Reviewed by Timothy Dike 2007
| HMS Iron Duke was the lead ship of a
new Battleship built in 1912. She served as the flagship of the Grand Fleet
during World War One. She fought in the battle of Jutland as part of the
2nd battle squadron. She survived the war and was operated in the Mediterranean
and Atlantic. During the Second World War she served as a training ship
and was finally sold for scrap in 1946.
Combrig has released this famous British ship as fitted at the height of her glory in 1918. With minor modifications other versions could be modeled. |
|||||||||||||
| HULL | |||||||||||||
| The hull on this kit is very well done, the casting is very sharp and well defined. The hull has several open areas cast in to reduce the amount of resin that needs to be poured. These hole serve as mounting locations for the main guns and superstructure. Planking is well done on the deck as is the overall level of detail. The capstans are separate parts and the anchor chain is left off. Photo etch chain is provided below. |
to enlarge  |
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| SUPERSTRUCTURE | |||||||||||||
| Superstructure parts are also nicely cast. Some are molded on a thin resin wafer and will need a little flat sanding to free them. The splinter shields are thin and there is plenty of nice surface detail. Some parts are cast on a thin wafer, but other parts of the superstructure are poured with a flat base and a locator plug that fits snugly into their companion parts. Note the last image with the superstructure parts dry fitted. |  |
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| MAIN WEAPONS | |||||||||||||
| The main guns are nicely shaped and have plenty of detail included. The casting gate is on the base and doesn't have to be removed due to the way the turrets fit into the openings. The gun barrels are pretty nice for resin and |  |
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| SMALL DETAIL ITEMS | |||||||||||||
| The small parts are very detailed and it is amazing that they can be cast so finely in this scale. The cable reels and search lights have to be seen up close to be appreciated. My camera doesn't really do justice to the fine detail on them. The only parts that |  |
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| SHIPS BOATS | |||||||||||||
| The ships boats are great and extremely detailed. The main launch has rudder detail cast on. A separate stack is included for the large launch. The whaleboats feature nice bottom wood planking. |  |
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| PHOTO ETCH | |||||||||||||
| A brass photo etch fret is included with some detail parts that are not suited for resin. |  |
||||||||||||
| INSTRUCTIONS | |||||||||||||
The Instructions are four pages done in the typical Combrig
style. A plan and elevation with specifications and Historical info is
on page one. A bill of materials and pictures of the kit parts is on page
two. Page three and four are exploded assembly views showing parts placement.
|
|||||||||||||
| CONCLUSIONS | |||||||||||||
:
Yet another high quality Combrig kit. This is one of many new British Battleships that have just hit the market and they all features state of the art casting, and relief etch photo etch with improved instructions. I wouldn't recommend this kit for a beginner, but any one who has tacked a resin kit and worked with photo etch will really enjoy this one. This kit is listed on the Pacific Front Hobbies website for $$65.00 (US), a great price for a ship of this size and detail. It will make a fine addition to your Grandest Fleet. |
|||||||||||||
