HMS M33
British Monitor, 1915-1946 

Combrig Models, 1/700th Scale Cast and Print Resin.

Reviewed by Devin Poore, May 2023


 
One of the few surviving WWI era ships, HMS M33 went from initial order to commission in just over three months. Built in Belfast, as part of the rapid shipbuilding program in Great Britain, her shallow draft and 6" guns made her ideal for close-in fire support, leading to her participation in the Gallipoli campaign. She served the rest of the war in the Mediterranean theater, and immediately after WWI, she served as part of the North Russian Expeditionary Force. In 1925 M33 became a mine-laying training ship, and was renamed HMS Minerva. She went through a number of roles for the remainder of her career including fuelling hulk and boom defence workshop. Renamed once again, she served in various roles until she was finally ended up at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, near HMS Victory. Opened to the public in 2015, she remains as a museum ship to this day.

History cobbled together via Wikipedia and the kit's instructions.
HMS M33 as she appears today. 
Photo via museumships.us.

 
 
HULL and CAST RESIN PARTS sssssssssss ssssssssssssss
The Combrig M33 comes with the majority of the components as cast resin. Casting is of their typical quality, with all edges sharp, thin bulwarks straight, and portholes aligned. There is the slightest amount of overpour on the lower part of the hull, but nothing that a few passes with a sanding block won't remove. There are absolutely no voids or air bubbles in any of the castings.

The full size M33 measures just over 177', which should be just over 77mm in scale. The kit's hull measures just over 77mm (3.045") , making it close enough to spot-on in my book. 

There are four runners with the remainder of the kit's resin components. The first is for the gun shields, which combine with the gun mounts on the second runner to form the two gun assemblies. Also on the second runner are the two small ship's boats. The third set of parts contains the the majority of the fittings, such as the ship's stack, boat davits, chocks, etc. The final runner consists of just mushroom vents, over two-dozen of them, all of which have mounting holes provided in the deck, which should greatly simplify their installation. Actually, all of the deck fittings have corresponding mounting holes, a feature that more and more resin kit manufacturers are providing, and a welcome one at that.
BRASS
A single small sheet of etched brass includes the lifelines, ladders, funnel cap, searchlight track, and various small platforms. The fret is used for all of the Combrig monitor kits; a comparison of what's on the fret and what's in the instructions indicates that only a small part of the pieces included will be used. 

I've always been intimidated by the brass on Combrig kits, as it's always been notoriously thin and flexible. While still thin, just over .1mm (.004") thick, the brass seems to have a bit more rigidity to it, which should make it easier and more forgiving to work with.
INSTRUCTIONS
Instructions consist of 3 sheets of 8.5" x 11", printed front and back. The first two sheets are plan and profile drawings of the completed model, along with a parts inventory of the resin components and brass sheets. 11 parts need to be made from brass (masts, yardarms, etc), these are indicated in full-scale on the inventory sheet, which will allow the modeler to take measurements bend pieces that require it. 

Actual assembly steps are on the remaining three pages, exploded view, one sheet of which is dedicated to just placing all of the mushroom vents. As the sheets state, there are no specific assembly steps called out, except for the three gun mounts. Most components are shown with leader lines indicating where they are to be placed on the deck, which normally could be problematic, but the deck's mounting holes should remove most of the guesswork. 
CONCLUSIONS ssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssss
This is a very cool and well-executed kit by Combrig. Unique subject matter, small package, and sharply cast. Due to the smallness of the parts, I wouldn't recommend it for someone looking to get into ship modelling, but anyone that's build resin ships in the past should have no trouble with it. It would have been nice to have the masts and such included as brass components, but that's a small nitpick. 

Highly recommended. Thank you to Combrig for the review sample.

 

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