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Yet another. The Mirage kit with quite a few Micromaster-NZ and Black Cat accessories. I had to build the minesweeping guides and rollers, and also modified the galley to its revised position ahead of the funnel (with its new stove pipe on funnel). It is in an 507A/507C/MS4a scheme, but I clearly used the earlier WEM version of 507C with its warm tone (based on Snyder & Short research I assume) - when I touched up parts of the hull it was with Sovereign's 507C with the correct bluish hint. Mmmmm. Crewless again. Cheers, GrahamB

My friends, colleagues and evil overlords at Sovereign Hobbies have pointed out to me that in order to achieve my core competencies and qualify as a fully-accredited member of the Associated Federation of Henchpersons, Goons, Thugs and Minions, I was going to have to build a ship. Believing, as I do, that building a model in anything other than 1/72 scale is a perversion of the grossest nature and an affront to all that I hold dear left me somewhat limited in my options if I was to successfully complete this task. Still, I cast my mind back to 1979 when I was still a mere slip of a lad and Matchbox was not only still a going concern, but perhaps at the peak of its powers; the year that they released the 1/72 Flower Class Corvette kit. It was a remarkable offering, for the subject, the physical size of the model and the number of parts – and far too expensive for me; it became for me one of those semi-mythical uber-kits that you promise yourself: “One day...” I managed to get the Revell 2000 re-box of the kit for a pretty reasonable price on ebay so that day seems to have come: It's a big box - Jack is a full-grown male West Highland Terrier and is shown for scale: There are a lot of parts too: Sadly this edition of the kit does not include the transfers for HMS Bluebell although the specific parts for her are still included on the sprues. I'll probably go with HMCS Snowberry rather than the other option - the USS Saucy - even though the decals for the former are a bit rubbish and the latter has a great name. I'll be building it OOB as far as possible; I appreciate there are innacurracies in the kit but it is still an impressive model particularly if, like me, you are not au fait with the real thing. Also I am very lazy, but mainly this: I like building kits and I'd like to build it just as I would have done at the tender age of 14, just for the pleasure of building it. Unless I feel like changing something (the crew figures for example), in which case I will Cheers, Stew

HMCS Snowberry, Flower Class Corvette Revell 1:144 The Flower Class Corvette is probably one of the best known Escort Ship of all time, purpose built for the task and based on merchant design to enable it to be constructed in merchant ship yards. Designed as an all weather depth charge platform they carried only rudimentary surface and AA weapons. Although intended to act as coastal escorts they were actually used in both the Atlantic Theatre and the Russian Convoys. Snowberry was ordered by the Royal Navy (RN) 22 January 1940 as part of the 1939-1940 Flower-class building program. She was laid down by George T. Davie & Sons Ltd. at Lauzon on 24 February 1940 and launched on 8 August 1940. She was commissioned into the RN on 26 November 1940. She sailed to the United Kingdom in February 1941 and was completed at Greenock in April 1941. On the 15 May 1941 Snowberry was one of ten corvettes loaned to Canada. She could be told apart from other Canadian Flowers by her lack of minesweeping gear and the siting of the after gun tub amidships. During her career she had three significant refits. The first took place at Charleston beginning in December 1941 and taking six weeks to complete. Her second overhaul took place again at Charleston from March 1943 until 14 May 1943. In late March 1944 she went to Baltimore, Maryland for a five-week refit After completing at Greenock and working up at Tobermory, Snowberry was assigned to Western Approaches Command. In June 1941, she sailed for Newfoundland after being loaned to the Royal Canadian Navy. Upon her arrival in Newfoundland in June 1941 she joined Newfoundland Command as a convoy escort between St. John's and Iceland. From July to October 1941 she was deployed as such. She departed for a short refit and upon her return in February 1942 she was briefly deployed as an ocean escort once again. In March 1942 Snowberry transferred to Western Local Escort Force (WLEF). In June 1942, after the U-boats had begun attacking oil tankers sailing along the North American coast, she joined the newly formed Tanker Escort Force. In September 1942 she was placed under American control escorting convoys between Guantanamo and New York. She returned to service after her second major refit in August 1943, when she was assigned to Royal Navy controlled escort group EG 5. On 