1/600 HMS Hardy

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, here is my model of the RN flotilla leader HMS Hardy. This ship was the leader of the 'H' class of destroyers and as such was a little larger than the rest of the class. She also had an enlarged bridge, more accommodation and an extra 4.7-inch gun. HMS Hardy was the flagship of Capt(D) Warburton-Lee and won undying fame and destruction, and her captain a posthumous VC, in the First Battle of Narvik on 10th April 1940.
     It's a rather simple model and to make it I modified an Airfix HMS Hotspur kit. I lengthened the hull and weather decks, extended the foc'sle deck aft a little, modified the fwd superstructure and bridge, replaced the midships and aft deck houses with scratchbuilt deck houses, relocated the quad machine guns and boats, replaced the masts with scratchbuilt masts including the lookout's crow's nest on the foremast, and replaced the DC gear, searchlight and anchor capstans with scratchbuilt stuff. I also sourced a fifth 4.7-inch gun and Carley floats plus added scratchbuilt R/U lockers. For those that are interested, below is the build log in the 2021 KUTA GB.

     Here she is, HMS Hardy in 1940.

 

For those that wish to compare this ship to others in the class, below is a photo of the four versions of the Airfix HMS Hotspur kit that I've done.

From top to bottom:-

HMS Igraine, my third build, a whiff and my first attempt to make HMS Hardy. As you can see, I got it wrong so I cut my losses and whiffed it.

HMS Hotspur, my second build and depicts the ship as modified for convoy escort work. Hardy's fifth gun came from this build.

HMS Greyhound (to free up the name 'Hotspur'), my first build of the kit and done OOB.

And the lowest model is this one, a little longer than the others as you can see.

 

Thank you for your interest. Stay safe and regards to all, Jeff.

 

[bianfuxia]

Nice work! 

 

Those wooden stands - is that balsa wood?

 

These early British destroyers are so interesting compared to later war ones because they seem to have basically zero AA weapons?

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday and thanks. @bianfuxia in the top two photos they're balsa 3mm square section glued to 90mm wide x 12mm deep pine. I've done a number of them, of different lengths to suit different size ships. I've also done some larger bases with 5mm square section balsa for cruisers and battleships, again mostly 90mm wide but one being 140mm wide. These sizes of pine are simply standard sizes from Bunnings Hardware stores. These are for photos only.

     The models in the display cabinet have small bases of black 6mm deep MDF screwed to them, screwed up from underneath. Again I standardize the sizes, for these small destroyers they're 20mm x 40mm, as in the last photo. They're a bit crude and ugly for photos in posts here but once in the display cabinet they're surprisingly discrete, hardly noticeable. I replace them with white blocks for some photos or for those models I submit to the WASMEx exhibition in April/May.

    Yeah, the pre-WW2 destroyers including the Tribals suffered greatly at the hands of enemy aircraft, particularly dive bombers I think. My model of HMS Hotspur above has received the "3-inch conversion". One set of tubes was replaced by a 3-inch or 4-inch AA gun, plus extra 20mm Oerlikons were fitted.

     Regards, Jeff.

[Adm Lord De Univers]

Very nice and clean build Jeff on a good looking vessel, particularly useful to see them all lined up. To be honest, I hadn't realised the small difference in length - I would'nt have the nerve to do such drastic surgery (or would've lost my fingers in the process) and prob would fudge it and never show them together, but this has come out particularly fine.

 

David

[robgizlu]

Clean looking build Jeff - Nice one!

Rob 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

On 1/16/2022 at 2:11 AM, Adm Lord De Univers said:

I hadn't realised the small difference in length

Gidday Guys, thanks for the comments and interest. I hadn't realized the difference in length initially either, it was one of the errors I didn't know I made with my first attempt, and at the beginning of this go at it too. Another was the enlarged aft deckhouse. I'm grateful for the input of all who pointed out differences between the flotilla leaders and the rest of the ships in time for me to make the changes.

Regards, Jeff.

[S-boat 55]

Nice little flotilla going on there, 

[Faraway]

Nice, very nice.

Jon

[John_W]

Lovely Build.

May try this with the IBG kit myself.

As well as the length, Hardy was also slightly wider across the beam, but barely noticeable at that scale.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday @John_W, and thanks. I think the extra beam is doable, at least at deck level by simply adding a very thin strip of styrene to each outside edge of the deck piece, thereby forcing the sides out a little. I didn't in this case however. I'll be interested in your build when you do it. Regards, Jeff.

[Seahawk]

Excellent results from these ancient kits.  Hotspur was my first warship kit back in the early 70s and I recall a lot of flash around the small pieces even then.  But you've got to admire the ambition Airfix had in those days in trying to reproduce all the various details (binnacle on bridge, various davits) - and they succeeded pretty well for the time.  Hotspur was the best of the early kits, I think.

 

And it's thanks to their old written instructions that I even know what a binnacle looks like!

[ArnoldAmbrose]

     Gidday @Seahawk,and thanks. The earliest ship I can recall building was an Airfix Cossack, a joint effort with my slightly younger brother. He also had a Daring and Suffolk, I had a Devonshire, Campbeltown and Revenge (1588) and in late high school I did the Scharnhorst.

    I think the newer style of instructions are easier from an assembly point of view but the older style, like you said, had an educational aspect to them. Regards, Jeff.

[Bandsaw Steve]

Well done Jeff. Another 1/600 winner! 👍

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Didday Steve @Bandsaw Steve, and thanks. Hopefully WASMEx will go ahead this year and I'll bring her along. I also hope to complete another couple by then, Seydlitz and Onslow to accompany her. How was Albany, and any more progress on yours? Regards, Jeff.

[Bandsaw Steve]

Hi , hopefully an update on Xantho in a week or so. Work is fairly hectic at the moment so not as much happening on these projects as I would like.

[Brian Derbyshire]

Great job with the airfix sir.

[Bertie McBoatface]

Nice one. Airfix kit eh. I didn't know they could be done like that! 🙂

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday @Brian Derbyshire @Bertie Psmith, Yeah they can be rather basic kits but can be done up quite nicely, particularly by those who add a bit of PE which is out of my league. Unfortunately many of these small older kits seem to be extremely difficult to come by now, more's the pity. I'd like to convert another of these to a Hunt class, HMS Ledbury, but I don't think I'll ever get hold of another kit. But I've got a couple of alternative ideas. Thanks for your comments and interest guys. Regards, Jeff.