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HMS Queen Elizabeth 1941 - 1:700 Trumpeter


Paul A H

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HMS Queen Elizabeth 1941

1:700 Trumpeter

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HMS Queen Elizabeth was the lead ship of a five-strong class of Royal Navy super dreadnoughts commissioned between 1914 and 1916. At the time of their commissioning they were amongst the most powerful ships afloat, with their main armament of eight 15 inch guns a considerable improvement on the 13.5 inch guns of the preceding Iron Duke class. HMS Queen Elizabeth herself was laid down in the Autumn of 1912 and entered service just over two years later. Almost before her paint was dry, she saw action in the Dardanelle Campaign but missed the battle of Jutland owing to a period of planned maintenance. She was rebuilt during the mid-1920s and again between 1937 and 1941, when a tower bridge similar to that seen on the Nelson and King George V class battleships was constructed. Her 6 inch guns were also exchanged for 4.5 inch guns and extra anti-aircraft armament. During the Second World War, she was based in the Mediterranean, where she was damaged in an attack by Italian frogmen. She retreated to Norfolk, Virginia for repairs, finally rejoining the fray in the far east prior to being paid off at the War's end.

The release of this kit marks another important step in Trumpeter's campaign to fill in the blanks left by other manufacturers in the world of 1:700 scale warships. In fact thanks to Trumpeter (and collaborators Pit-Road) we now have kits of all five Queen Elizabeth class battleships as they appeared at various points during the Second World War. In typical Trumpeter style, the kit is tightly packed into a top-opening box, with each sprue is individually wrapped and delicate parts protected with strips of foam. As usual, the tiny decal sheet has the protective paper taped in place, which can make if difficult to remove the decals from the sheet further down the line.

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The kit parts are spread across nine sprues moulded in grey plastic and a couple of small sprues moulded in clear plastic which hold parts for the aircraft. The upper hull and decks are moulded separately, as are the the lower hull and waterline plate, both of which are replicated in dark red plastic. A small fret of photo etched parts is included, but rather disappointingly it doesn't include alternative parts for the deck cranes, meaning you are stuck with the nice, but comparatively clunky plastic versions. I like the fact that Trumpeter include both full hull and waterline options in their kits and can't really understand why other manufacturers don't do something similar.

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Construction begins with the upper hull and deck. The deck planking is represented by recessed lines, which are probably overscale but should hold a wash well. The deck is split in two as this class of battleship featured an extended forecastle. The upper hull has portholes and other details moulded in place. Trumpeter suggest that the 15 inch main guns and 4.5 inch secondary guns should be assembled and fitted at this point, although I'd be inclined to avoid fixing them in place until the end of the build. Two different options are included for the main guns, leaving you with a choice as to whether to opt for blast bags or articulation. It's good to see the blast bag option as I've had to make my opt out of Miliput before now and have found it to be a bit of a pain in such a small scale.

Trumpeter have made use of slide moulding throughout this kit, and the tower bridge is a good example of this. The basic structure is made up of a single part, seemingly without any compromise in terms of detail. In contrast, smaller details such as the rangefinders are made up of multiple parts, with a seriously impressive level of detail. The aforementioned deck cranes are plastic only, which is disappointing, but hopefully you will have the choice of replacing them with generic or specific photo etched parts from one of the aftermarket specialists. At least the funnel cap is replicated in brass, which is a nice touch.

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The aircraft hangars are nicely detailed and, if you want to finish one or both with the door open, you can simply cut the corresponding part away. On the deck above the hangar there is space for a handful of boats and anti-aircraft gun positions. The aft superstructure is the last major sub-assembly to be completed, and is made up of the structure itself, the rangefinder, mask and several smaller details such as anti-aircraft guns and searchlights. Once all of these sub-assemblies are complete, the whole ship can be assembled relatively quickly. If you choose to finish your model in full hull configuration, then now is the time to fit the propellers shafts and propellers to the underside of the hull. If you want to finish the model in waterline configuration, then you can just stick the waterline plate in place and call it done. the latter, you can just stick the hull plate on and call it done. The only remaining task is to build and fit the Supermarine Walrus aircraft.

