Combrig Models
1/700 Never-Built HMS G3 Battlecruiser


Reviewed August 2023
by Martin J Quinn
HISTORY
The G3 battlecruisers were a class of battlecruisers planned by the Royal Navy after the end of World War I, in response to naval expansion programs by the United States and Japan. The four ships of this class would have been larger, faster and more heavily armed than any existing battleship (although several projected foreign ships would be larger). The G3s have been considered to be proper "fast battleships" since they were well-balanced designs with adequate protection. Nonetheless the class was officially designated as a "battlecruiser" due to their higher speed and lesser firepower and armor relative to the planned N3-class battleship design. The G3s carried nine 16-inch guns and were expected to achieve 32 knots, while the N3s would carry nine 18-inch guns on the same displacement at the expense of a slower speed.

The G3 design was approved by the Board of Admiralty on 12 August 1921, and four G3 battlecruisers were ordered on 24 October 1921, without names, from John Brown, Swan Hunter, William Beardmore and Fairfield. Following the visit of an Admiralty delegation, detailed constructional drawings were sent to John Brown on 3 November with a request that copies be urgently circulated to the other successful contractors.  Work at John Brown progressed on the keel blocks and hull plates for the subsequent two weeks.

 Orders were suspended in mid-November shortly after the beginning of the Washington Naval Conference which limited battleship sizes. The orders were cancelled in February 1922 with the ratification of the Washington Naval Treaty, which limited construction to ships of no more than 35,000 long tons displacement.  As no photographic evidence is available to show the ships' keels were actually laid down, it is asserted by at least one historian that none were, although the Admiralty paid John Brown for work and materials which would have been incurred in doing so.

Many of the aspects of their design ultimately were incorporated into the two Nelson-class battleships, and they are often described as being a cut-down G3. The Nelsons received the design designation 'O3', marking them as next in the design sequence from the 'N3' battleship design although they used the guns intended for the G3 class for cost reasons and to comply with the Treaty's 16-inch limitation on main armament.

For more on G3, see her Wikipedia page here, where this information came from.

The Combrig G3 Class Battlecruiser

The kit is boxed in a sturdy white box, with an illustration of the G3 on the cover.  The contents are well packaged, with enough soft foam in the box to stuff a good sized armchair.  The smaller parts packaged together in two bags.  While Combrig has greatly improved their packaging with much sturdier boxes and foam to protect the contents, I'd still like to see them separate the smaller parts into multiple bags, so the larger parts aren't bumping up against smaller, more delicate parts.  The model represents G3 as designed. 

THE HULL 
The hull appears to scale out pretty much perfectly in length and beam.  It's sharply cast in light gray resin, with good details.  The planking - while there are no butt ends, which should be mostly invisible in this scale - is very crisp. There are well cast bollards, chocks, and well cast hatches. I like the subtle lines cast into the deck to mark where the parts fit. 

SUPERSTRUCTURE, TURRETS AND FUNNELS 
The base of the prominent tower superstructure is a large piece, which has some slight over pour on the bottom.  It's surprisingly very vanilla - it has very little detail on it.  The same goes for the other superstructure parts: though well cast, there isn't much detail to be found. I would have expected to see more W/T doors, hatches, portholes or piping.   Same comments apply to the funnels, searchlight tower, directors and vents.  Outside of the base of the superstructure, the rest of the tower bridge's levels are included on a large resin wafer, which is, thankfully, very thin.  It shouldn't take much to sand these parts off the wafer. 

The main battery turrets have walkways cast onto the turret roofs, and "panels" cast into the rear of the turrets.  I am not sure what those are meant to represent, but at least they give the turrets some detail.  Though I do think the walkways are a bit overdone. 

SHIPS BOATS
There is a large selection of boats, as well as some rafts, included with G3.   The quality is the usual high standard of the boats found in Combrig's kits. 

SMALLER PARTS   
Among the smaller parts are vents - in multiple styles and sizes -winches and cable reels.

   
OTHER ASSORTED PARTS 
The rest of the parts included anchors, the 16" and 6" gun barrels, parts for the pom-poms, smaller tertiary weapons, searchlights and more.  Even though this is the waterline version of the kit, the struts, props and rudders and included.  The casting is first rate all the way around, though the barrels for some of the pom-poms were broken, due to the packaging.  Again, I'd really like to see Combrig spread these parts out across more bags to prevent this type of damage. 

PHOTO-ETCH
One fret of photo-etch is included in the kit.  On the fret are 2 and 3 bar railings (thankfully with the waterways), boarding ladders, inclined ladders, funnel grates, boat chocks, vertical ladders, anchor chain, the starfish for the mainmast, platforms and more.  It is very extensive, and looks nicely done.   As per usual Combrig practice, no masts are included, but the instructions give you dimensions to make your own. 

INSTRUCTIONS
As been the case with recent releases from Combrig, the instructions are much more robust than they had been in the past.  There are no color callouts or painting instructions, but a nice plan and profile view of G3 on the first page.  Kudos to Combrig for continuing to expand and improve their instructions. 

CONCLUSIONS
Many years ago, I saw an artists conceptual drawing of the H3c battlecruiser and M3 battleship designs (an example can be found on page 106 of British Battleships of World War 2, by Raven and Roberts).  While neither of those became the final design selected, I've been fascinated since then with many of the victims of the Washington Naval Treaty.  That's especially true for the G3 design, as there is something a bit dashing about battlecruisers (except when they blow up).  IHP did release both a G3 and a N3 many years ago.  While those were good for the day, and still stand up credibly now, they were also "craftsman kits", meaning you had to buy a Tamiya Rodney to flesh out each kit into a full model. 

This new, state of the art, release from Combrig is a complete kit. It's got everything you need to build one of these beautiful beasts, right out of the box:  it has crisply cast (albeit a bit vanilla) parts, a nice, complete photo-etch sheet and detailed instructions.  The packaging of the overall product is very good, though I still wish Combrig would split the smaller, delicate, parts into a separate bag from the larger parts, to prevent breakage.  It doesn't seem like that would be a hard thing to do.  The only thing missing is masts, but then the inclusion of those parts would push the price point much higher. 

Overall, G3 is another excellent offering from Combrig.  Highly recommended, especially for fans of "never-built/what-if" ships.  Here's hoping an N3 and maybe a "final design" Lexington battlecruiser are in their future plans. 

This is Combrig’s 1/700 HMS G3, kit number 70498. The model, courtesy of my wallet, was purchased from the FreeTime Hobbies/Squadron conglomeration.  The model retails for $215.00, and is currently listed (for less than that) on the FreeTime Hobbies website. 

This is an in-box review, your mileage may vary once you commence construction.