23 August 1943 Snowberry as part of the 5th Support Group, was deployed to relieve the 40th Escort Group which was undertaking a U-boat hunt off Cape Ortegal. The warships of both groups were attacked by 14 Dornier Do 217s and 7 Junkers Ju 87s that were carrying a new weapon the Henschel Hs 293 anti-ship guided missile. Several sailors were injured and killed in HMS Bideford (40th EG) but Snowberry escaped damage. Two days later, the 5th SG was relieved by the 1st Support Group and the warships of both groups were again attacked by 18 Dornier Do 217s also carrying Hs 293 weapons. Athabaskan was heavily damaged and HMS Egret was sunk but Snowberry again escaped damage. On 20 November 1943 Snowberry, along with Nene and Calgary, depth charged and sank U-536 northeast of the Azores at 43° 50N, 19° 39W. When the group replaced its corvettes with frigates in March 1944, Snowberry departed for her final refit. After workups she was briefly assigned to WLEF again but transferred to Portsmouth Command in mid-September 1944. She remained with them until she was decommissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy. Snowberry was paid off from the RCN on 8 June 1945 when she was returned to the Royal Navy at Rosyth. In 1946 she was used as a target ship off Portsmouth. Her remains were sold for scrap and in August 1947 she was broken up at Middlesbrough. The Model Having re-released the big 1:72 scale kit of the Flower Class about three years ago, Revell have now produced an all new kit of HMCS Snowberry in 1:144, which matches quite a few submarine kits out there. Rather than just reduce the 1:72 kit, this is an all new moulding, and completely different layout. The kit comes in the standard flimsy end opening box, which I thought Revell might be getting away from, with a nice representation of the ship in a moderate sea. Inside there are nice sprues and two hull halves in a medium grey styrene, a small decal sheet and a reel of thread. All the parts are really nicely moulded, with the only sign of flash being on the sprues, not the parts, although there are numerous moulding pips which will mean more cleaning up than should be necessary. There are no other apparent moulding imperfections and the detail is pretty good, particularly the hull plates which whilst still pronounced, they are not as bad as the kits bigger sister. The plastic used appears quite glossy and is not as soft as some Revell kits, Whether the gloss is mould release agent I cannot tell, but it's good practice to clean all parts in warm soapy water just to be on the safe side.Revell also seem to have done some more research for this kit as the deck is much more accurate for the ship it is depicting. What is nice, is that they are using the full colour instructions, on better stock, rather than the recycled toilet paper of old. Construction begins with the transom and the fitting of the two depth charge doors, each of which can be posed open or closed. The two hull halves are joined together, with the propeller shaft and rudder post sandwiched between, and the transom glued to the stern. There is a large internal bulkhead glued near the midpoint of the hull giving some rigidity and a attachment point for the main deck and quarter deck. The two dck sections are fitted next, followed by the propeller, bilge keels and if required the stand is also assembled at this point. With the model upright in the stand, the deckhouse on the foreward portion of the quarter deck is built up. The two stern mounted depth charge racks are assembled, as are the smoke pot racks. The depth charges are assembled and fitted into the racks, with the smoke pots fitted the top of the rear section of each rack. More detail, in the shape of separate cleats, bollards, crane, vents and hatches are fitted to the quarter deck, whilst along each side of the deckhouse the depth charge throwers and spare depth charges are glued into position. Two twin Vickers machine gun mounts are built up, each from four parts, whilst the single 2pdr Pom Pom is made up from eight parts and four large ventilators, each of two halves are also assembled. Moving forward from the quarterdeck The deckhouse roof is fitted out with two winches, the two Vickers machine gun assemblies, and a locker. The skylights are fitted with their frames and clear window parts before being glued into position. The PomPom pedestal is also attached to the roof, along with the eight supports for the guns bandstand mounting and director tower, along with the four large ventilators. The deckhouse roof isw finished off with the fitting of the guard rails. The three piece funnel is assembled, as are the two, four piece carley floats. The floats are fitted to two three piece racks that are fitted to each side of the deckhouse, as are two depth charge handling cranes. The funnel base is the fitted where the deckhouse joins the foredeck and the funnel