| HISTORY |
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The battleship
HMS Prince of Wales needs no introduction to naval enthusiast and
modelers. The second ship of the five ship King George V class,
she had a short, active, and ultimately tragic, service life.
The highlights
of her all-too-brief career included tangling with the German battleship
Bismarck
in the Denmark Strait in May, 1941, in the action that led to the loss
of the British battleship Hood. Prince of Wales did
score several hits on the German behemoth during the engagement, which
triggered a train of events leading to the German raiders destruction several
days later. After repairs, she carried Winston Churchill to North
America to meet with American President Franklin D. Roosevelt for the "Atlantic
Charter" meetings at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. Returning
to the UK, she served briefly in the Mediterranean before being dispatched
to the Far East with the elderly battle cruiser Repulse, as a supposed
deterrent to Japanese designs on Imperial territory, designated "Force
Z".
Leaving the safety
of her Singapore base in the wake of the opening of hostilities, she went
hunting for Japanese invasion forces with Repulse, but came up empty.
On the return trip to their base, bereft of any air cover, both ships were
overwhelmed by a Japanese aerial assault, and sunk. They were
the first capital ships at sea to be sunk by airpower alone.
The age of the battleship was over.
Winston Churchill
later said, "In all the war I never received a more direct shock. As I
turned and twisted in bed the full horror of the news sank in upon me.
There were no British or American capital ships in the Indian Ocean or
the Pacific except the American survivors of Pearl Harbor who were hastening
back to California. Over this vast expanse of waters Japan was supreme
and we everywhere were weak and naked".
For more on Prince of Wales, visit her Wikipedia page
here,
which is where this abridged history was pulled from. There
is also a website dedicate to Force Z, which can be found
here. |
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| The
Flyhawk Prince of Wales
Flyhawk’s 1/700 HMS Prince of Wales comes
in a white cardboard box with artwork showing Prince of Wales entering
Singapore in December, 1941. One of the side panels shows a couple
future Flyhawk 1/700 releases – the German cruiser Konigsberg and
the German battleship Bismarck.
Inside the box is a copy of the box art that is
suitable for framing. The hull, deck and waterline plate are wrapped
in a thin white material, while the sprues are in various plastic bags.
At the bottom of the box are the directions, a small set of decals and
the waterline plate. As this is the "basic" release of Prince
of Wales, there is no photo-etch included. |
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| THE HULL:
SPRUES A, B, C & D |
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| FlyHawk lists each component of the
hull as a different sprue, A through D. Sprue A is the main
deck, Sprue B the upper hull, Sprue C the waterline plate and Sprue D the
lower hull.
SPRUE A - MAIN DECK
The main deck is one piece. It is beautifully
molded with sharp details. There are subtle ends to the planks, which
may be technically out of scale, but look great. Some
cable reels and the anchor chain are molded as part of the deck.
SPRUE B - UPPER HULL
The upper hull scales out perfectly in length
and beam. There is raised hull plating fore and aft.
The portholes on the hull have subtle eyebrows over them, while the chocks
along the edge of the hull are finely done. There are some vertical
ladders molded onto the hull.
SPRUE C - WATERLINE PLATE
It's a waterline plate. What else is there
to say?
SPRUE D - LOWER HULL
The lower hull is smooth - no plating like on
the upper hull. There are some faint mold lines which will have to
be sanded off it your building Prince of Wales as a full hull model.
The bilge keels look nice, and the cutwater is very sharp. |
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| SPRUE
E |
| The kit contains
many "little sprues" with only one part on them. This is one such
sprue, and it contains the forward main battery director. It
has nice detail. |
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| SPRUE
F |
| Another mini-sprue, this has the two
deckhouses that the sit on either side of the hangar, on which are mounted
5.25 inch secondary guns. The deckhouses have molded on W/T
doors and vents. |
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| SPRUE
G |
| The aft main battery director is on
this sprue, which features crisply molded W/T doors and other details. |
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| SPRUE
H |
| This
is the barbette for "B" turret.
