HMS Triumph
Reviewed by Timothy Dike
| The HMS Triumph was a Battleship of the Swiftsure Class build at the turn of the century. She was armed with four 10 inch guns and fourteen 7.5 guns. The Triumph was launched in 1903. She served with the Channel fleet until transferring to the Mediterranean in 1909. She served in the Pacific, based at Hong Kong before the first world war. When war broke out she returned to the Med and participated in the bombarding of the Dardanelles fort. During this time she was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-21. She was critically wounded and sank within an hour and a half. | |||||||||||||
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| The Hull on this kit is really sharp. The first thing you will notice is open areas in the hull. This is smart molding, it not only saves on the resin needed to produce a kit, but it allows the resin to cure an even rate. So you are less likely to have to worry about straightening your hull. |
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One thing you will notice the fine detailing on the deck,
with the nicely scribed deck planking and hatch details.
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| Superstructure parts are also nicely molded. They are molded
on a thin resin wafer and will need a little sanding to free them. The
parts are sharp and crisp and as usual splinter shields are thin and details
are well cast. Some of the parts include some nicely designed bracing for
the platforms and attention to those seldom seen details is above average.
Notice how the vent piping have such well defined edges. These are tough
parts to cast but Combrig has done them well. The funnels are also hollowed
out a bit for realism. The upper deck is pretty thin and flat for a part
of its size. Very little sanding will be needed to make this part fit.
I test fit it without sanding and it fits pretty good as is.
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| The main guns are nicely shaped and have plenty of detail included. A little bit of work will be needed to touch up the openings but not much more. I would recommend carefully sanding the gun barrels to true them up a bit. Be careful resin sands quickly and a light tough is needed here. |  |
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| The little parts are another strong point of this kit.
The boat davits are nicely detailed, and the other parts are as good as
it gets for resin. Many of the mast parts are cast in resin, this is nice
but I would recommend that you replace these with brass rod for strength.
However I am glad these are included as they make nice templates for the
brass rod.
The boat davits are really nice, but the boats are even better. These
are really fine, with their own deck planking and cast on rudder detail,
almost kits in themselves. I think these are the best that I have seen
from any manufacturer. Combrig is setting the bar a little higher in terms
of quality with these small parts.
The secondary weapons are pretty good too. They are not as nice as some I've seen but still pretty good and in this scale they are more than adequate. |
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| A simple photo etch fret is included for some of the other parts. It is not as nice as those done by the major aftermarket PE manufactures, but nice to have anyway. It is unclear from the instructions what some of these parts are (see below) and I would recommend that instructions show their usage. |  |
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The Instructions are pretty basic and as I have said before
don't do this kit any justice. The plan and elevation and exploded view
that are included are barely adequate for such a nice kit. This is the
one area where I wish Combrig would improve.
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Conclusions:
This is a great kit with some real nice possibilities. Because of it's sharp detailing, you can concentrate on super detailing instead of fixing a poorly cast kit. This is another example of Combrig's improving quality Pacific Front Hobbies lists this kit for $35.00 (US), a great price for a ship of this size. All of the hard work is done, just add paint and rigging and you will have a great World War One Battleship to add to your collection. |
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