assembly glued to the base and fitted out with a vertical ladder, four more ventilators, ready use lockers and steam pipes. The chartroom in front of the funnel is then assembled and fitted with a skylight, chimney, and railings. The ships boats, each made up form seven parts are fitted to the moulded cradles and the four davits glued to the deck. The bridge structure is assembled, and includes internal rooms which are a scratch builders delight with so much potential. The supports for the upper bridge are glued into position along with two lockers and a deck hatch. The bridge deck is then glued into position and fitted out with support braces on each side and three support beams to the front. The compass binnacle, bearing sight, voice pipes and surrounding bulkheads are attached to the deck, along with the large bridge front, bridge screen. The modeller has a choice of with a large or small aldis lamp fitted in each bridge wing. The two 20mm Oerlikons are assembled, each from five parts are fitted to their mounts on the bridge. The Hedgehog mounting is also assembled, from four parts and fitted to the starboard side, just in front of the bridge. Numerous other parts are added to the bridge, such as life rings, lockers, splinter shields, with separate splinter mattresses, and navigation lights. The radar lantern is built up form eleven parts and fitted to the radar room roof. Three large lockers are fitted to the foredeck, just in front of the bridge, on the port side, in front of which there is a large shield with supports angled from the bridge front above which the DF aerial is fitted. The four inch turret is made up from six parts and again is crying out for the super detailer. The gun sits on a large circular mount, which in turn sits on a pedestal, mounted to the deck. The mount is fitted with stanchions, which are then joined together to make railings using the thread provided. The fo’c’sle is then kitted out with two small winches and one large four piece anchor winch, along with the two chains, plus the usual bollards, cleats, shields, railings etc. The pole mast is fitted just behind the bridge and is made up with separate yardarm, vertical ladder and crows nest. The Jack staff is then glued into position and the rigging, again from the thread provided, although it’s a bit furry, thus finishing the build. Decals There is a single sheet of decals which are nicely printed, in good register in a matt finish. There are markings for just HMCS Snowberry, its pennant numbers for bow sides and stern, depth markings, ships nameplates, and a Donald Duck cartoon for the turret. The carrier film on the larger decals, such as the ships numbers is a lot less prominent than normally found, and should bed down nicely on a gloss coat, before being finished with a matt varnish. Conclusion Its great to see Revell release all new kits, and this one is a little corker. Great for all maritime modellers, even those who don’t have too much room, as at around 439mm it’s not too large to be displayed. For the particular colours used on the ship, you might want to try the new Akan paints reviewed HERE. Highly recommended. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

Hello all you floaty types, I'm hoping you might lend me some of your vast knowledge as regards kit availability. I've recently had somewhat of a hankering to build a ship, a hankering somewhat strengthened by playing a lot of Atlantic Fleet on my PC. Whilst researching some of the ships available in the game I came across a local connection in that Blyth (the town in Northumberland I am unfortunately a resident of) was the site of a shipyard that produced several Castle, Flower, River, Bangor and Bay class ships during the Second World War. As well as completing the conversion of the first escort carrier from Hannover to HMS Audacity. Now, knowing very little about ships in general with no nautical family connects and with even less knowledge about model ships I'm wondering if any of you fine chaps or chapettes might be able to help me in my search for one of these classes of ships that I could make in to a suitable Blyth built version? Ideally I'm not looking for something massive (so the Revell Flower Class is out of the window) but I would still like something with a bit of presence (12" or so) as such I was thinking something in between 1/144 and 1/350 might work well for most of these ships apart from the Audacity. But scratchbuilding is out due to limited time and even more limited ability. So, fine people of the Maritime Modelling forum, is there anything out there? Cheers, Paul

HMCS Sackville is the last surviving Flower Class Corvette. Used for the important but often unglamorous Convoy Duty. Now a museum ship at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, operated by the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust. Pics thanks to Bob (moaning dolphin).

