussia Cove off Cornish coast scrapped where she lay 1947-1956
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The Kit: This kit was picked up at an antique tag sale and shows its age. It appears to be an early boxing. Despite its age, the kit shows very nice detail on the flight deck, island, and hull.
The kit is molded in a dark grey plastic and also includes a couple sprues of Japanese naval aircraft including Zeroes and what appear to be Kates and Vals. This is a nice size kit and will allow the builder sufficient room for adding brass details for enhancements Gold Medal Models set # 700-14 $12.00 is a good choice). This kit is still in production (it was for sale on a few of the bigger online retailers.)
Conclusion: In short, this is a kit long on the shelves that offers fine detail out-of-the-box and with strategic photo-etched brass details added will produce an excellent replica of a ship with a long service record- not to mention the role it played in the Pearl Harbor raid and the decisive Midway engagement. References: Warships1.com


Editors note: Len writes the Naval Corner column over on Modeling Madness, a great general modeling site that is definitely worth a look.