Imperial Hobby Productions
1/700 HMS Glory

Reviewed September 2022
by Christopher Martens
INTRODUCTION & HISTORY
HMS Glory was a Colossus-class carrier designed to fill the niche between escort and the more expensive fleet carriers. Glory herself was laid down on 27 August 1942, entering service on 2 April 1945. Her World War II service was extremely limited. Her only She accepted the surrender of the Japanese garrison on Rabaul. Notably, she hosted a Cornish poet and broadcaster, Charles Causley among her crew. He penned several poems while serving at the end of World War II. Her final contribution to the war was assisting in the recapture of Hong Kong before participating in repatriation of British servicemen at the end of the war.

Glory saw three active deployments during the Korean War and ended her service as an aircraft ferry in 1954. She was laid up in 1956 and scrapped in 1961. 

THE REVIEW

Martin Quinn has already done a review of her close sister, Colossus. Therefore, I'm going to focus on the buildability and fit of this kit as much as detail present in the box. 
THE HULL
Imperial Hobby Productions (IHP) advertises this kit as "easy to build" so that even beginner modelers can easily assemble the carrier. Their owner has routinely said that he wants people to have an excellent model without having to add expensive photo etch and aftermarket parts. (Note: Tom's Modelworks does have a photoetch set, also previously reviewed on this site.)

In this, IHP did very well. I did a quick test fit of her hull halves, hanger, and fore/aft decks. Everything fit like a glove after simply scraping and cleaning where the parts attached to the fret. I'm certain that any small gaps between parts would simply disappear with minimal cement. Building Glory will be easy and intuitive and a great boon to younger or inexperienced modelers.

Detail wise, the kit's very good. Pipes and even porthole eyebrows look excellent. Casting is sharp. There are two areas that could use improvement. The weather deck's details are very simple with the anchor chain appearing shockingly toy-like compared to well-done detail on this ship. Still, it's almost entirely enclosed on the ship so I don't really think its a major issue. In addition, the welds along the hull are a bit overscale. However, this is common among a lot of modern model ships. If desired, it's easily removed. 

I'm really impressed with the detail in her service (?) bays that flank the hanger. It's a wonderful detail that'll give the ship character and a sense of realism. The stern of the ship is another gem in the box: it's accurate for Glory (one of the things that differentiates her from her sisters) and possess nice detail. 
ISLAND AND SUPERSTRUCTURE
Glory's island is well-cast and appears accurate for a 1945 fit with the open bridge. Detail is pretty plentiful and appears to be relatively consistent with what I can find in photos. One interesting bit? I was a bit flummoxed with the recessed hatches present at the base of the island. Hatches on the island appeared to have this same feature in spite of my initial assumption that IHP just chose to quasi-mold them open. 

I also did a bit of a fit test with the island and came away impressed. The open bridge fits snugly into the island with a seam that'll be almost entirely addressed with the use of a liquid cement. I appreciate with a manufacturer puts this kind of care into something I hate: filling massive gaps. Frankly, this kit seems thankfully bereft of this nonsense. 
MISCELLANEOUS PARTS 
IHP includes two frets of (mostly) AAA weaponry. The weapons will look good for the scale if the modeler wishes to do an Out of Box (OOB) build. Quality here is similar to what the newer Fujimi and Aoshima kits offer. 

The kit also comes with a fret for her masts and related equipment. The tripod is well-molded and rather delicate. Normally, I tend to replace plastic masts/tripods/whatever with brass to achieve a more in-scale look. I do not think that's necessary here. I just suggest care be taken when removing the pieces from the fret. 

IHP also includes sprue with rafts and other platforms for the ship's hull. Detail here appears in line with what I can find in photographs. 
AIRCRAFT
Other Colossus class kits have not featured aircraft which are available for sale on IHP's website. This vessel, however, has two frets of Corsairs and Barracudas which is appreciated. These planes also have detail comparable to Fujimi/Aoshima offerings. The aircraft have clear panel lines on the wings which make for a more visually interesting model when painted. My only complaint? Their landing gear seem to consist of peg legs. As a lunatic super-detailer, I'll have to replace them with photo etch.
DECALS
The Glory kit includes decals for both the ship and included aircraft. Printing is sharp and well thought out.
INSTRUCTIONS
IHP really did an excellent job ensurin buildability throughout the box. Glory's assembly instructions are clear, well-labeled, and detailed. Many kits seem to have instructions that are, at best, an afterthought. These do not count among them. 
CONCLUSIONS
Imperial Hobby Productions set out to build a nice, detailed carrier that would not only appeal to a super-detail loon like myself, but would not intimidate beginner or intermediate modelers. I believe they were very successful. HMS Glory is a well-engineered kit that would be both a great first ship or one for someone like me to add errrrrything to out of pure madness. I'm especially impressed with how everything fits! I've grown tired of having to spend days simply trying to eliminate an unnecessary gap on a kit that clearly wasn't intended to be user friendly. It's nice to see a designer put as much care into this as ensuring that every tiny detail is present and in-scale. One cannot appreciate these bits after sanding everything off to simply make the ship not look like a toy. 

I'll likely pick up the Tom's etch set for this carrier and some undercarriage PE to spice up the aircraft? Beyond that, I don't think a lot has to be done to build a nice representation of a British light carrier. Unfortunately, it appears IHP may be winding this line of ships down, so pick one up while you can. The kit retails for $64.95 plus shipping on IHP's eBay store. 

I want to thank both Imperial Hobby Productions and ModelWarships for this kit. I will enjoy building it!