Flower Class Corvette Revell 1:72 The Flower Class Corvette is the best known Escort Ship of all time, purpose built for the task and based on merchant design to enable it to be constructed in merchant ship yards. Designed as an all weather depth charge platform they carried only rudimentary surface and AA weapons. Although intended to act as coastal escorts they were actually used in both the Atlantic Theatre and the Russian Convoys. By no stretch of the imagination was the Flower Class Corvette heavily armed, initially they carried only a single 4" gun, salvaged from obsolete ships, and a couple of machine guns. Her main weapons were the depth charges. Top speed was 16 knots in short sprints, sufficient to charge at a submerged U-Boat, but inadequate to pursue on the surface, the general tactic was to force the submarine to dive and keep it down with depth charges while the escorted ships escaped and more capable Sloops, and later Frigates, were called up to make the kill. The Flowers had a remarkable range of 4,000 miles at 12 knots, using up only 200 tons of fuel oil. They were also very manoeuvrable, able to turn in almost their own length. They packed a crew of around 90 into a ship originally designed for 30 to 35 and a which could "roll on wet grass" made living conditions on them very wet; but they proved ideal for the role of coastal escort, tough, economical, could be built in a month to six weeks in a small yard, the Flower was adopted by the Canadians, the Americans, the French and the Norwegians, even the Germans, with four captured in build stage at the collapse of France were completed and pressed into service with the German Navy. With the fall of France the impetus of the U-Boat war switched to deep water, often beyond the Western Approaches. U-Boats no longer had to risk the dash through the English Channel, or the gruelling long haul up around the Faeroes Gap of the Denmark Strait, under the constant threat of air attack. They could now safely leave from there "Pens" on the west coast of France, and move right into the battlefield of the North Atlantic. The need to escort ships deeper into the Atlantic put a huge strain on an already overworked escort fleet and the Flowers were forced to take up the strain. If the Destroyer was the greyhound of the high seas then the Flower Class Corvette was the terrier of the seas. From a requirement for small cheap escort ships the task was given to Smith's Dock of Middlesbrough, who had a long experience of building tough little ships for the whaling industry, they quickly came up with the design of the Corvette and it was excepted by the Admiralty and they were built in some form or another right through to the end of the war, with almost 300 Flower Class Corvettes built, it is believed that it was "Churchill" with his usual wit that christened the ships "Flower Class" a name that was to confuse the enemy as much as the men who had to report to the ships for duty. The basic design remained largely the same; except it was modified with a longer Forecastle to improve sea keeping in the Atlantic, and the Bridge and Charthouse was improved. AA weapons were increased when available, though this was usually just a pom-pom. Originally fitted with mine sweeping gear as well as depth charges this was discarded and allowed 70 depth charges and up to four throwers to be fitted in additional to twin racks deploying astern. Many variants were produced during the war. Later improvements in radar made the Flowers even more of a threat to the U-Boats and a great many U-Boat Captains were to rue the day they crossed the terriers. Most Flowers were sold off post war, though some saw service as weather ships for a while, although rugged and reliable they were simply too small to be able to mount modern ASW weapons, and far too slow, by the war's end submarines could even outrun the Flower submerged on a snorkel, and faster boats were to come. Those little ships by all accounts were well liked by most of the men, who served on them, and they formed a high opinion of the tough little ships, and most were not slow to tell any detractor's from the larger ships just how proud they were to serve on the sappy named "Flower Class Corvette". Around 1 in ten of the total of 267 Flower Class Corvettes was lost during World War II. The Model Originally released in by Matchbox in1979 and has been released by Revell at least once before now. In this release however Revell have included lots of goodies to try and bring the kit up to date. These include wooden decks, etched nickel parts and turned brass barrels and masts. Whilst this is commendable it still doesn’t mask the inherent faults within the basic kit. It would have been great to have seen a new mould, but alas that is not to be. Now, for the modeller who isn’t into accuracy to any great way the kit will still build into a super looking model and have a lot more finesse than the original releases, and will continue to make a good basis for an R/C model. Suffice it to say that much work will still need to be done if an accurate and finer model is to be built as well as the addition of some or all of the many aftermarket products that are available today. In addition to the wooden deck, etched and turned parts there are eight sprues of dark grey, light blue grey and brown styrene and one sprue of clear styrene. Given the age of the model and presumably the moulds there is a surprisingly small amount of flash on only a few parts which will be easily cleaned up. There are quite few moulding pips however which may cause minor problems cleaning up