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HMS Cumberland Type 22 Frigate (Batch 3) Atlantic Models 1:350 I must admit straight off that I have a soft spot for the Type 22 Batch 3. I was present at the Launching of HMS Campbeltown, and worked on fitting her out as part of my apprenticeship. The Batch 3 Type 22 Frigate had developed a fair way from the original Broadsword Class first ordered in 1974. The Class were primarily designed as anti-submarine ships to protect convoys under the UK's commitment to NATO. The length at the time was dictated by the dimensions of the undercover Frigate Refit Complex at Devonport Dockyard. As well as sonar system they were fitted with torpedo tubes and would carry the Lynx Helicopter. Offensive armament was provided by 4 canister mounted Exocet missiles on the foredeck. The primary defensive armament was 2 sextuplet Sea Wolf missile systems. By the time the four Batch 3 vessels were ordered a more general class of ship was needed, it had been released by the RN that ships really still did need a Gun and the bow space again was taken by a 4.5" turret. The ships did not loose their missiles though as the 4 Exocets were replaced by eight Harpoon missiles on two quartet launchers mounted up behind the bridge. The defensive armament was enhanced by fitting a 30mm Goalkeeper CIWS. Extra accommodation space was also fitted in allowing the ships to host a flag officer and become command & control centres. Propulsion was obtained from 2 Rolls Royce Tyne Engines and 2 Rolls Royce Spey Engines, the Speys replacing earlier Olympus Engines. These gave the vessels a top speed in excess of 30 Knots and a better sea keeping ability. Names for the 4 batch 3 ships were a mixture, though all celebrating different parts of RN history. a mixture: Cornwall and Cumberland, revived County-class names previously carried both by First World War-era cruisers, and by Second World War-era County-class heavy cruisers. The other two Chatham and Campbeltown, were Town names, the former reviving a 1911 Town-class light cruiser name, and the latter commemorating HMS Campbeltown famous for the St Nazaire Raid in 1942; the name for HMS Chatham was also selected as a salute to the Medway town, where the Chatham Dockyard, established in 1570, had closed in 1984. While most of the earlier Type 22s were sold to overseas Navies all 4 Batch 3 Ships were scrapped well before the end of their projected service lives The Kit The kit comes in the standard sturdy Atlantic Models box filled with plenty of poly chips to protect the contents. The metal, and resin parts are contained in zip lock bags stapled to a piece of card. The upper and lower hull sections are further protected from damage, by being wrapped in bubble wrap. There is a long envelope found at the bottom of the box containing a large sheet of etched brass, whilst a separate zip lock bag contains the sheet of decals. When the impressive 42cm hull is unwrapped the first thing that strikes you is the cleanliness of the resin. It is really smooth, with no sign of deformation, bubbles, or other imperfections. The upper and lower hulls are joined together by several pips and holes, but I find that it’s easier to remove the pips and align everything by eye and by feel as they tend to leave a large gap whereas by removing them, the gap almost disappears and there is very little need to filling, just a light touch with a sanding stick. The rest of the resin parts are just as well moulded, although the large sections of the superstructure do appear to have small pips on their undersides that may need to be removed. As seen in the photos, some of the smaller parts have a fair bit of flash, but it’s very soft and easily removed. The white metal parts don’t have a lot of flash, but there are seams that will need removing, again, a fairly easy job. The large etch sheet is what we have come to expect from Atlantic Models, beautiful clean relief etching, great design and lots of parts, and is probably the area that makes these models more for the experienced modeller than even the resin. Before any construction can take place, make sure you clean all the parts in warm soapy water to get rid of any mould release agent that may be attached. Naturally for these kits, it’s sub assemblies first. This is mainly the main deck house The bridge goes on at the front with the foremast at the rear. In between these goes the forward Sea Wolf tracker and the Goalkeeper CIWS. Behind the main deck house sits the intake housing for the engine room and behind this the funnel. Between the funnel and the hanger goes the rear mast. Now these main parts are on its time to make up a whole host of smaller parts for mounting to the ship. The 4.5" turret gets its gun. Then the main mast top antenna array is built up. The Goalkeeper gets its barrel and to the 30mm Oerlikon DS30 guns. Two quad Harpoon launchers are built up from a PE frame with resin missile tubes, the PE blast shields to go behind them. The type 911 Fire Control Radar is built up as are the Sat Com platforms. The DF antenna for the bridge roof gets built up, and if you are fitting them the mini gun enclosures. Last up are the