There is molded on vertical ladders and venting detail on the barbette. |
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| SPRUE
I |
| On this sprue is the aft director
tower. The portholes have eyebrows, the W/T doors are details,
and there is bracing detail under the platforms. |
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| SPRUE
J |
| Here we find the two deckhouses
that the sit on either side of the boat deck, on which are mounted 5.25
inch secondary guns. The deckhouses have molded on W/T doors
and vents. |
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| SPRUE
K |
| The two king posts/cabs for the cranes
are on this sprue. Also found here is the base for the forward
main battery director and another deckhouse that fits on the forward superstructure. |
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| SPRUE
L |
| This sprue has the "Y" shaped tower
on the forward superstructure that holds secondary directors, a searchlight
tower and part of the upper bridge. |
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| SPRUE
M |
| Four
directors (for AA guns, I believe) are on this sprue. |
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| SPRUE
N |
| Here you'll find two superbly slide
molded funnels and the associated funnel caps. There is really
finely done detail on the funnels - the rivets are really nice, and the
insides of the funnels are molded so they appear to have separate sections.
The funnel caps are the nicest injection molded funnel caps I've ever seen. |
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| SPRUE
O |
| Various superstructure bulkheads and
the two hangar roller doors populate this sprue. The bulkheads have
molded on ladders, hatches, W/T doors, vents and cable reels. As
on other parts, the portholes have "eyebrows" above them. |
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| SPRUE
P |
| This is the slide molded after superstructure/boat
deck. The boat cradles are molded on, but in this scale, and
with all the boats Prince of Wales carried, I don't mind they are
molded to the deck, and they look fine. There are more cable
reels molded onto the deck. The openings in the sides of the part
are for some of the bulkheads, which are separate parts on different sprues. |
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| SPRUE
Q |
| A platform for the Pom Pom guns and
one of the bridge levels make up sprue Q. The splinter shields on
the bridge platform are well done, with bracing, while the underside of
the Pom Pom platform has molded on supports. |
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| SPRUE
R |
| Two parts make up this "sprue"
- the base of the forward superstructure and the hangar. The bulkheads
are well detailed, and the interior bulkheads of the hangars are also detailed.
However, the overheads of the hangar bays are marred by very large ejector
pin marks. If you are building the hangars closed, or building
the kit waterline with one or both of the hangars open, it shouldn't be
a big deal. If you are going full hull, you may want to do
something about them. |
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| SPRUE
S |
| There are additional superstructure
parts here. The detail is very good - stairs disappearing into
the superstructure deck, raised platforms with grating, well define bridge
windows and nicely done splinter shields that appear to be in scale. |
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| SPRUE
T |
| Sprue T and U are attached to each
other, and to two common "GB" sprues. Sprue T is one of the
largest in the kit. Here you'll find props, a large cutter,
the cranes - which are very well done for plastic - davits, anchors, large
cable reels, winches and some other ridiculously small parts that are so
small that it's basically Flyhawk just showing off. |
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| SPRUE
U |
| Very petite boat booms, a flag staff,
a smaller boat and injection molded "stairs/inclined ladders" adorn most
of this sprue. |
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| SPRUE
V |
| The turret bases and main guns, as
well as some superstructure parts, are on this sprue. The ends of
the main gun barrels are hollowed out. |
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| SPRUE
X |
| This is the largest sprue in the box,
and it's loaded with smaller parts: masts, prop shafts/struts, the
rudder, the directors mounted to the turrets, the breakwater, various platforms,
a large cutter, winches and other assorted small parts. For
the most part, there is nice details to be found. The molded
radar is a little heavy, and the legs for the masts look like care will
be needed to remove them from the sprue. |
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| SPRUE
Y |
| You'll find the 'lantern' radar, other
parts for the forward superstructure/bridge, and the engine room vents
on this sprue. The vents have the 'screens' molded in - the
detail here is really exemplary! |
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| SPRUE
Z |
| The last of the ship specific sprues
has the three turrets on it. The slide molded turret tops are
really well done, with rivet and plating detail, and hatches on the rear
of the turrets. |
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| SPRUE
GB01 (x1) |
| The first of a number common sprues
for RN kits. It has a 4 barreled pom-pom, .50 quad AA gun and some smaller
AA weapons. Petite with nice details. |
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| SPRUE
GB02 (x1) |
| This has searchlights and signal
lamps. Tiny and really nicely molded. |
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| SPRUE
GB03 (x1) |
| Paravanes and winches.
