Search the Community

HMS Belfast 1:600 Airfix HMS Belfast is a town-class cruiser, one of ten constructed for the Royal Navy between 1934 and 1939. As of 2019, the ship is probably most famous for being moored on the River Thames where it has served as a popular museum attraction since 1971. HMS Belfast was build by Harlaand and Wolff in Belfast and was commissioned in August 1939. The penultimate of the town-class cruisers, she was originally designed to carry sixteen 6 inch guns in four quadruple turrets, but this proposal was shelved due to the difficulty of designing such a turret and she reverted to using the same triple turrets as her the other members of her class. Belfast was badly damaged by a magnetic mine during the first months of the War. She was repaired and modernised with the additional of anti-aircraft armament, as well as radar equipment. Belfast was recommissioned in November 1942 and was put to work on the arctic convoys. On boxing day in 1943 she was involved in the Battle of North Cape and played a part in the sinking of the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst. The ship went on to support the D-Day landings before sailing to serve in the Far East, where she remained until 1947. Between 1950 and 1952 she participated in the Korean War, undertaking shore bombardment and coastal patrols. She was modernised once again and re-commissioned later in the 1950s, once again serving in the Far East. Reduced to disposal in 1971, she was saved by the Belfast Trust, led by her former captain Rear-Admiral Sir Morgan Morgan-Giles, then MP for Winchester. The Kit Airfix's HMS Belfast has been around since 1973, just after the real thing opened as a visitor attraction. As a model kit, it is far from state-of-the-art, but it is a nice trip down memory lane that will have you reminiscing about tube cement, old-fashioned Humbrol enamels and being vituperated for marking the dining room table with some kind of long-since banned solvent. The kit has just been re-released again in collaboration with the Imperial War Museum with some of the money from the kit sales going to them. The part count is pretty high, and while there is a little flash on some of the smaller parts the mould for this kit seems to have held up well which must be a testimony to the quality of the original tooling and toolmakers. The kit is spread across four frames of grey plastic, with the larger parts for the hull and decks moulded separately. It is a full-hull model (complete with stand) and clearly depicts Belfast in her wartime configuration, before she had those horrible lattice masts fitted, you get lots of detail, including a pair of Supermarine Walrus aircraft (one stowed, one ready to launch), life rafts, launches, cranes, davits and the aforementioned AA armament. the cranes for recovering the aircraft are surprisingly fine for the scale. You don't get (or need) any decals, but the three-view colour painting scheme shows Belfast in the D-Day scheme that the real thing currently sports. Construction is fairly standard for the ship. The main hull is assembled with the main deck from the rear of the forecastle all the way to the stern going in to help it all stay rigid. The rudder goes on and then at the stern all four propeller shafts and propellers go on. Moving back topsides the rear deck house structure is completed and added on to the main deck. The fore deck has its lower structure added and this can then go onto the hull. Also at this time the to stands are built up to place the hull on. Moving back to the alter deck davits for the ships boats are added along with AA guns. The four 6" turrets can now be made up and put to one side. Now moving back to the main hull A turret is added along with some foredeck fittings and AA guns. The racks are added for the carley floats followed by the floats themselves. The bridge and gunnery director structures are now built along with the main mast. B turret goes on the deck in front of the bridge structure. Amidships the seaplane launching catapult complete with Walrus is added, though if modelling the warship after June 1943 the aircraft can be left off as they were decommissioned then due to radar being used for surveillance. Still amidships the secondary 4" turrets are added along with the deck house and mast structure there, and the engine room intakes. The ships funnels then go in before and aft of the midships deck house. The top structure for the after deck house is made up then X & Y turrets can be added. At the rear there are additional launching racks for more carley floats. An addition for this boxing is a card base of the sea with additional information and photographs of the Belfast on it. The model can be displayed directly on it using the stand, or the more adventurous modeller may wish to do some surgery and convert the model to water line. Conclusion Whilst I would love to see Airfix release a brand new tool of this famous warship, it is nevertheless still nice to see this model back in their catalogue. The moulds must have paid for themselves dozens of times over by now, and although they are starting to show a little wear here and there, they are still in remarkably good nick all things considered. Those wanting to build a show stopper will naturally want to add extra details such as photo etched railings, but for those just wanting to add a model of this famous old ship to their collection, this will fit the bill nicely. The inclusion of the base for this one is a nice touch. Review sample courtesy of

I thought I´d share 15 photos I took while visiting IWM Duxford when I was in London some time ago. Why doesn´t this aircraft have more markings apart from the crosses and Swastika? Was it restored?