Reviewed January 2026
by Martin J Quinn

HMHS Britannic was the third and final vessel of the White Star Line's Olympic class of steamships and the second White Star ship to bear the name Britannic. The sister ships included RMS Olympic and the RMS Titanic. The Britannic was intended as a transatlantic passenger liner. She operated as a hospital ship from 1915 until her sinking in November 1916. At the time she was the largest hospital ship in the world.

Britannic was launched just before the start of the First World War. She was designed to be the safest of the three ships due to lessons learned from the sinking of the Titanic.  She hit a German Navy mine on 21 November 1916 near the Greek island of Kea and sank 55 minutes later, killing 30 of 1,066 people on board; the 1,036 survivors were rescued from the water and lifeboats. The wreck of the Britannic was explored by Jacques Cousteau in 1975. The vessel is the largest intact passenger ship on the seabed in the world.

History above was taken from the MRC website. For more on HMHS Britannic, check out her Wiki page here, or this YouTube video of her sinking - by Oceanliner Designs - here.

The Hobby Boss Britannic

The Hobby Boss 1/700 HMS Britannic comes is a sturdy cardboard box. On the box top is a painting of Britannic at sea.  The model is supposed to represent Britannic as a hospital ship, wearing overall white with red crosses and bold green lines on her hull.  Inside the box are 21 sprues, a stand, two small photo-etch frets, and decals.  Many of the sprues are marked "Titanic", while ten others  are specific to this version of Britannic, and marked as such. 

This kit shares the following spures with the previously reviewed HMT Olympic kit:

• Sprue A (Hull)
• Sprue B
• Sprue C
• Sprue D
• Sprue G1
• Sprue G4
• Photo Etch Fret A
• Stand

For this review, I'll be looking at the sprues, fret and decals specific to Britannic, which are:

• Sprue E
• Sprue S
• Sprue T
• Sprue U
• Sprue U10
• Sprue U11
• Sprue V
• Sprue W
• Sprue X1
• Sprue X2
• Photo Etch Fret C

For the common sprues, click the HMT Olympic link above.

This sprue lifeboats, the large, unique gantries that Britannic carries, and the padeyes that attach the gantries to the deck.  Boat detail is good, with planking in the bottom of the boats. However, the gantries are pedestrian, and would have been better rendered as photo-etch (luckily, Toms Modelworks makes a set that includes these).

This "sprue" is a deck.  I believe it's the promenade deck. The planking is nicely done.

Another deck "sprue".  This one appears to be the main deck.

This is an Britannic specific fret. It has photo-etch crosses that attach to the sides of the ship.  There is also a bulkhead and some piping for the Fo'c'sle. 

There is one small decal sheet included with the model. Included are two versions ("wavy" and straight) of British merchant flags and red cross hospital flags.  There is also decals for the ships name, as well as the green stripes and red crosses worn on the hull. 

The instructions are in the typical Trumpeter/Hobby Boss style:  booklet form with exploded view drawings.   If you've built a Trumpeter/Hobby Boss kit before, you know what to expect.  There is a color profile of the ship included as well, with the color callouts for matching paints from a variety of manufacturers, including Mr. Hobby, Valejo, Tamiya and Humbrol. 

Similar to my comments in regards to Olympic, my overall impression of this kit are favorable.  It is finely molded with some great details, like the windows on the deck house, the planking and the screened vents, as well as the hull plating.  While I can't vouch for the accuracy of the kit, it does seem that HobbyBoss took pains to capture the differences in the sisters in each release, hence the multiple different sprues in each variant. The model, albeit being a tad narrow in scale, compares favorably to drawing in "Shipcraft 18" and other online resources.  I think a lot of liner fans, and fans of World War 1 ships, will, like the previous Olympic release, really like this kit and it's unique fit and markings.  All three sisters displayed together would make a striking display in anyone's collection.  Highly recommended.

This is Hobby Boss Model's kit number 83422, 1/700 RMS Britannic.  The model retails for $79.99, and is available from Model Rectifier Corporation - who I'd like to thank for this review sample. 

This is an in-box review of the kit contents only.  Your mileage may vary once you start construction.