Carrera Revell Hermann Marwede Search & Rescue Vessel (05812) 1:200

[Mike]

Hermann Marwede Search & Rescue Vessel (05812)

1:200 Carrera Revell

 

 

The Hermann Marwede is the largest rescue vessel operated by the German Society for Sea Rescue or Die Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger (DGzRS) to give them their correct German name.  In common with many such rescue organisations, the DGzRS receive no government funding, but instead rely on voluntary contributions, fund-raising and donations to finance the organisation. The DGzRS was founded in 1865 by amalgamating many smaller organisations under one umbrella, and celebrated its 150^th Anniversary almost a decade ago.  During WWII they operated under the Red Cross banner, and retained their principles of rescuing anyone in distress regardless of state or which side they fought for.  They have since grown into an organisation with twenty ocean-going vessels and almost forty inshore lifeboats, stationed at fifty-five locations around the German Coastline. The organisation has rescued more than eighty-six thousand souls in peril on the sea since its founding almost 160 years ago.

 

The Hermann Marwede was laid down in Gdańsk, Poland with an aluminium hull, and was completed by Fassmer in Berne, Germany, launching in 2003.  She was named after Hermann Marwede of Bremen, who was a long-term partner in the Beck & Co. beer company, taking a turn as a director of the DGzRS during his life, and his descendants were significant contributors to her €15,000,000 funding.  Displacing 410 tonnes, with a beam of 35’ and length of 151’, she is powered by a trio of marine diesel engines, each with their own shafts propellers, mounting the most powerful of the three on the centreline, totalling 6,800KW of power that can propel her at 27 knots in good weather, and only a few knots slower in rough seas.  She carries a daughter boat in the stern that is secured in its own boathouse on a built-in slipway for ship-to-shore and shallow water operations and rescues.  Three fire-fighting nozzles are mounted on the superstructure behind the wheelhouse, powered by one of the engines, and two can be operated remotely with substantial water output.  The crew of eight have their own individual cabins, and casualties can be tended to in the hospital space that includes an operating theatre for dealing with urgent cases that can’t wait to be handled on shore.  The aft deck above the slipway provides a large open area to secure rescued individuals while they await extraction, for crew training, and just forward of this area is a 20-tonne crane that can be used to launch another smaller RHIB inflatable to assist with operations.  Should the need arise, the Hermann Marwede can operate for up to seven days without refuelling or resupplying, and is intended to be offshore for up to 104 days a year if the need arises.  She is currently (as I type this) undertaking SAR operations in the North Sea, but her home port is in Heligoland, Germany.

 

 

The Kit

Originally tooled and release in 2011, this is the fourth boxing of the kit, arriving in Revell’s new design end-opening box with a dramatic painting of the vessel and her daughter boat in action on heavy seas.  Inside the box are six sprues of various sizes in white styrene, a small decal sheet, and instruction booklet that is printed in black and white on cheap paper, which feels like a bit of a retrograde step when compared to most modern Revell booklets.  At 1:200 scale the size of the hull is more manageable than its 1:72 stable-mate, and detail is good, although the railings and other fine parts are necessarily oversized due to the constraints of injection moulding technology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with assembling the hull, adding two internal bulkheads and the anchor’s hawser pipe in the top of the bow.  The deck consists of two levels that are linked by a vertical section and a pair of stairs that are moulded into the foredeck, with railings glued to both sides once in situ.  There are many detail painting instructions for the moulded-in details on the decks, after which the hull is inverted to install the three prop-shafts with their fairings, the centre forming part of the keel, finishing by adding the screws at the rear ends, and triple rudders for full authority in the event of any engines going offline.  The hull can now be placed on the stand that is included on the sprues, which is moulded as a single part, with contoured supports that brace the lower hull and keel.

 

The daughter boat is built from two halves, fitting a folded mast and radar assembly on the wheelhouse, and detail painting the moulded-in windows, placing it in the slipway that is behind the stern door that is moulded into the stern panel, adding a safety rail around three sides, and fitting an outboard motor to the RHIB before it is installed in its supports on the port side.  The boat’s housing is made from six parts that have railings and banisters moulded into the tops, fitting two support poles to the sides of the slipway, and topping the assembly off with the roof, which has a walkway leading forward.

 

The mid-deck has a bulkhead with stair cases fixed to the rear of the foredeck, fitting the deck, side walls and sloped front, adding railings to the walkway and the level-change between the fore and aft decks, adding machinery and a thick supply pipe for the fire-fighting (Fi-Fi) gear, then building the wheelhouse from four sides and a deck, which has a cluster of searchlights and the solo hose fitted around the edges.  The remote Fi-Fi stations are a single part assembly that is plugged into the deck behind the wheelhouse, with curving railings fitted around it, fixing the deck crane into its socket and resting the jib on a riser at the edge of the deck between the hoses.

 

The mast has a Y-shaped form, with access steps moulded into the sloped legs, which has the main mast moulded into the centre, fitting twin radars on their own supports at the front, with additional searchlights, antenna and sensors mounted on the rear, again with their own supports moulded-in, following the detail painting instructions that are given during the steps.  The completed assembly is mounted in sockets at the rear of the wheelhouse roof, fitting a short tapering mast on the starboard edge, and finishing the model by fitting a pair of mooring posts in the bow, and a bow pole with a section of the frontal railings moulded-in.

 

 

Markings

Whilst there is just one set of markings for this model, there are a separate set of profiles for the daughter boat, Verena.  The profiles are in black and white, but a quick look at the box art will help immensely, as will the paint-code chart.  From the box you can build the following:

 

 

 

Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas.

 

 

Conclusion

The Hermann Marwede is a major part of the German coastal rescue service, and this 1:200 kit gives the modeller a reasonably-sized model of the vessel, with a good level of detail, and crisp-new decals.

 

Highly recommended.

 

Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

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[psdavidson]

Nice. I have one in the ever-increasing stash. Hopefully it will reach the top soon

Didn't realise there was also a Baby on Board