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Conclusion

If you'd told me a decade ago that a major manufacturer was not only about to reinvigorate the 1:700 ship modelling scene, but also produce kits of all five of the Queen Elizabeth class battleships, I would have thought you were a couple of carrots short of the full allotment. That just goes to show what I know though, as all of those things (and more!) have now come to pass. This addition to Trumpeter's range is a nicely produced and superbly detailed kit, with high standards of production. My only real gripe is the somewhat parsimonious approach to the photo etched parts. I don't mind providing my own railing, but a couple of deck cranes would have been nice. That's a minor quibble though, and all-in-all this is a great package. Highly recommended.

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The etch also does not include the mast head radar antennae, which is hard to replicate otherwise. It should build up quite nicely (I've recently made the Trumpeter Valiant, which is mostly the same kit) but I would advise sourcing 20mm guns, I have some etch singles and WEM resin/etch twins but I think there's a guy in the US (I'll check who and post it here) that does stuff like pom-poms that might do twin 20mm and other useful bits. I can also post links to potentially useful accessories if the mods don't mind.

I was reading up on a bit of the QE's history as she was part of the British Eastern fleet in 1944. My late Grandad served on the destroyer HMS Relentless in the Indian Ocean, he remembered seeing lots of well known ships including the French battleship Richelieu and the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. While I was reading QE's history I discovered that the QE for a time was the fleet flagship and that other famous ships - Valiant, Illustrious, Victorious, Saratoga and Richelieu joined the fleet for parts of 1944. Then I found on a particular bombardment mission, led by QE, the destroyer escorts were led by HMS Relentless...... It's a shame that he passed away recently and that he had Alzheimer's, otherwise I would have be able to make and show him models of the likes of QE, Valiant, Saratoga, Richelieu and indeed the first RN ship he went to see on - HMS Royal Sovereign.

thanks

Mike

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... I would advise sourcing 20mm guns, I have some etch singles and WEM resin/etch twins but I think there's a guy in the US (I'll check who and post it here) that does stuff like pom-poms that might do twin 20mm and other useful bits. I can also post links to potentially useful accessories if the mods don't mind.

Please do. And mods please let him!

(A source for 1/700 quad 0.5" MGs would be good.)

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http://www.3dmodelparts.com/ship-accessories/

I have bought quad 0.5 mg's and they are very nice, I have also bought the quad and octuplet pom poms, 20mm oerlikons, 4x 40mm, 2x 40mm, twin oerlikons and have more on order. Carl is a very helpful gent and is always adding to his range. Hope this helps. P.s. I have bought all the QE class ships from Mike at http://www.mjwmodels.co.uk and have not seen anyone to match his price and service.

Mick

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http://www.3dmodelparts.com/ship-accessories/

I have bought quad 0.5 mg's and they are very nice, I have also bought the quad and octuplet pom poms, 20mm oerlikons, 4x 40mm, 2x 40mm, twin oerlikons and have more on order. Carl is a very helpful gent and is always adding to his range. Hope this helps. P.s. I have bought all the QE class ships from Mike at http://www.mjwmodels.co.uk and have not seen anyone to match his price and service.

Mick

That's the guy I was talking about in the US, doing the lovely AA guns. I got his set for the Aoshima Ark Royal and they are a huge improvement over the kit parts. Looks like I'll be buying some German AA from him very soon!

thanks

Mike

Ta for the good word too!

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As promised here's some links for some useful etch

http://www.tomsmodelworks.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=23_26&sort=2a&page=1

Tom's do some useful etch for many ships and some generic stuff. What I would recommend for QE is the British Radar set, as the kit etch doesn't have all the radars. There's also generic railings and ladders that the kit doesn't supply. I've bought from Tom's before and had the etch sets in a week, not bad coming all the way from California!

