AntPhillips

I'll second Rob's comments, Simon at MicroMaster is great to deal with, I recently bought some parts to enhance my part built Frog 1/325 HMS Trafalgar, I contacted him through his Facebook page and asked if he could print some parts from his 1/350 range in 1/325 scale, and yes he can and at no extra cost either. And delivery only took 3 to 4 weeks from New Zealand to Wales.

Seconded

Whilst I've seen a few of these WHIF's of Royal Navy Tomcats, I've always thought that the Tomcat would have been too large for the Arks limited deck size, and the RN would have been more likely to follow what the USN did with the Midway Class and replace the Phantom with Hornets. Of course if the 2 CVA-01 class had proceeded then the procurement of Tomcats would have made good sense

I'm pretty certain that Frog didn't do a Daring, you maybe thinking of their 1/325 Battle Class, initially released as HMS Trafalgar but also boxed as HMS Cadiz IIRC. Coincidentally, Peter at Atlantic Models has both a 1/350 Battle and Daring Class on his future projects list.

Lovely model, my great uncle served aboard her from November 1947 right up until 17th April '49 so left her immediately before she departed Shanghai for the Nanking station. I presume its the Atlantic Models kit?

Yes you're right Matt, the engine deck is an overlay part that sits on top of the track guard piece on Sprue A: The engine deck and forward upper hull are on sprue B: Hence my supposition that the mystery Sprue C is in fact a late engine deck and an alternative forward upper hull with a second side opening hatch. Of course I could be wrong but fingers crossed I'm not. And apologies for repeating the photos but they're the easiest way to illustrate where I'm coming from. Ant

I'm hopeful that Airfix will at some point release another version of the kit with the later engine deck and side opening bow gunners hatch that were originally included in the CAD renders, there are parts on the sprues that are marked as "not for use" on both versions released so far, and the mystery sprue C surely will appear at some point. I doubt this will be this year, possibly it might be in next years release list, and maybe, just maybe the wheels will be corrected, as Academy are involved in its development, there is a precedent as their initial release of the M3 tanks inc

Hi John, Both kits share the same plastic, and have the same early engine deck and top opening so called "suicide" hatch, see pic below: Hope this clarifies. That said, from the sprue lettering (there is no sprue C in either kit) it does look as if there may be plans to offer other versions, incidentally the sprue shown in the recent Airfix Model World mag has a slightly different layout, see screen shot pic below, notice that the glacis plate has 2 horns as it would if both side entry hatches were fitted, yet the hull part has the top hatch, confusin

Best wishes Crisp, hope you're back at the bench soon, but at your own pace, don't rush back too soon, I'm sure we can all wait.

Hi Das, You might be misinterpreting the photo, it doesn't have a split barrel, well not split along its length anyway, it has 2 slide moulded barrels with different muzzle brake shapes and a separate muzzle brake end:

@Mike Starmer sorry to say you're correct they call up Humbrol 159: Ant

Another great book if you can find a copy is Leander Class Frigates by Jim Allaway, published by HMSO 72 pages of black and white photos with lots of detail shots.

Some detail shots, pistol ports without bolt heads: Two types of cupola: Those wheels: Sprocket details: Link and length tracks: and details front: and back: Rubber band tracks: Hope these and the earlier pics help to get a feel for what's in the box. Ant

Some more pics, first up engine deck for @Bullbasket

Hi John / Stuart, The kits have some good and fine detail included, but the 6 bolt wheels are a big letdown, and the lack of bolt heads on the pistol port, although to be fair they were wrong on the original renders released over 12 months ago, but nobody noticed it then . I'm no Cromwell expert but I've read the engine deck is apparently a C/D layout, I will post some specific pics later. The plastic is identical in both kits, and one thing that is apparent is that neither kit has a Sprue C, and as Sprue B is the upper hull parts with C/D engine deck and