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 Post subject: Revell HMS Campbeltown
PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 11:11 pm 
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HMS Campbeltown was originally the Wickes-class destroyer USS Buchanan, DD-131. She was commissioned in 1919 and transferred to the UK as part of the “Destroyers for Bases” deal between the US and Britain in 1940. In exchange for 50 aging “four-piper” destroyers like the Buchanan/Campbeltown (obsolete for fleet duties, but still useful as convoy escorts) for the Royal and Royal Canadian navies, the US got basing rights in the Caribbean and Newfoundland.
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HMS Campbeltown is one of the most well-known of the traded ships, as she was famously expended as a floating bomb in the “Operation Chariot” raid by British commandos on the St. Nazaire docks in March of 1942.
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Revell’s 1/240 four-piper destroyer kit has been around since the 1960s and has been issued many times as the USS Ward, the USS Buchanan, and the HMS Campbeltown. It’s basically the same kit every time it comes out, except for the decals. However, even though the decal sheet for this reissue includes the White Ensign of the Royal Navy, the hull number included is still the 131 (in US-style lettering) that goes with USS Buchanan. I replaced that with decals from my stash. Other alterations I made include lowering the fourth stack, to match how Campbeltown appeared in British service; adding covers to the ship's boats; and adding splinter shields to the bow and stern 4" guns. I should have landed the sternmost pair of torpedo tubes, but it looked a bit empty without them so I left them on.
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In my opinion, this is one of the best of the older ship kits. Unlike some Revell kits of similar vintage it’s accurate below the waterline, with shafts and screws as well as a rudder. And unlike many kits of the era, rather than heavy molded railings, it has stanchions that may be rigged with thread. Other nice features include open scuttles and relatively good detail on the decks and bulkheads.
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One other comment: as noted, HMS Campbeltown’s great claim to fame was her role in the St. Nazaire raid. However, she was heavily modified prior to that operation, specifically, altered to resemble a German torpedo boat so as to help her get as far into the harbor as possible without alerting the enemy. It would take a lot of scratch building to alter this kit in such a way as to yield a model of Campbeltown as she appeared in the raid.


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 9:46 am 
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nice work Paul! :thumbs_up_1:

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PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 11:49 am 
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Paul, your build looks great..... even in British colors!

and I agree with this,
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In my opinion, this is one of the best of the older ship kits.

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PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 1:16 pm 
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Thanks guys! By the way, another thing I've learned about the kit is that the wood planking on the deck is wrong - apparently these destroyers had steel decks. Well, that's much less noticeable when the deck is painted blue-gray. :big_grin:


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PostPosted: Sun May 01, 2011 9:22 am 
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Good looking, clean build. :thumbs_up_1:

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PostPosted: Sat May 07, 2011 5:08 am 
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Excellent build Paul. I like the rust effects a lot.

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PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 2:52 pm 
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Nice build there! You mention the kit has been released as other ships - does it build into a Wickes class as-is? I always thought it built into Campbeltown only. I'd like to build a Wickes, even with the odd scale and ancient pedigree of the kit.


Frank


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 2:55 pm 
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Nice work, Paul. I've got Campbeltown in my stash. I largely bought her so I wouldn't waste the PE I got for Revell's U.S.S. Buckley, which includes the PE for Campeltown. I'll certainly be using your build as a reference for my work.

Congratulations on a great job!

Bob

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PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 4:48 pm 
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Kranman wrote:
Nice build there! You mention the kit has been released as other ships - does it build into a Wickes class as-is? I always thought it built into Campbeltown only. I'd like to build a Wickes, even with the odd scale and ancient pedigree of the kit.


Frank


It's probably closest to Ward or Buchanan - more so than Campbeltown. There were some modifications to Campbeltown even before the St. Nazaire Raid that I didn't make in my model - landing two of the four sets of torpedo tubes, for instance. So consult reference photos carefully if you're trying to represent a specific ship. Regular readers of this forum know that absolute accuracy is not my strongest suit... :-?


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:01 pm 
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Great model, Paul!

Makes me want to pull mine out of the stash....

Jorit

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 6:08 pm 
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Hope this isn't too late.

First, very sweet build.

I've decided I need a Minnesota Navy. When I first began modeling near two years ago now, I didn't know anything about kits and bought Revell's Helena thinking it was THE Helena of Iron Bottom Sound fame. Instead it's a late war Baltimore. I was using it as a practice kit, until Wikipedia alerted me to the possibility that the USS St. Paul was also a Baltimore and from photos they look very close. The gun used by the USS Ward at Pearl Harbor was manned by a Minnesota Reserve crew (I'm almost sure that's it) and it sits today in front of the Minnesota capital. Anyway, I bought Campbeltown too.

So, are you suggesting that Campbeltown could be made Ward with a simple change of number? And did you try the thread railings? Pretty sure I could scratch build whatever else was needed: maybe take a crack at the gun.

Eric

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 6:17 pm 
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Eric Bergerud wrote:
So, are you suggesting that Campbeltown could be made Ward with a simple change of number? And did you try the thread railings? Pretty sure I could scratch build whatever else was needed: maybe take a crack at the gun.

Eric


Hi Eric - yes, this kit has been boxed and sold as Ward in the past, and the model is closer to Ward than it is to Campbeltown. I did do the thread railings; PE might look better, but I wanted to build it old-school. There is a Gold Medal Models PE set for this kit.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 2:09 am 
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Your railings look fine from a distance - and that's where my models are viewed from. Actually I'd like to learn how to do some scratch building. Doesn't look like Campbelltown/Ward has much in the way of part count. Instead of fiddling with 400 parts the size of a fly's eye, maybe I'll use the time to try to scratch a gun. I can even go look at it in St. Paul. And I'm committed to build an ancient Oregon for a group build: might try to scratch the railings. Nothing to lose really: if they look bad, I can retrofit a PE set. If I get an overwhelming urge for nano-detail perfection, I can always build a tank.

Thanks much.
Eric

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 1:35 pm 
Can you please list the Paint colours used,.and really Sweet build hope mine comes out 1/10 th as nice ,.}}


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 4:06 pm 
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I wish I could! It's been a few years, but as I recall I used craft paints that looked like good matches for those lighter British camo colors.

Paul


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