ModelWarships reveiw

HP Models HMS Bruiser Boxer class landing ship

Reviewed by Timothy Dike

The HMS Bruiser was a Boxer class Tank Landing ship designed to unload tanks and other heavy equipment directly on the beach. She had large clamshell doors on the bow to load and unload vehicles. In addition a large crane on her deck could be used to load and unload other heavy equipment. The Bruiser first saw action in the Mediterranean from Malta, Salerno, and Anzio.

HP Models has released this important Amphibious Landing ship to allow you to mount an effective invasion from the sea.

HULL

The hull is cast with some pretty nice surface detailing. The fore and aft anchor chain is molded on with plenty of chain handling equipment. I prefer to have the anchor chain left off, but this looks pretty good and wont have to be replaced. Some rafts are molded on and these look pretty good.

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SUPERSTRUCTURE PARTS

These parts are cast on thin resin wafers and are fairly well cast. The superstructure parts are pretty good, but don't have a lot of surface detail. This may be correct, but I have no reference to check it against. The ships boats look pretty good, but I am not impressed by the Skywave style machine guns. .

The crane is cast solid and would look much better in photo etch.

DECALS

British flags are printed on paper in a variety of styles.

INSTRUCTIONS

The instructions are front and back of a two sheets with plan and elevation, and an exploded view of the assembly. These are adequate to build the ship.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall this is a pretty good kit of a seldom seen British Landing ship. It could use some photo etch to spruce it up, especially for the crane. It will be a welcome addition to your Amphibious fleet.

This kit was listed for $59.00 US a typical price for a ship this size. Be sure to check Pacific Front's new online store for this and the complete line of HP Models.