ModelWarships review

Reviewed by Timothy Dike

HISTORY

The HMS Fearless was a Landing Platform Dock (LPD) ship, the first of it's type built by the Royal Navy. She was designed to support a Royal Marines amphibious assault force and help the protect British interests around the world. Commissioned in 1965 the Fearless was a very capable ship. She usually carried four LCU's in the well deck and four LCVP's on davits along the side. The LCU's could deliver one main battle tank, four smaller vehicles, or 120 troops. The flight deck could accommodate up to five Sea King helicopters. In addition to delivering a large force ashore, the Fearless could server as a central command and control headquarters to coordinate the landings.

The HMS Fearless saw service around the world, including a cameo role in the 1977 "Spy Who Loved Me" James Bond movie. Fearless helped support the Falklands War in 1982 and earned honors for helping to rescue crew members from the HMS Antelope after the latter was hit by Argentine aircraft.

In 1985 Fearless was refitted and received new 20 mm BMARC and Phalanx CIWS guns in response to the new threat posed by anti ship missiles. She took on a training role in the 90's until finally being decommissioned in 2002. A few years later Fearless was towed away and scrapped. Much of the ship was
recycled.

Yet another kit by MT Miniatures in their 1/700 line of Cold War British subjects. This one is ideal for an early Fearless from the 70's probably up to her post Falklands refit appearance.

HULL AND SUPERSTRUCTURE

The hull is the only resin part on the kit and it is cast as a waterline kit with hull and superstructure as one piece. There is a casting gate on the bottom of the stern that will need removed. Fortunately it is in a place where it wont affect the finished kit. I don't have any detailed plans of the Fearless but this looks close. Some cleanup will be needed around the superstructure details.

Click images
to enlarge

SUPERSTRUCTURE

The uppers superstructure and bridge is a single resin casting. The shapes look good, but the detail is a little lacking. The casting gate is placed on the underside of the part where it will be easy to remove without affecting the rest of the part.

METAL PARTS

Many of the parts in this kit are white metal castings. Some are pretty good and some have a lot of flash. Some like the cranes are pretty well done. The shapes are there, but your going to have to spend some time with some of these parts.

VEHICLES

Two LCU Landing Craft, and four LCVP's are included cast in metal. Casting is pretty good with just a little cleanup needed on these parts.

LANDING CRAFT

A single Sea Harrier, AEW2A Sea King Helicopter, Challenger main battle tank, a 4 ton Lorry and a 4 ton fuel tanker are included as loads for the ship. Casting on these varies and a bit of cleanup will be needed to get these ready for use.

PHOTOETCH

Two etched brass frets are included. One with the ship details and a separate one with the helo main rotor blades. The main fret includes safety netting for around the flight deck, railings and mast parts.

DECALS

Two decal sheets are provided with ship numbers, and deck markings. Helo markings are also included.

INSTRUCTIONS

The instructions are a single page in an exploded view format. Everything except the railing locations are shown. But you can refer to the included photo of the completed ship for that.

BUILD UP PHOTOS

Conclusions:

It's nice to see this ship offered in the 1/700 waterline divine scale. It will go nicely with other members of your Falklands task force.

This is MT Miniatures - 1/700th HMS Fearless Item number #MTM020 with a list price of 69.95 GBP or about $110.00 US at today's exchange rate. Freetime/Pacific Front Hobbies currently has it onsale for $99.95 as of Feb 2012. See the MT Miniatures website for details.