Also possibly useful

http://goldmm.com/ships/gms7ordr.htm

Gold Medal Models do some nice generic etch sets including one for British WW2 ships. I used a pair the cranes from this set on my Valiant. There's lots of other useful bits that could be used on QE and other ships, although you still don't get all the radars you need.

thanks

Mike

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  • 1 month later...

I have just bought the kit and noticed quite a few irregularities with the kit. Firstly the kit is described as being for a 1941 fit, but the kit if built using the instructions, you end up with the vessel in the 1943 fit. Completely missing from the kit are the 0.5" anti-aircraft guns, but are shown on Turret B in Step 3 of the instructions, however the twin 20mm oerlikons are shown in Step 1. The kit is also missing many of the smaller gun tubs for the individual anti-aircraft guns. The colour sheet included shows the vessel in it's 1941 fit, but the kit if built according to the instructions should be in the 1943 fit. Looks as if Trumpeter has delivered another cow of a kit with details either missing or superimposed with other parts not applicable with the ship in its 1941 guise !

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I have just bought the kit and noticed quite a few irregularities with the kit. Firstly the kit is described as being for a 1941 fit, but the kit if built using the instructions, you end up with the vessel in the 1943 fit. Completely missing from the kit are the 0.5" anti-aircraft guns, but are shown on Turret B in Step 3 of the instructions, however the twin 20mm oerlikons are shown in Step 1. The kit is also missing many of the smaller gun tubs for the individual anti-aircraft guns. The colour sheet included shows the vessel in it's 1941 fit, but the kit if built according to the instructions should be in the 1943 fit. Looks as if Trumpeter has delivered another cow of a kit with details either missing or superimposed with other parts not applicable with the ship in its 1941 guise !

I think I covered that in another post somewhere. Calling it a cow of a kit is an over-reaction, the AA guns are an easy fix as is the camouflage scheme. Most serious modellers would replace the light AA anyway as they aren't that good in the first place (not many are in this scale). In fact if you check out the above posts you'll see links for replacement AA guns. The biggest howler for me is Trumpeter including etch but leaving off the most obvious things to do in etch, ie the cranes! Also like I've previously said, the radar for the mast heads are missing. Luckily I will have some etch soon to fix this and the cranes on HMS Malaya. Buy the Shipcraft book on the QE class for the camouflage guide and colours.

thanks

Mike

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Buy the Shipcraft book on the QE class for the camouflage guide and colours.

Yes, I already have the book. Maybe the term " Cow " is a tad strong but I do wish Trumpeter could do better research when releasing their products to us in modelling land. I'd rather do the ship in her 1941 guise . Hopefully someone will do a dedicated etch sheet for her at some stage I also have Trumpeter's model of the HMS Barham to do and will not follow their instructions to the letter as they have gotten the radar fit on that vessel incorrect. The box art is essentially correct, but you would have thought that someone would have told them about the oversight before they released the kit to the public !

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True but what they have given us is a pretty good base to work with. You can get etch for British radars from Tom's modelworks. There's a WEM etch set (now Tom's Modelworks) that Sovereign might be stocking soon, it's mainly for HMS Warspite but has some useful parts for Barham and Malaya. There's a forthcoming pair of British battleship etch sets, that will have all the cranes for the QE class. GMM already do a British warship generic set - I used the cranes for Repulse (as they were the most similar) for my Valiant but it's also handy for rails and ladders. Niko do some British light AA but I'd need to check and 3D model parts certainly do some of the light AA. Either way the QE can easily be done in 1941 or 1943 fit with the detail sets n bits out there now (or about to be released!)

Valiant builds up really well and QE is almost Identical, so trust me, you'll be able to make a nice model out of it. Just also bear in mind that these ships have only been available in expensive resin kits previously (I know having bought and built the WEM HMS Barham). Trumpeter nearly always get some things wrong but at least in this case the errors aren't too bad. Enjoy your build anyway, I need to get QE sometime soon after reading her history!

thanks

Mike

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