Airfix HMS Belfast 1:600 Airfix

[Julien]

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 

[bootneck]

Ah! pure nostalgia.  Thanks for the review Julien.

 

Mike

[Chris Hewitt]

Thanks for the review and with a wooden deck and photo etching and barrels, now available it can be turn into a decent model.I must add I did Belfast  set late 1945 pacific where there  couple of changes .

 

 

Edited October 25, 2020 by Chris Hewitt

[Kev The Modeller]

I built this kit and the Prinz Eugen back as a teenager when the kits were first released, compared to their older kits (Hood, Bismarck, Scharnhorst etc) they were a big improvement, not up to offerings of others today though.  I think Airfix is really just tapping into our nostalgia of kits will built back in the day, that way there's little costs involved outside the manufacturing, which is a shame and it will lead back to their what seems to be never ending problems.       

[Graham Boak]

 If this is just a series of releases labelled as "Classic" or "Antique" or whatever then I don't think it will matter, though it would be preferable for them to avoid the worst of their back catalogue.  (Which may not be possible for popular subjects.)  As long as they are still continuing to produce new products of decent quality then it won't lead back to the doldrums of the 90s or the disappointments of the 00s.  Financial problems of the head company and severe market pressures aside, of course.

[Julien]

On 26/10/2020 at 11:32, Graham Boak said:

 If this is just a series of releases labelled as "Classic" or "Antique" or whatever then I don't think it will matter, though it would be preferable for them to avoid the worst of their back catalogue.  (Which may not be possible for popular subjects.)  As long as they are still continuing to produce new products of decent quality then it won't lead back to the doldrums of the 90s or the disappointments of the 00s.  Financial problems of the head company and severe market pressures aside, of course.

Continuing the Vintage range as far as I can tell which is a good thing as like you say it makes money for new kits, Also the molds for this have held up quite well There must be demand for the Belfast as it roll out roughly every 3 years or so.  They are also releasing other Classic kits, the Jetstream is out for the first time since 1997 and the Graf Spee since 1996. The molds for that have held up really wll.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday, thanks for the review Julien. I was interested in seeing your photo of the parts. I did this kit quite a few years ago, OOB, and if memory serves my kit was much like yours. I've bought about eight of these kits to raid as spares, and have done another build quite recently, plus another kit raided. I have to say that these last two kits have quite a bit more flash than yours (or my earlier kits used). The 4-inch gun barrels were unusable, but I made my own from 0.5mm styrene rod, and my own topmasts from rod and stretched sprue. The paravanes and twin 20mm guns were usable, just. The screws on mine looked over-large, until I realized it was flash on the blades. I guess the molds are getting on a bit (like all of us) and are getting a bit of flab (like many of us 😁).

     One annoying issue I have with Airfix is their practice of attaching round parts (gun barrels, shafts, masts etc) to the sprues along their length, needing careful detaching and cleanup. Not all of their kits are like this so why some?

     On the whole I think it is a good kit and value for money, for the prices I paid anyway.   Regards to all, Jeff.

[Paul Thompson]

On 28/10/2020 at 21:15, Julien said:

Continuing the Vintage range as far as I can tell which is a good thing as like you say it makes money for new kits, Also the molds for this have held up quite well There must be demand for the Belfast as it roll out roughly every 3 years or so.  They are also releasing other Classic kits, the Jetstream is out for the first time since 1997 and the Graf Spee since 1996. The molds for that have held up really wll.

While agreeing, one tiny nit-pick. The Jetstream was re-released in a tiny run available only to club members in the noughties, plain white box rather than the usual. IIRC it was for a tenner, which seemed okay at the time given the rarity second-hand.

 

If anyone is still reading this thread, is there a readily accesible souce for the side of the Belfast camo  not covered by the kit guide?

 

Paul.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Paul Thompson

[bentwaters81tfw]

38 minutes ago, Paul Thompson said:

 

 

If anyone is still reading this thread, is there a readily accesible souce for the side of the Belfast camo  not covered by the kit guide?

 

Paul.

I have a built up model in wartime camo. I can take a photo and PM it to you if it helps.

[Paul Thompson]

9 minutes ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

I have a built up model in wartime camo. I can take a photo and PM it to you if it helps.

 

Thanks, that would be very helpful.

 

Paul.

[bentwaters81tfw]

Will do. It will be later today as I have to go out shortly. I'll put Belfast on the desk so I don't forget.

[Paul Thompson]

52 minutes ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

Will do. It will be later today as I have to go out shortly. I'll put Belfast on the desk so I don't forget.

Thanks.

 

Paul.

[BerndM]

Still a nice kit and a good build.

I have build Belfast and many other Airfix kits back in the 1990 and have a nice memory of it.

With some aftermarket stuff it can be turned out into a little gem. Beside that the 1:600 scale is IMHO much nicer than the more used 1:700 scale.