The Ship Model Forum

One of Orange Hobby's latest releases in 1:700 scale is the Royal Swedish Navy's HMS Visby Class Corvette, a low-viz/stealth ship, intriguing for its shape, camoflauge and capabilities. Orange Hobby has released the kit in a 1:700 scale WL-only verson with two ships included and a 1:350-scale full hull kit, comprised of only one hull.

Here's a photo of the second ship in the class, the HSwMS Helsingborg:



And here's the kit hull in 1:700:



The 1:700 scale kit comes with two WL-only hulls, each with its own set of resin sprues for bow turret (the only externally visible weapon), waterjets, and gun director. Brass barrels are provided for the Bofors 57 mm Mk3, which can be posed with barrel visible or hidden. These hulls have both had their resin pour plugs cut/sanded off.





For some reason, the kit comes with both WL and full-hull versions of the waterjets, suggesting that a full-hull version may have been considered at one point, or that the 1:350 kit castingss were simply down-sized for the 1:700 release.



Only one resin-cast AgustaWestland AW109 helicopter is included in the kit.



A single sheet of PE is included, as is a second PE fret for the copter itself.



The PE set-up and one copter prevent you from building two "same-as" models. The provided PE allows for one ship to be posed with helicopter netting posed down, the other must be posed safety railings up - these are two distinct types of railing. A mild disappointment in the kit - I'll likely build one in full stealth, and the other with gun barrell exposed and copter on deck. PE allows one to pose various hull openings in open or closed position, and adds grill details, as well as sensors, masts and antennas.

PE for the copter includes rotors, poseable doors, and wheels.



The PE cuts easily, and nibs that are not cut flush are easily filed away with sanding sticks.

The resin is smooth, easy to work, and I only had two small bubbles to fill in one hull, right at waterline in only one of the two hulls. Pour plugs cut off smoothly with Xuron scissors, cleaned to waterline with a #11 X-Acto, and sanded smooth to waterline very quickly. The resin seems less brittle and easier to work with than that of other manufacturers.

Decals are included for all five ships in the class, and include Swedish pennants and (one) helicopter landing deck. I failed to take the decals out of the plastic when I photographed them - they are brighter and clearer than it appears. One of the gun barrels is also visible in the plastic.

I'll try to post a picture of the instructions. They are a single sheet, busily diagrammed, and it took me a moment to orient myself to PE placement in particular. I found it more helpful to study pictures of the 1:350-scale kit for clarification and placement. Photos of that kit here: http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=101012

It's worth noting that the 1:350 kit pictures show some differences in detailing from the 1:700 scale kits:

No open front deck hatch in the 1:700 scale vessel.

No windshield wipers with the 1:700 scale vessel.

Helicopter deck bulkhead doors cannot be posed open in the 1:700 vessel.

No 50 caliber (?) machine gun mounts on the stern deck of the 1:700 vessel.

The 1:350 kit includes molded detail in place of PE for the ventilation and exhaust gratings, but generally offers more options for open hatches, doors, etc..

Rear page of the single sheet of instructions includes b/w diagrams for decal placement and camoflage demarcation. The line drawings are larger than 1:700 scale (but less than 1:350) which means photo reduction/enlargement will be necessary to guide accurate masking. A reduction to 75% - 76% brought the line drawings to scale with the resin hull, from which masks can be cut to guide painting.

I was going to post photos of my first assembly at the painting stage in camoflauge, but the Tamiya primer and paint I used pulled off in spots when I pulled up the masking. I did wash the resin parts in dish liquid before starting assembly and painting, but have since read that the mold release agents used by Orange Hobby need particularly aggressive washing, so I've stripped the kit of PE and am back to square one.

Greater starter kit to introduce you to resin, PE and Orange Hobby. The quality of this kit will surely lead one to consider other Orange Hobby products.

Thanks for the tip on the waterjets I got pretty confused at that step, Do you have any photos of your completed Visby twins?