decoys and their ejector racks. The gun goes on the fore deck and the forward Sea Wolf launcher behind it in front of the bridge. The main fore mast is next with the main radar on top followed by the many PE arms and other parts including a navigation radar being fitted. The Sat Com antennas are fitted to the Engine intake block, here there are PE railings to fit and also ladders which go on the front of the intake covers. The rear mast is next with the main antenna pole and antenna array being fitted to the top. Here again there are many PE arms to the mast and smaller fittings. To the front of the hanger the crane for the ships boats is fitted, and the boats in the landing area there. Along all the main decks PE railings are fitted with netting type areas next to the 30mm deck fittings. There are also life raft canisters to fit to the deck. There are also man overboard life ring ejectors to fit. Moving aft the rear deck goes on, and to the starboard side of the hanger the ships gangway. Above this go additional life rafts and the fuel can stowage racks to the inflatable boats. Above the hanger and on the rear Sea Wolf Radar platform more railings go on. Forward of the hanger deck there is another small boat crane, and forward of that the two triple torpedo tubes. Moving back to the flight deck the harpoon grid is fitted to the centre, and around the outsides the flight deck netting is fitted. If you want to close the hanger then a PE door is supplied for this. The aft Sea Wolf launcher is fitted to the hanger roof. Next we move to the lower hull with two stabiliser fins being added to each side. The propeller shafts go on, with the props on the ends and the ships rudder behind these. We now jump back to the main deck. Davits are made up for the main ships boats. There is also a late fit RHIB platform to be fitted on the port side of the funnel These are for the late fit Pacific 24 RHIBs which replaced the Cheverton on the starboard side. The data link radome is now added to the front of the hanger deck. For Campbeltown use the solid mast, for other ships cut the radome off and use the PE lattice mast. Decals The single decal sheet contains the main pennant numbers and ships names for the 4 ships as well as Ships Crests, Flags, Ensigns, draft marks and helicopter landing markings. Conclusion Well, Atlantic Models have done it again, producing a kit that fills another hole in the Royal Navy Cold War story, that of the last of the Type 22s. This is not a kit for the novice but it will with time and care build into a great looking model. Very Highly Recommended. This last shot shows the main upper casting with the main parts added as a dry fit to show how well the fit and to give an idea of how the kit will end up looking even without all the detail parts fitted. Review sample courtesy of Peter Hall of

Somewhere in the South Atlantic May 1982... This is my 1/350 build of three of the ships in the RNs Falklands task force, there are two scratch builds, and one minor conversion, plus huge amounts of detail on all three. I don't want to think about the amount of time I've spent over the past 5 1/2 years... Starting with the complete scene: From left to right: HMS Broadsword, HMS Hermes and HMS Yarmouth HMS Hermes and Yarmouth are both scratch built from plans Weathering on both was closely based on photos from the time to get the weather worn look of two of the oldest ships in the fleet. Many of the details are from WEM and Atlantic Models etched brass sets, but I also learnt to etch at home for unique pieces including H's mast, crane, davits and some antenna. Around 230 figures are spre​ad across the 3 ships, mostly on the flight deck HMS Broadsword was a conversion of the OOP WEM HMS Brilliant kit, the main change being the funnel, plus a wealth of detailing. the seascape is modelling clay plus acrylic medium and teased out cotton wool for the foam and spray. The base was lined with plasticard to get a mid-ocean swell adding a bit more interest and action Finally for this post a couple of overhead shots, Broadsword is approaching to start taking on fuel from Hermes' starboard quarter, Yarmouth steaming past on the port-side. Both escorts are really a bit close, but the base is the largest I could fit in my cabinets (to the millimetre) and the navy have been known to bend ships every so often so it's not impossible. Next up some detail shots. If anyone has missed the WiP and would like to see the history on this one, here's the thread: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234927178-operation-corporate-carrier-battlegroup-1350 Andrew

RB Productions is to release a 1/32nd Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka Type 22 resin kit - ref.RB-K32003 This kit will be released in mid-May 2015. 1/32 Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka Type 22 & Ground-Handing Trolley This is a multimedia resin kit. The kit contains: - 60 resin parts - 57 photo-etched brass parts - 1 clear resin part - 1 vacuum formed part - 1 decal sheet Sources: http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22_152_155&products_id=635 https://www.facebook.com/largescalemodeller/posts/861096873962269 V.P.