The detail on the winches is outstanding. |
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| SPRUE
GB04 (x1) |
| A small director and a bunch of binoculars
and other bridge equipment. |
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| SPRUE
GB07 (x4) |
| The 5.25 turrets, bases and barrels
are found on these sprues. Nice detail all the way around. |
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| SPRUE
GB23 (x1) |
| Shield-less 20mm guns are on the sprue.
Very crisp molding. |
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| SPRUE
GB24 (x1) |
| Finely molded boats of various types. |
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| SPRUE
GB31 (x1) |
| One Walrus spotting aircraft, and
associated parts, are on this sprue. Good detail - there is
fabric detail! |
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| SPRUE
GB34 (x2) |
| Eight barrel Pom Poms are on this
sprue. They are sharply molded. |
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| SPRUE
GB35 (x2) |
| Parts for the rafts. Nicely
detailed. |
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| SPRUE
GB36 (x2) |
| Ready ammo boxes, with some finely
molded detail. |
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| SPRUE
GB37 (x2) |
| Lots of rafts. Again,
the parts are nicely molded. |
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| SPRUE
GB38 (x1) |
| Larger boats - perhaps the Admiral
and/or Captain's rides? They look good - some nice detail on
the cabins. |
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| SPRUE
GB39 (x1) |
| Lots of very small vents. |
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| SPRUE
GB41 (x1) |
| Small searchlights, which look good. |
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| PHOTOETCH |
| There is no photo-etch included in
this kit, which is the "basic" version. Photo-etch set FH710031
is available separately to dress up this model. |
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| DECALS |
| There is a small set of Cartograf
decals in the kit. On it you’ll find the faircraft markings, plus
a pair of flags. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
| The instructions are on two 21 inch
by 7 inch, two-sided pieces of heavy paper. There are 15 steps for Prince
of Wales, and one for the Walrus. They feature exploded view drawings
with colored highlights, that are logical and look easy for follow.
The painting and marking guide is on the bottom
of the third page. This shows both plan and profile (both port and starboard)
of Prince of Wales in her striking disruptive camouflage pattern.
There is also the following statement: "As there are some controversy
about the coloring of HMS Prince of Wales Dec. 1941, the coloring solution
we suggested here is only for your reference. Please feel free to
contact us if you have better ideas or accurate information on coloring.
Thank you." Perhaps Flyhawk reads the Modelwarships
forums!
A plan and profile of the Walrus is on page four. |
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| CONCLUSIONS |
| Flyhawk continues to set the bar for quality in
the 1/700 ship realm. In my opinion, no other injection manufacturer
comes close to what they are doing. Flyhawk's
Prince of
Wales is a big (for 700th scale), beautiful, highly detailed model,
which, even without any upgrade parts, should give any modeler many happy
nights at the workbench and result in a handsome replica of this tragic
ship (how handsome depends on your skill level). Give your
un-built Tamiya Prince of Wales kits to the kids to build, it's
been usurped by this kit.
This is Flyhawk’s 1/700 HMS Prince of Wales,
kit number FH1117. The kit retails for $48.95. Remember, this is
the basic version, and contains no photo-etch of detail up parts, which
are available separately. Highly Recommended!!
Thanks to Flyhawk
for the review sample. This is an in box review, your mileage may vary
once you start assembly. |
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