AJM Models
1/700 HMS Argus - World War II


 
Reviewed September 2024
by Martin J Quinn
HISTORY
HMS Argus was a British aircraft carrier that served in the Royal Navy from 1918 to 1944. She was converted from an ocean liner that was under construction when the First World War began, and became the first example of the standard pattern of aircraft carrier, with a full-length flight deck that allowed wheeled aircraft to take off and land. After commissioning, the ship was involved for several years in the development of the optimum design for other aircraft carriers. Argus also evaluated various types of arresting gear, general procedures needed to operate a number of aircraft in concert and fleet tactics. The ship was too top-heavy as originally built, and had to be modified to improve her stability in the mid-1920s. She spent one brief deployment on the China Station in the late 1920s before being placed in reserve for budgetary reasons. 

In February 1936, it was decided to refit the ship as a tender. The opportunity was taken to widen her flight deck by 10 feet (3 m) and replace her old boilers with destroyer-type boilers which could generate more steam than her turbines could handle. The boilers were taken from scrapped destroyers of the V and W class which were being broken up at Inverkeithing. Her refit was completed on 30 July 1938 and she underwent sea trials the following month.  She was classified as a Target Aeroplane Carrier and recommissioned on 11 August 1938.  After recommissioning, Argus served as a training carrier to allow pilots to practice their deck-landing skills. She was carrying out this duty in the Gulf of Lion when the Second World War began.

She spent the war performing a variety of duties, such as convoy escort or ferrying/transporting aircraft to places such as Murmansk and Malta.  She also provided air cover for some of the ferry runs to Malta and participated in Operation Torch.   In 1943, after a refit, she was designated an escort carrier and assigned to training pilots in deck landings, a task she performed until September 1944.  After further service as an accommodation ship, she as sold in December, 1946, and subsequently scrapped. 

For more on Argus, see her Wikipedia page, where this history was taken from, here, check out this short history of her on Drachinifel's YouTube channel here, or find more photos of here on the website Destinations Journey here. 

AJM Models Argus

AJM Models HMS Argus. comes in a sturdy white box, with a photograph of a completed example of Argus on the cover. The model appears to depict Argus circa November 1942, after the addition of her 20mm gun tubs.  The parts are cast in a light gray resin.  Included in the box are over two hundred resin parts, with parts for both the ship and aircraft; photo-etch, decals and brass wire. 

THE HULL 
The hull scales out pretty close to the real thing, in both length and beam.  She's nicely cast in light gray resin, with good details.  Some of the portholes may need a twist with a small drill bit to round them out.  The planking looks good, and there are outlines on the deck to help with placement of the deckhouses and other equipment.  There are recesses cast into the hull side, where photo-etch parts will represent the "doors" on the side of the ship, which is a nice touch.  There is a little bit of flash you'll have to remove from the bottom of the hull with sandpaper.  Though this may not be an issue if you display your model in a seascape. 

The blister along the waterline, also found on the WW1 version, remains, which is accurate for this version of Argus.  Another change in the hull is the plating around the bow, which was added when the flight deck was both raised in widened during her 1936 refit.  This plating has two rows of openings, which are covered with very thin resin over pour.  I easily removed this residue from the lower openings with a sharp No11 X hobby blade.  The upper row will need more care when removing this resin film, as the resin representing the plating is thin and could easily break.  Interestingly, the anchor handling equipment (capstans, etc.) that are cast as part of the 1918 version are separate on this version.  I did find a small seam on the port side, just underneath the plating, that will have to be filled. 

There are a also a pairs of deckhouses cast integral to the main deck that are not present on the 1918 version. 

FLIGHT DECK
The flight deck is cast integrally to a large resin wafer.  The wafer has thick runners along three sides to prevent warping.  There is scribed planking on the decks, which looks more subtle that the scribing found on the WW1 version.  The flight deck captures the shape changes made during Argus's 1936 refit. There is a small deck piece that seems to match the outline of the aft portion of the flight deck (where there is a small rectangular opening), but a cursory glance at the instructions didn't spot where this part goes. 

DECKHOUSES/FUNNEL EXHAUSTS/FLIGHT DECK SUPPORTS
Along with what is cast into the hull, there are two additional structures that sit on top of the main deck. These will be mostly invisible once the flight deck and supports are added, and have very large resin casting blocks on the bottom of them.  Some of these parts are the same from the earlier version, and still have the same cast Aztec stairs, though these will be hidden away under the flight deck. 

Another difference between the 1918 version of the kit and this one is the exhausts for the funnel gases, which ran under the flight deck on Argus.  The later version of the ship had one exhaust, not two, ducting into smaller pipes that vented out on either side of the hull.  Similar to the 1918 version, these parts are cast on large blocks that they'll have to be separated from. 

Finally, there are a pair of supports - and associated bulkheads - along with an overhead gantry that support the after end of the flight deck.  These bulkheads will have to be faired into the sides of the hull.  Unlike the 1918 version, the cranes in this kit are represented in photo-etch. 