HMS Campbeltown F86 Type 22 Frigate Batch III Orange Hobby 1:700 The Type 22 or Broadsword class of Frigate were designed in the 1960s during the Navies reappraisal of the surface fleet following the cancellation of the carrier programme. The class were all originally to have names beginning with B after the Type 21s had names beginning with A. They were designed to be a specialised anti-submarine platform as part of the Royal navys contribution to NATO. Their main war time job would have been to patrol the G-I-UK gap and shadow REFORGER convoys from the US. The main anti-submarine weapons would be the ships Lynx helicopter and triple torpedo tubes on each side. These would be guided by a towed array sonar. Anti-aircraft/missile missiles in the form of the Sea Wolf missile system; and anti-ship missiles in the form of the Exocet system were also added. As was the thinking at the it was decided no gun was needed. This was unique at the time of the design. The Type 22 was delivered to the Royal Navy in three batches. The second batch were stretched in length and a new computer assisted command system was fitted. In order to differentiate batch I and II ships, batch II ships would be named with a B. It is estimated that had it not been for the Falklands war there would have been no more Type 22s after batch II. The last four of the Type 22s, or batch III were a greatly improved design. The ships were deigned to have a more general warfare role. The Royal Navy was able to feed the many lessons learned the hard way in Falklands into the re-design. The gun would finally return to the ships. The four exocet launchers were removed but the ships would not loose their anti-ship missile capability. The four exocet were replaced with a double quad Harpoon launcher which was situated behind the bridge, this effectively doubled this capacity. The ships would also be fitted with a Close In Weapons System capable of hitting sea skimming missiles in the form of the 30mm Goalkeeper. Following on from batch I and II batch III ships would have names starting with C. The batch III ships were the largest Frigates built for the Royal Navy and would often act as flagships for NATO and RN task forces. It is often said that the Batch III Type 22 was the ship the Navy got right, and the review has to agree with this. They were also good look ships as well. In the end only 4 out of an originally wanted 12 ships proved to expensive for the RN to operate and all four ships were paid off in 2011. It is not know if they were offered for sale as previous Type 22s were, but in the end all four were scrapped in Turkey in 2013. The reviewer must admit to having a personal interest in these ships as I helped build F86 HMS Campbeltown, during my spell as a lowly apprentice in the late 1980s at Cammell Lairds in Birkenhead. In fact I still have one of the tickets I got for the launch. Can you see me in the crowd? The Kit The kit in a fairly smallish box into which all the parts fit snuggly, with the main hull part wrapped in bubble wrap. A bit of a dilemma as you can damage the parts taking them in and out of this box, but in a bigger box they have much more potential to rattle around and get damaged in transit. I am sure most modellers will have spare boxes to contain the parts. The main hull complete with most deck housings comes as a complete one part casting which is water line, no lower hull is included. The only main parts missing from the single part casting are the funnel assembly, and the two main masts. The funnel assembly comes as one part on its own. The two masts are moulded together with the funnel top and the Main Gun Turret, this being of the later Kryten type. A small resin sprue provides the hull straightener's seen on F85 & F86. three further sprues provide the rest of the resin parts. These include the Seawolf directors and launchers, ships boats, boat launchers, life raft canisters, two larger Sat antennas; and the Goalkeeper gun system. Finally in resin a Merlin 101 helicopter is provided for the flight deck. Three smaller sat antennas are provided in turned brass, along with the 4.5" gun barrel and the Harpoon Missile tubes. 