on the smaller parts. The instructions come in two parts. The first is the original booklet style showing the build of the styrene parts, and a second, double sided A3 sheet showing the construction and location of all the additional parts. There is quite a bit of flip flopping between the two, so ensure that they are read carefully before beginning the build. The hull comes in four parts, two bow sections and two stern sections, which once joined together are then joined at the amidships area in quite a clever masking of the join with the ships plates, although care needs to be taken to get this join as tight as possible. To the stern, the propeller shaft is fitted through the stern gland and attached by a locking ring, which if glued carefully will allow the propeller to rotate. There are six crossbeams that attach near the top of the inner hull to prevent flexing and increase overall strength. The beams provided are really not strong enough and it would be advisable to add plasticard strip/box or I-beams to further increase the strength. Before any further building is carried out those who wish to build an accurate model may want to reduce the stem post down considerably along with the reduction of the ship plates to make them more to scale and the many rivets added. There are quite a few builds around that show the methods required to be used and really are outside the remit of this review. The rest of the build will be as per the instructions. Whilst working on the hull, the porthole eyebrows should also be removed, to be replaced by etched parts, which include the eyebrows and porthole surrounds. The propeller and propeller boss is fitted to the shaft aft of which is added the two part rudder. Two doors, for the depth charges to pass through the stern are added. To the completed hull the main decks, which come in three parts, the fo’c’s’le, main deck and quarter deck, are attached. At this point it would be an idea to paint the hull and deck fittings before the laying of the sticky backed wooden deck. References should be checked to determine where wood was used on the particular ship being modelled, as there are several variations to be found. Revell have provided wood sheet to cover the whole of the main decks and from research for this review the fo’c’s’le was always plain steel so should definitely not be laid with wood. Moving slightly ahead from the instructions there are several supports attached between the decks and hull sides around the whole ship, which should be attached having been painted first. Putting the now completed hull aside it’s on to the superstructure with the stern section being built first out of the rear bulkhead, side plates and deckhead. This should be painted along with bulkheads and doors that fit between the assembly and hull at the join between the foredeck and main deck, before attaching to the main deck. From this point all major assemblies should be pre-painted before adding to the hull/deck assembly as it would be tricky to paint afterwards with the wooden deck in place. Several sub-assemblies are now built up, the first of which is the complex forward winch, consisting of spindles, cogs, supports and sundry parts to make up a two spindle structure. There are also two cable reels built up of a centre reel and two supports and two, two part anchors. The main 4” gun is then constructed with the main barrel parts joined together, (at this point the main barrel, ahead of the breech can be removed and replaced with the turned brass part). The barrel assembly is then fitted with two trunnion supports which are in turn attached to the turret floor. The gun assembly is then fitted to the turret construction using either the styrene parts or the replacement etched parts. The forward main gun “bandstand” is made of the main circular deck part, access ladders, shell ready slots, which circle the full deck part, and etched railing replacing the styrene version. The turret is then added to the deck via the turret turntable. The completed assembly is then fitted to the foredeck, on top of a central and six outer supports. The next major assembly is that of the bridge structure. The bottom of which is made by attaching the four parts to make up a box. The veranda around the sides and aft section of the box is built up and the wooden deck added to the walkway. Several ammunition boxes and cabinets are then constructed and placed around the bridge, whilst two small derricks are built and fitted to the foredeck and the hedgehog weapon assembly fitted to the starboard side foreward of the bridge. The many and varied array of ventilators, cable reels, side breakwaters and main forward breakwater can now be added. Back to the bridge, the roof is added followed by the wooden deck. The bridge wing supports, a choice of which is provided depending on which ship is being built, need to be fitted and trimmed as necessary. To the bridge deck, the centre consoles are added along with the compass binnacle, wing searchlights, aldis lamps, flag lockers, screens and the two single 20mm Oerlikons fitted to the bridge wings. The original kit guns are discarded, with the exception of the pintle mount, and replaced with a pair of very nicely detailed and far better looking weapons made of etch parts and turned brass barrels. Also completely replaced is the DF aerial mounted on the front of the bridge in addition to a stove chimney port and starboard navigation lamps. To the side of the bridge wings the splinter mattresses are attached. Aft of the bridge is the radar lantern housing consisting of a two part support, to