HMS Repulse build

[KiwiKev]

Building one of the best Airfix 1:600 ship models.

[KiwiKev]

This was one of the last Airfix models I built 15 or 20 years ago, along with the KGV and Prinz Eugen. That left me with a very good impression of Airfix models, although to be honest they are about the best they produced alongside the Belfast model.

Revisiting the Repulse again, I do remember having trouble getting the deck to locate correctly, and didn't get it perfect last time. Although the quarter deck has a very positive locating ledge, the forecastle deck has a typically fine ledge that the deck can slip off during gluing.

This time I've glued in some additional tabs to ensure a positive fit while the glue dries.

Another minor gripe is that some sections of the lower superstructure are molded into the deck, and with the mold release that means they carry no detail, so one of the first tasks will be researching the detail that should be on those areas.

Overall though I am very impressed with the quality of molding and the level of detail on this kit. Some of the paperwork carries a 2011 date although the parts themselves are stamped 1982.

[Ratch]

The last four Airfix 1/600 warships - Belfast 1973, Prinz Eugen 1975, KGV 1981 & Repulse 1982 - were great kits. If only the scale had not been abandoned. What would be possible with CAD today for 1/600. I was told that the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier was too big to mould in 1/350 - it would be a great subject in 1/600, and would make a resonant statement.

[KiwiKev]

The last four Airfix 1/600 warships - Belfast 1973, Prinz Eugen 1975, KGV 1981 & Repulse 1982 - were great kits. If only the scale had not been abandoned. What would be possible with CAD today for 1/600. I was told that the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier was too big to mould in 1/350 - it would be a great subject in 1/600, and would make a resonant statement.

 

 

Wow, I am surprised Belfast is that much older, as it has all the superstructure walls molded separately and generally appears the best thougth out model of the lot. Repulse is almost slightly retrograde compared to KGV and Belfast, given the superstructure features I mentioned, but still has impressive hull detail. Yes something new in 1:600 would surely be popular if the subject was well chosen. Even a 1980s Illustrious down-scaled to 1:600, since they have already done the design work, would have been popular I'm sure. We can only dream!!

[Ratch]

We can only dream!!

 

 

Indeed!

[Hurricane Boy]

KiwiKev & Ratch:

Question: was the new issue of HMS Repulse in 1982 the last new 1/600th scale ship that Airfix has issued in that scale?

Observation: If so, Airfix has been sitting on the fence on the decision to continue in 1/600th scale or jump into the 1/700th scale market for more than 40 years.

About that time (1982) I purchased “Encyclopedia of the Modern Royal Navy” by Paul ???(begins with B and is the name of a wood chewing, swimming rodent). It is an excellent book and, of course, all of the waterline profile drawings are in 1/600th scale. It is obvious from those drawings this is a very practical scale for models of ships, large and small.

From what I have read, 1/600th scale was used by the Royal Navy for drawing of their ships in various publications and communications. The root of this scale seems to be its easy division of a Nautical Mile, so 10 feet = one Nautical mile. In days of sailing ships, it was likely practical to develop and teach naval tactics on the gym floor. Modelling Warspite’s engagement and hit on the Italian cruiser Guilio Cesare in the Med at 26,000 yards would have to be taken out to the football pitch!

Unfortunately, other manufacturers have entered the market after Airfix was well established at 1/600th in other similar but smaller scales (1720th &1/700th) for no apparent reasoning to these new scales other than possible size of injection molding equipment or to purposely not compete in the 1/600th scale market. This has only proven to dilute and confuse the small ship model market. The vintage Airfix 1/600th ship models seem to move quickly when they are reissued while the Airfix models using other companies molds in other scales don’t seem to move so quickly.

With the apparent solid support for 1/600th scale from modellers on this forum, it would be delightful to see Airfix make a strong statement on this issue and announce a new 1/600th scale ship this coming Tuesday at the 2024 model range announcement!

