by ted0330 » Sun Dec 30, 2012 11:02 am
My interest in ship model subjects has little to do with their fighting qualities. I like British battlecruisers- beautiful ships even though markedly flawed as fighting vessels. Every British battlecruiser subject had been covered in 1:350 by ISW, Trumpeter or others by 2004 except for the Indefatigable and Tiger, the most beautiful of them all. I was thrilled to see Combrig enter 1:350 scale with kits of the these vessels, and was delighted to receive the Indefatigable kit as a Christmas present.
I was quite surprised by the weight of the box. It is almost as light as a styrene kit box. Combrig molds their resin hulls hollow like styrene, not as a solid chunk. The hull is in two pieces split at the waterline. There is a mold excess on both halves that will need to be sawn off; however, the job should be easy compared to planing off solid resin hull excess. I had to use a planar/jointer power tool to get off the excess on a lower hull casting of another resin kit several years ago.
The resin castings are the most perfect I have ever seen. There is almost no flash or over-pour. The smaller parts have been put on a styrene sheet that is so thin it can be sanded off with only a few passes of the paper. Kit details are exquisitely molded, with decks and partitions thin and smooth. The gun barrels are dead straight. They are not bored out, but this was an easy task with a pin vise.
The photo etch is simultaneously extensive and lacks key elements, a Combrig feature. No railings are provided. I am using a set of RN WW1 railings from White Ensign. No mast parts are included either, nor is there any brass or styrene rod to make them. The buyer must buy the stock and make the parts. There is an excellent set of drawings showing all the shafts, booms and masts to scale, their number and their diameter. I stocked up on brass and steel rod accordingly.
The ships' boats are molded in two resin parts. There are additional PE parts for some of them. Many of the boats look quite good. The stacks on the steam launches seem too small, while the thwarts for the dories seem too large. Selective use of boats from other kits or after market boats might improve the overall look.
The molded detail is beautiful, although the depth of some portholes is more suggestive of 1:700 than of 1:350. It will be necessary to drill these all out to get them to show properly, a simple but daunting task because of the sheer number.
The instructions are not the equal of Trumpeter or Hasegawa, but I have never seen a resin kit with instructions of that type. There is a complete exploded view of the kit in 3-D showing the placement of every part, PE included. That's a lot better than average, and allows a good understanding of the spatial relations of the parts. It does not indicate the order of assembly, but anyone who is deep enough into ship modeling to know of Combrig and be ordering off the internet knows something about order of assembly.
All together this is a beautiful kit of an overdue subject. I eagerly look forward to the build, and to this kit and Combrig's Tiger joining and completing my display of 1:350 British battlecruisers.
Ted
My interest in ship model subjects has little to do with their fighting qualities. I like British battlecruisers- beautiful ships even though markedly flawed as fighting vessels. Every British battlecruiser subject had been covered in 1:350 by ISW, Trumpeter or others by 2004 except for the Indefatigable and Tiger, the most beautiful of them all. I was thrilled to see Combrig enter 1:350 scale with kits of the these vessels, and was delighted to receive the Indefatigable kit as a Christmas present.
I was quite surprised by the weight of the box. It is almost as light as a styrene kit box. Combrig molds their resin hulls hollow like styrene, not as a solid chunk. The hull is in two pieces split at the waterline. There is a mold excess on both halves that will need to be sawn off; however, the job should be easy compared to planing off solid resin hull excess. I had to use a planar/jointer power tool to get off the excess on a lower hull casting of another resin kit several years ago.
The resin castings are the most perfect I have ever seen. There is almost no flash or over-pour. The smaller parts have been put on a styrene sheet that is so thin it can be sanded off with only a few passes of the paper. Kit details are exquisitely molded, with decks and partitions thin and smooth. The gun barrels are dead straight. They are not bored out, but this was an easy task with a pin vise.
The photo etch is simultaneously extensive and lacks key elements, a Combrig feature. No railings are provided. I am using a set of RN WW1 railings from White Ensign. No mast parts are included either, nor is there any brass or styrene rod to make them. The buyer must buy the stock and make the parts. There is an excellent set of drawings showing all the shafts, booms and masts to scale, their number and their diameter. I stocked up on brass and steel rod accordingly.
The ships' boats are molded in two resin parts. There are additional PE parts for some of them. Many of the boats look quite good. The stacks on the steam launches seem too small, while the thwarts for the dories seem too large. Selective use of boats from other kits or after market boats might improve the overall look.
The molded detail is beautiful, although the depth of some portholes is more suggestive of 1:700 than of 1:350. It will be necessary to drill these all out to get them to show properly, a simple but daunting task because of the sheer number.
The instructions are not the equal of Trumpeter or Hasegawa, but I have never seen a resin kit with instructions of that type. There is a complete exploded view of the kit in 3-D showing the placement of every part, PE included. That's a lot better than average, and allows a good understanding of the spatial relations of the parts. It does not indicate the order of assembly, but anyone who is deep enough into ship modeling to know of Combrig and be ordering off the internet knows something about order of assembly.
All together this is a beautiful kit of an overdue subject. I eagerly look forward to the build, and to this kit and Combrig's Tiger joining and completing my display of 1:350 British battlecruisers.
Ted