AJM Models
1/700 HMS Campania


 
Reviewed June 2021
by Martin J Quinn
HISTORY
HMS Campania was a seaplane tender and aircraft carrier, converted from an elderly ocean liner by the Royal Navy early in the First World War. After her conversion was completed in mid-1915 the ship spent her time conducting trials and exercises with the Grand Fleet. These revealed the need for a longer flight deck to allow larger aircraft to take off, and she was modified accordingly. 

Campania missed the Battle of Jutland in May 1916, but made a number of patrols with elements of the Grand Fleet. She never saw combat and was soon relegated to a training role because of her elderly machinery. Campania served up until 5 November 1918—just before the armistice was signed, when she was involved in an accident in the Firth of Forth during high winds.  Campania dragged her anchor in a sudden squall, struck the bow of the battleship Royal Oak and then dragged along the side of the battle cruiser Glorious. She began to sink stern first. A few hours later an explosion—presumed to be a boiler—sent her to the bottom.

Because of the shallowness of the water, she was considered a danger to shipping and large charges were placed on the decks to demolish her. By 1921 the wreck had been reduced to a safe clearance depth. Today, the wreck site is classified as being of historical importance, being designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act in 2000, then re-designated as a Historic Marine Protected Area under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010.

For more on Campania as a seaplane tender, see her Wikipedia page, where this history was taken from, here.   For her career as a liner, click here.  There are photos of Campania as both a liner and seaplane tender (including photos of her sinking) here, and a murky video of the remains of her wreck, which still lies at the bottom of the Firth of Forth, here. 

AJM Models Campania

AJM Models from Poland has sent us several of their recent offerings for review.   This one is the unique seaplane tender, HMS Campania.    The model, which appears to represent the ship after her second refit, comes in a sturdy white box, with a photograph of a completed example of Campania on the cover.   The parts are cast in a dark gray resin.   There are over two hundred resin parts, with parts for both the ship and aircraft; photo-etch, decals and brass wire. 

THE HULL 
The hull appears to scale out pretty close to scale, in both length and beam.   Being a former liner, it's got very elegant lines.  It's sharply cast in dark gray resin, with good details, like well defined portholes, bollards and chocks, as well as other deck equipment like capstans.  The planking looks good, though there is a little bit of flash you'll have to remove from the bottom of the hull with sandpaper.  Also, be careful handling the hull, as the main deck above the two recesses in the hull is quite fragile.   The "doors" cast into the parts are ok, super detailers might want to replace these with photo-etch.

DECKS AND FUNNELS
Several of the upper decks, as well as the flying off deck, are found on a fairly thick pieces of resin, and will have to be carefully sanded off.  The planking and other detail here is pretty good, I especially like the skylights.    There are three funnels - a pair of flat sided forward funnels, and one round aft funnel.   The rails around the funnels are cast on, and are, in my opinion, a little overscale.  Funnel piping is included, and looks good.  The depth inside the funnels is a little shallow, again, in my opinion. 

ASSORTED RESIN PARTS
Here we have all sorts of smaller resin parts to flesh out the Campania - winches, cowl vents, ventilators, signal lamps, searchlights, pelorus, anchors, gun barrels, gun mounts and gun shields.   Casting is generally good, with minimal flash, though you'll find pin holes on some of the cowl vents, and you'll also have to drill out the cowl vent openings. 

SHIPS BOATS AND RAFTS
There are a good number of ships boats included with Campania, of various sizes, as well as two different sizes of rafts.   The quality is pretty good, though some of the smaller rafts have pin holes in them. 

AIRCRAFT AND BLIMP
Being an aircraft carrier/seaplane tender, you'd expect Campania to have some aircraft, and she does.   The aircraft included are two each of:  a Short Type 184 Seaplane, a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, a Fairey Campania Seaplane and a Sopwith Baby Seaplane.  There is also a blimp included in the kit.   In total, there are 18 resin runners with aircraft parts on them, including fuselages, wings, floats, tailplanes and torpedoes.    While they look alright to the Mk1 eyeball, under digital photography, the some of the fuselages are a little rough, and the fabric on the wings is a little overstated.   Some light sanding of the former, and a coat of paint on the latter, will probably make them look alright.   Overall, it's a nice compliment of aircraft. 

     
     
DECALS 
There are five small decals sheets, for Campania, and her aircraft, included.   The decals for the ship include two White Ensigns, draft marks and what appear to be placards with the ships name.   The aircraft decals - broken out by aircraft type - all contain roundels and tail "fin flashes".  The decals for the Fairey Campania seaplane include fuselage codes. 

PHOTOETCH
Campania comes with one large and nine smaller photo-etch sets.  The largest set contains parts for the ship itself, while the smaller frets are for the aircraft, with 2 frets for each type of aircraft.   The larger fret has railings, supports for the flying off ramp, inclined ladders, oars and tillers for the ships boats, cable reels, davits, support braces for platforms and photo-etch decks for the inside of the two holds.  The railings are of the type with individual stanchions and not with the "waterway" along the bottom.   While these are more realistic, they can be difficult to attach to the model (at least, I find they are).   The photo-etch is quite thin as well, so you may want to exercise caution when handling. 

The photo-etch parts for the planes - mostly struts and braces for the floats - are tiny, and should also be handled with care.   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 are spread out over 9 pages on 5 sheets of paper.   Page 1 consists of a manifest of all the parts.  Pages 2-6 are step-by-step build instructions for the ship itself.   They seem fairly logical, although the installation of the flying off ramp is shown in Step 11, but doesn't appear again in the rest of the steps, perhaps for clarity.   There is a separate page covering the aircraft - both assembly along with painting and markings.  Finally, there is a very nice painting guide of Campania in camouflage, over two pages.  These show both port and starboard patterns, as well as an overhead view of the ship.   The color callouts are for Lifecolor paints. 

CONCLUSIONS  
Overall, this is a solid kit of one of the Grand Fleets lesser known ships.  The casting is generally good.   Along with over 200 resin parts, there's an extensive set of photo-etch, along with decals, brass wire and robust instructions.  The packaging of the overall product is very good as well.   Overall, Campania is a very nice kit from AJM Models, and it should keep you busy for quite some time.  Recommended, especially for those with an interest in World War 1 and/or Grand Fleet ships, or, those who like funky, odd-ball ships, especially ones with unique camouflage.  This ship certainly fits that description. 

This is AJM Models’s 1/700 HMS Campania, kit number 700-029. The model lists for around $107.00, and is available from many of our fine sponsors. This is an in-box review, your mileage may vary once you commence construction.  Thanks to AJM Models Models for the review sample.