WEAPONS AND OTHER SMALLER RESIN PARTS
At this point in her career, Argus carried just a pair of 4in AA guns, and around 10 20mm, which is what the instructions seem to indicate.  The 4in weapons are mostly resin, with some PE extras, while the 20mm have a resin pedestal, the rest being photo-etch.  I'd recommend replacing both with 3D printed parts. 

The rest of the parts run the gamut from bollards and chocks (in 2 sizes) to vents, winches, anchors, paravanes, searchlights, bridge equipment, supports for the netting around the flight deck, as well as platforms for the bridge and for the 20mm guns. 

Casting is decent, but there is some flash here and there, and more than a few smaller parts were broken off their runners and loose in the bag, due to the way they were packaged.  I really wish these manufacturers would take a little time to separate the parts out into multiple bags, instead of cramming as many parts as possible into as few bags as possible.

SHIPS BOATS AND RAFTS
Argus carried a variety of boat and rafts.  There are six runners of boats and rafts.  The quality here is good, and some of the boats have nice photo-etch parts - like thwarts - included.  I especially liked the motor boats.   The rafts are decent, especially the larger ones, but you may want to replace them with 3D printed versions if you want something a little crisper. 

AIRCRAFT
Being an aircraft carrier, you'd expect Argus to have some aircraft, and she does.   The aircraft included are:
  • Supermarine Seafire (3)
  • Hawker Sea Hurricane (5)
The aircraft - especially the Hurricanes - are pretty good.  You can make out the canopy framing and the fabric on the fuselage of the Hurricanes under magnification.  Probably over scale, but impressive nonetheless.  While most of the aircraft are resin, there is also PE included for these in the kit.   If these aren't to your liking, you can always upgrade and expand the airgroup using either the Flyhawk sets or 3D printed aircraft. 

DECALS 
There one small decals sheet included.  The decals include a White Ensign, flight deck markings, draft marks and what appear to be the ships name.  The aircraft decals - broken out by aircraft type - all contain roundels and tail "fin flashes".  Of note is that even through the kit came with 5 Sea Hurricanes, there are only decals for three. 

 
PHOTOETCH
Argus comes with a total of eight photo-etch frets.  This sounds more impressive than it is - two of the sets are larger, ship specific photo-etch frets, while the other six or for the aircraft. 

Of the ship specific frets, the smaller of the two is identical to the one found in the 1918 kit.  This particular fret includes the lattice supports for the flight deck along both sides of the hull. 

The second, larger, fret contains cranes, PE doors, rails, netting for the edges of the flight deck, inclined ladders, parts for the boats, radio antennas and more.  This fret is very thin.  In fact, mine was a little bent in the box, but is still useable. 

The aircraft specific frets include the props, wheels, landing gear doors, antennas and tail hooks.  While there are 5 Sea Hurricanes in the box, there is only PE for three aircraft (similar to the decals). 

There is also some brass wire included with the kit.  The instructions seem to indicate these for for masts, yards, spars and booms, but the wire seems rather thin and pliable for these purposes. 

INSTRUCTIONS
The instructions, parts of which are in color, are spread out over six double sided sheets of paper.   Page 1 consists of a manifest of all the parts.  The rest is step-by-step build instructions for the ship itself.  They seem fairly logical and straightforward. Finally, there is a guide of Argus in a two-toned camouflage on the last page.  This shows both port and starboard patterns, as well as an overhead view of the ship.   The color callouts are mostly for Lifecolor paints, but they do reference Sovereign Colourcoats for the flight deck color. 

CONCLUSIONS  
Just like the earlier World War I version, this later fit of Argus is a solid kit of the world's first full-deck aircraft carrier.  It also adds another kit to AJM's line of the early British oddball "carriers", to go along with Ben-My-Chree, Campania, Ark Royal, Pegasus and Vindictive.  Here's hoping they consider doing an "as-built" Furious. 

Overall, this World War II Argus from AJM Models is a nice kit.  Outside of some light flash on some of the smaller parts, the overall casting is good.  The kit includes more than 200 resin parts, lots of of photo-etch, decals, brass wire and solid instructions. My biggest nit-pick is the fact that the smaller parts were packed into one bag, which resulted in parts being broken off the runners.  With all that photo-etch and small parts, this isn't a kit for beginners, but it looks like it would probably be an easier build than the 1918 version.  If you are a fan of quirky aircraft carrier models, you'll want this as part of your scale model fleet.  Recommended, especially for the aforementioned aircraft carrier fans, especially those with an interest in Royal Navy ships.

This is AJM Models' 1/700 HMS Argus, kit number 700-043. The model lists for around $139.00, and is available from many of our fine sponsors.  My thanks to AJM Models for providing this review sample. 

As always, this is an in-box review, your mileage may vary once you start building.