6 Small sheets of etched brass are included for the rest of the details. Construction starts with the cockpit opps! aircraft modeller alert!! Well if you follow the instructions it actually starts with building up the Merlin Helicopter. Nor much to do there, just attach the resin sponsons and decide if you would like a folded or deployed main rotor. Attach the tail rotor, main door, and windscreen wipers (really small in 1/700!). The next steps have you build the turret, and install it onto the foredeck. Foredeck railings are added along with the bridge railing, and bridge deck railings. The screen on top of the bridge is also added along with the fore Seawolf director railings. The Forward Seawolf director and launcher are assembled and installed, along with the Goalkeeper gun. Following this the Harpoon launchers are assembled and installed. This is followed by the rest of the railings in this area. The funnel block is then constructed and attached to the deck. At the same time the satellite antennas and railings are added to the deck house forward of the funnel. The masts, rear Seawolf director & launcher are then added to the hanger roof after they have been assembled. Railings and ladders are then added to the hanger area. The next stage consists of adding a multitude of small items such as locker, liferafts, doors etc to the outside of the ship. The flight deck railings are added. These can be added in either the lowered or raised positions. The rear flag staff can also be added as appropriate. The final main stage is probably one of the most intense (after adding all those small items), it is the construction of the main masts. These have as the core a central resin part onto which all the photo etched parts must be added. Finally after this the ships boat platforms and boats are added. Photo Etched Parts 6 Small sheets of PE are included with the kit. 1. The largest sheet which consist of mainly the ships railings, these are incredibly fine in this scale. 2. The second sheet contains the details for the masts and the walkways/railings for the directors. 3. The third sheet contains parts for the small mast in front of the rear Seawolf director, the flight deck railings and the deck watertight doors. 4. The forth sheet contains the hanger doors, jackstaff, rear flag mast, a couple of mast parts, some anchor chain, and the platform areas for the ships boats. 5. The fifth sheets contains the ships boarding ladder. 6. The sixth sheets contains both open and folded main rotors for the Merlin helicopter along with the tail rotor, and a couple of other helicopter parts. Decals The single sheet of decals is fairly small. It includes the pendant numbers for both ships, the warning markings for the main gun & Seawolf launchers; along with the flight deck markings, the ensigns and ships crests. Everything looks in register. Instructions I don't normally comment to much on instructions as they are a fairly standard item. The instructions here though arrive on 4 sides of A4 rolled up in the box. 3 are double sided which is a great deal less than ideal. Its no hassle for most people to copy these but not great if you like to lay the instructions out in front of you. There seems a lack of progression between the sheets and no real step numbers. They jump around between areas and this does not look to good. There are also omissions in where the instructions show you to add parts, but not how they are built up? Conclusion This is a very welcome release and in it Orange Hobby has produced, what I can only describe as a winner. The details they've managed to fit into a 1:700 model is amazing, although somewhat tiring for some eyes. This is where a good set of magnifiers will really help. The only thing I would like to see in the kit is an early form of Gun Turret in order that and earlier ship could be modelled, along with maybe a Lynx as well. Highly recommended (but then I am biased! ) If you wish to see some pictures of the Real 1:1 scale kit them please click here Review sample courtesy of British Forces Models