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All:
Below please find a short, out-of-the box review of the Tamiya, 1/700 scale kit of HMAS Vampire.
The kit parts are delicately molded in medium gray plastic, and surface detail is excellent. Engineering and fit (based on dry fitting of major sub-assemblies) appears to be superb.
With regard to kit accuracy, this is very difficult to judge, as I was unable to find published line drawings for HMAS Vampire, although I was able to find line drawings for several other V and W class ships in the sources cited below. Vampire was one of five V class leaders, and ships of this group differed in some important ways from other ships of this class—in particular, the fitting of an elongated searchlight/compass platform amidships, and an extended aft deckhouse to accommodate the flotilla captain and his staff. As a result, the location of the aft torpedo tubes and aft deckhouse differed slightly from that of other ships in the class. And apparently, the V class leaders were fitted with a taller foremast, with three yardarms—later reduced to two (thanks WR!). There may have been other differences that I have missed.
The bottom line is that out of the box, this kit accurately portrays only the five V class leaders—HMS Valentine, Valhalla, Valkyrie, Valorous, and HMAS Vampire—but none of the other V class ships in Australian service. Portraying other V and W class destroyers from other groups will require a bit of work.
Although lacking accurate line drawings of any V class leaders, I was able—thanks to the assistance of other board members—to get good quality broadside portrait photos of HMAS Vampire and HMS Valorous. I printed these out, and reduced them to 1/700 scale, and was able to match up the model to the photos to determine the accuracy of the kit, using direct visual comparisons and measurements using a set of dividers. I think that this has enabled me to arrive at a reasonable evaluation of the accuracy of the kit.
The scale length and beam of the hull are spot-on. Scuttles are delicately rendered, and scuttle arrangements match photos almost perfectly. The shape and arrangement of the forecastle and main deck appear to match up very well, in most respects, with published line drawings of other V and W class ships.
Overall, the location of the ship’s guns, deckhouse, bridge, stacks, and the searchlight/compass platform are reasonably accurate. There are some minor discrepancies or errors, however:
1) The gap between the bridge and forward stack is too small. Either the bridge extends about 1mm too far aft, or the forward stack should be another 1mm or so further aft—I can’t tell. But at any rate, there should be a slightly larger gap between the two.
2) The searchlight/compass platform is about 1mm too far forward.
3) The aft deckhouse is about 1.5mm too short, fore to aft, and therefore does not correctly portray the extended aft deckhouse of V class leader. Moreover, it is not clear whether the shape of the aft deckhouse when viewed from above is correct. Available plans for other V and W class destroyers show that the aft half of the aft deckhouse should angle gently toward the deck centerline. In the kit, the forward bulkheads of the kit’s aft deckhouse are slightly faceted while the aft bulkheads are squared. Maybe this is the way it should be, but at any rate, the aft deckhouse is still too short, fore to aft.
4) The stacks are the right height and have a correct profile, but the cross section of the forward funnel should be round, and not oval, as depicted in the kit.
5) Ammo lockers are too short, and are more representative than realistic.
6) Quarter deck arrangements—particularly the arrangement of the depth charges and paravanes—are suspect, and do not correspond to arrangements shown in line drawings or photos.
7) The guns and shields are one piece, and though they look OK, hopefully the forthcoming WEM PE set will provide PE shields for a more realistic look.
8 ) The aft blast deflector on the aft deckhouse is way too long (by about 2mm). This should be easily corrected, however, by sanding it back and thinning it down a bit.
9) The outline of the B gun platform deck is incorrect: when viewed from above, the port and starboard edges should be slightly rounded, and not parallel. This should be easily remedied with a bit of sanding.
10) Some of the deck details seem to be more representative than accurate, but they are delicately done and add a degree of density of detail that makes for a nice impression.
11) Bridge details appear to be accurate and match line drawings of other ships in the V and W class.
Overall, this is a gem of a kit, and should build up into a reasonably accurate representation of HMAS Vampire or any of the other V class leaders ‘as built’—though as noted above, there are some accuracy issues, most of which are fairly easily fixed.
Building Vampire as she appeared after her early war refit during WWII will require some work; the necessary modifications are described earlier in this thread.
Published references used include: Edgar March, British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892-1953; Ross Gillett and Colin Graham, Warships of Australia, Alan Raven and John Roberts, Man O’War 2: V and W Class Destroyers, and; Anthony Preston, V & W Class Destroyers: 1917-1945.
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