| The Hamburg D 181 was the class leader
of the first large warship built by the German Navy after the Second World
War. Before this ship, the Federal Navy consisted of ships obtained from
Allies. There were four ship in the class and they were designed for operations
in the Baltic Sea. Their large superstructure made them somewhat top heavy
and they were not well suited for North Atlantic duty. Armed with four
100 mm gun turrets, and twin 40 mm bofors mounts, they were a little under
armed for their time. These ships were later upgraded with more modern
weapons in the mid 70's and served on into the 90's.
This first new warship kit from Admiralty Model Works is no doubt going
to be more successful than Germany's first warship. Pavel Vacata is finally
realizing his dreams of producing his own line of kits. This new kit is
produced with state of the art tools and the results show. This kit will
allow you to build any of the four ships of the class in their as built
condition. |
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| HULL |
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| The waterline hull is cast with the superstructure in place. The detail
is impressive with everything from bits and chock, to watertight doors
and life raft canisters. The closed chocks are filled in and will look
nice after opening up with a small drill bit. The main gun turret bases
include some intricate bracing. Also impressive is the way the overhanging
platforms are cast without flash. |
click images
to enlarge
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| FUNNELS, WEAPONS AND FITTINGS |
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| As noted above there is no separate superstructure parts. The only
structural parts to add are the funnels. These are cast with locator pins
that match locations on hull. Gills are cast on and are so sharp that you
will not need to do any drilling to get that 3D look. |
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The weapons are equally impressive with main gun turrets and their separate
gun barrels with rich detailing. The 40 mm bofors mounts are very nice
with some of the finest barrels I have seen on resin parts. The only thing
I don't like is the lack of a mounting pin to center them on the base.
There are two boats, and open and covered version typical of the German
post war period. Torpedo launchers, and boat davits are well cast.
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| DECALS |
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| Well registered decals are provided with numbers for all four ships
in this class. There are even full color ships crests for each ship. |
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| PHOTO ETCH |
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| A photo etch fret is included with relief etching to enhance the 3D
effect. There are radar assemblies and latticework for the masts. Depth
charge racks, anchor chain, and even cable reels. The only thing extra
you will need are some generic railings. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| The Instructions are among the most extensive I have seen
for a resin kit of this size. Well drawn and done in a logical step by
step fashion. There are even color chips for the ships colors with White
Ensign Colourcoats numbers fore easy reference.
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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: If
this is the first product from Admiralty
Model Works, can you imagine what the next one will be like? Impressive
casting, sharp detailing, nice decals, and relief etched brass fret, all
add up to a state of the art kit that will allow you to build this German
Cold War veteran in style. This kit is available now with a list
price of $78.00 US, but if you check the main
page, I bet you can find it on sale from one of our sponsors. |