which a hexagonal base, with associated supports, is glued. To the base, the radar and pintle are fitted followed by the outer lantern with clear styrene panes, roof, air vents, access ladder and another searchlight. The railings surrounding the lantern are once again replaced with etched parts. Moving further aft construction turns to the funnel and its deck housing, which consists of a forward and aft section which are joined together creating one continuous structure. Onto the deck of this, a number of vents, skylights, cabinets and lockers, surrounded by etch railings are fitted. The funnel requires a couple of holes to be drilled into each half for the support wires to be threaded through and glued, before the two halves are joined, several exhaust pipes, a ladder and the funnel cap are fitted. This assembly is then mounted on its respective deck position as are four ventilators and two inclined ladders and their handrails. The mast is next for the turned brass treatment, with the top half being removed, to be replaced by the brass part. To this an etched bracket is added and the yardarm fitted to it. The crowsnest is attached to the lower fitting point and the ladder attached to the back of the mast as per the original instructions. The completed mast is then fitted to the deck aft of the funnel and the whole structural assembly is affixed to the ships upper deck. Still on the upper deck, four ventilators are added, two each side, whilst in the middle of the deck a large skylight is fitted. What would be the opening parts of the real thing are removed and replaced with etched parts. Also on the upper deck, further hatches, ventilators, ammunition lockers are added, as are the two twin .303 Vickers machine gun mounts, which, unfortunately haven’t been given the brass/etch treatment, which they really need. The 40mm PomPom does though, admittedly only for the barrel, which is a shame, but at least it’s some improvement. The gun is attached to the two trunnion plates which are then fixed to the mount and the shield is attached to the plates. This assembly is then fitted to its own bandstand type structure with an ammunition locker fitted behind the gun. This whole assembly is attached to the upper deck on six supports. The next ten steps in the instructions cover the fitting of further hatches, inclined ladders, handrails, ventilators, liferings, heating chimneys, railings, (etch), small derrick, and a pair of goose necked cranes. Each of the sixteen two part depth charges are then constructed with four fitted to the throwers and the rest nestled in cradles situated around the after superstructure. The depth charges are very basic and really could do with having some extra detail added, particularly on the arming faces. Just aft of the deck break two pairs of Carley float supports/ramps are fitted, each built up from five parts. Onto these the two part floats are then fitted and detailed as desired. Forward of the float supports, on aft end of the foredeck the two single piece lifeboats are attached to the deck on two cradles. The simple davits are mounted to the deck, either end of the lifeboats and the downhauls added using the black thread provided. The final major assemblies to be built are the ramps and depth charges for launching over the stern. Each of the two ramps are made up of the two sides with top and bottom ramps fitted in-between. Twenty four two part depth charges are then assembled nine slid into each of the ramps. On top of each ramp a cradle is fitted and three spare depth charges mounted. With the build now complete it’s now just the rigging to be done, for which the instructions are pretty clear, followed by the painting and fitting of the twelve crewmembers included in the kit. Decals There is a single sheet of decals which are nicely printed, in good register in a matt finish. There are markings for two ships, HMS Snowberry, or HMS Campanula with their pennant numbers for bow sides and stern, depth markings, ships nameplates, a Donald Duck cartoon for the turret of HMS Snowberry and a large funnel band for HMS Campanula. The carrier film on the larger decals, such as the ships numbers is quite prominent and will probably need some softening and settling solution to bed them done nicely on a glossy background, before having a coat of matt varnish. There is also a large paper sheet of signal flags to cut out and make up any signal the modeller wishes, could make for some interesting scenarios. Conclusion She’s been around for over 30 years now but she’s certainly not looking her age. As mentioned above it’s a shame that a new mould couldn’t have been made for the hull, but that way expense lies, which is something I’d imagine Revell were trying to get away with. The addition of the etched nickel, turned brass and wooden deck does try to bring the kit into the 21st century and it would have succeeded if it wasn’t for all the known problem areas. The kit will still need a lot of work and additional aftermarket to make into a museum quality or award winning model, but for those modellers who don’t want or need to go that far it will still build into a large, imposing and great looking model, and you can R/C it too, what’s not to like. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

I've been looking for a 1:350 Flower class corvette, by Mirage-Hobby, to build but found that there are two; HMS Zinnia and HMS Anchusa. Can anyone who has these kits confirm whether they are both the same kit or do they contain different sprues etc? If they are separate then what are the differences in the kits? cheers Mike