Coast defence ship Hr.Ms. Hertog Hendrik 1904 - HP Models

[MichelB]

This is a quick in the box look at HP's new Dutch coastal defence ship Hr.Ms. Hertog Hendrik. For an overview of the ship, I refer to her Wikipedia page. In short: built in 1903, she was a typical coastal defence ship: neither the firepower of a contemporary battleship, nor the speed of a armoured cruiser, neither fish nor fowl so to speak. Not to deride her qualities: for a cash-strapped nation such as the Netherlands, she was a good compromise and served her nation well. Up until the second world war, when the Germans converted her into a floating flak battery. After the war, she was converted to a depot ship and finally stricken in 1969.
HP is (apart from Niko, Pacific Crossroads and HMSG ( )) the only company offering pre-WWII Dutch naval subjects, let alone predreadnought subjects. This latest offering is the first model ever of this ship and a welcome addition to the growing collection of Dutch model warships. Is it any good?

The kit comes in a small, familiar HP box, with the hull and two bags of small fittings. Each ziplock bag is enshrined in bubblewrap, which keeps the contents quite safe. The intructions are the usual HP format: some xeroxed A4/Letterhead drawings, with a list of items, an exploded construction view, a line drawing and a seperate color scheme for tropical stations (hint: mostly white). It gives dimensions for the masts and davits, which have to be furnished by the builder.

The hull, which is about 90 percent of the kit, is a very pretty hull. It reminds me strongly of Modelkrak offerings - aside from everything else, Modelkrak makes some good hulls. The details are OK: deck planking, bollards, precast vents and a near-neatly line of portholes. Watertight doors on the superstructure are very, very 'thin' but even seem to have some horizontal lines on them. Some of the details are eaten by air pockets. The molded on anchor chain is wasted, but inconspicious enough to be hidden by PE anchor chain. The bulwarks around the aft deck are molded in place: to portray the ship in action, these must be cut down and replaced with styrene strips hanging from the deck's sides. Not really a pain for an experienced modeller.There are however - the horror! - two aztec stairs! In 2013? Ouch, the jury won't like that one bit. The molded on anchor however, looks spot-on.

[MichelB]

The small bits are mostly OK: the main turrets look nice, the medium and light calibers are passable: but the shielded mounts have no opened backs: a bit of resin indicating a breech is all we get. Searchlights and vents are ok; the few superstructure parts are fine, the bridge has thick splinter shield that must be replaced with railing. The single funnel has very little adornments, but neither did the original and there is even a hint of internal structure. The ships' boats are ok-ish, but very roughly cast. They are - in my sentiment- good enough to keep - but I'm a forgiving person.

[MichelB]

Finally, the kit comes with two turned brass barrels for the 24cm guns. That's nice, even though the muzzles are not bored out.
Here they are, against the backdrop of the typical HP printed flag sheet.

Conclusion: good.
For a kit of an relatively obscure warship it is great. The quality is, compared to other players in the resin market, of a medium level.
Good points are: only kit of a non-famous predreadnought ship of a minor navy, good overall detailing, 'looks good', looks like an easy build, turned brass barrels.
Bad points are: no open backs on gun mounts, no masts and very basic instructions on how to make them, barely passable boats, barebone instructions, aztec stairs.
For someone who doesn't mind a solid dose of TLC and aftermarket parts, this is a good kit.

Note: I have not checked the accuracy of dimensions. This kit looks like a good approximation of the real ship to me, someone who has ogled a lot of dutch predreadnought ships. The kit arrived together with HP's 'Jacob van Heemskerk', a similar vessel of later design, and although the hulls are nearly identical, the Jacob shows the correct 1.5mm extra in length. This all, of course, means nothing.