Cheers,

Tim

[Ratch]

Question: was the new issue of HMS Repulse in 1982 the last new 1/600th scale ship that Airfix has issued in that scale?

 

 

Basically, yes. The only 'newer' 1/600 ship issued in an Airfix box was the Heller Queen Mary II in 2004. Some say 1/600 is a dead scale, but for those of us who build it, it's far from that. If I built 1/350 I'd only have two or three ships, 1/700 is too small, 1/600 allows me to have a large fleet in a constant scale.

[Sailorman]

Yes please!! more liners and ships to 1:600!

[graham_walker1]

Dead scale only for dinosaur's, only way forward is 1/350 1/700

[john redman]

Airfix has been unfortunate in pretty well every one of its scale choices over the years except 1/72 aircraft.

1/600 was eclipsed by 1/700; 1/32 by 1/35; 1/76 by 1/72. 1/24 is probably outsold by 1/32.

The pointless switch to 1/35 is particularly galling because if you like historical military figurines, you have to change scale after 1914.

I've never got around to it but you could in theory make five WW1 ships from the Airfix 1/600 range - Iron Duke, Warspite, Repulse, Hood (WW1 design although she missed it) and Mauretania. There'd be quite a lot involved in backdating some of these - Iron Duke is in her 1921 rig IIRC - but that's kind of the point.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Kev, I've done two of these now, one as Repulse and the other as a whiff that I named HMS Reliant. I enjoyed them both, I thought this is a good kit. But there's an error I think with the screw numbering. Have you fitted them yet? If not then I suggest you switch the two outer screws, parts 27 and 35. All screws should be outward turning. I confirmed this from photos when I did my original build. HTH.

And regarding John's comment above regarding backdating HMS Iron Duke, I did the model back in 2017, modified to her configuration as at the Battle of Jutland. It wasn't a huge amount of work, most of the time was spent in research. I'll try to post a photo later if you wish. Regards, Jeff.

[john redman]

Hey Jeff

A few years ago I was researching Iron Duke as a possible nostalgia build because it has to be the late 70s since I built it, when I was into WW1 naval wargaming. From aftermarket suppliers such as White Ensign (no longer in biz, sadly) I gathered that the overall shape and layout of the Airfix kit are pretty much spot on, but it has two issues. One is that the decks in the forward superstructure are all slightly too tall making the whole thing too tall - apparently if you look at photographs of the real thing, such as that of sister ship Emperor of India on the Wiki page about this class, you can gauge the height of the levels against the funnel tops and see where the Airfix one is slightly off.

The other issue is that the ship is apparently in a sort of 1926-ish configuration, when she was part of a training squadron. Despite this late date, none of the interesting stuff she should have had, such as turret-top catapults, is there. Taken together this means you have a bit of work to do and stuff to add to get her to an actual 1926 or even a 1918 configuration.

The kit being very old, you'd probably find that parts fit and flash are a bit of a headache. The ends of the 13.5-inch guns are flared but should not be. I do remember the casemated secondaries being really poor too. They were just plastic pins with a loop on the end which you dropped over a spindle and then you glued the deck on top to trap the guns. This arrangement enables the guns to turn, but also to slide up and down the spindle while not looking a lot like a gun.

IIRC the Iron Dukes were evolutions from the previous KGV class. They had 6-inch secondaries where the latter had 4-inch, but they were otherwise quite similar in displacement, layout etc.

The WW1 dreadnought I'd have loved Airfix to do is HMS Agincourt, with no less than seven 12-inch twin mounts named Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc instead of A, B, P, Q etc!!

[Ratch]

WEM are still going, John.

Homepage | White Ensign Models

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday John, thanks for the feedback re HMS Iron Duke. You're correct about the superstructure height. I've almost finished my third rendition of the kit, but I don't think I'll discuss it further here - it is after all a HMS Repulse thread. I should finish by the end of the week and then I'll start a thread/discussion then. Unless of course I can't wait and I start it sooner.

Apologies KiwiKev if I've caused a thread drift.

Regards to all, Jeff.