A little history...

HMS Invincible was the lead ship in the three ship class, she was built at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering. Launched by Queen Elizabeth II in May of 1977 she was commissioned in July of 1980. In early 1982 Invincible was to be sold to Australia, however that was halted due to the Falkland Island War.

She under went a refit which provided for a longer flight deck and a redesigned ski ramp. She served her country until 2005 when she was decommissioned. She is kept in condition so she can be returned to service with 18 months notice. She is to be held in this status until 2010 when she will be officially struck from Royal Navy rosters.

Displacement: 22,000 tons

Length: 194m (636 ft 6 in)

Beam: 36m (118ft 1in)

Draft: 7.5m (24ft 7in)

Propulsion: 4 s Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B Gas Turbines
Providing 97,000 hp
8 Paxman Valenta Diesel Generators

Speed: 28 knots, 18 knots cursing

Range: 7,000 miles at 18 knots

Complement: 1051 crew

Armament: 3 x Goalkeeper CWIS
2 x GAM-B01 20mm close range guns

Aircraft: Sea Harrier fighter/bomber “jump jets”, Sea King helicopters, Merlin and Lynx helicopters.

The Kit...

This new Premium Edition kit from DML represents the ship as she sailed off to the Falkland Islands War in 1982.

The lidded box shows the Invincible with one of her Harrier jump jets steaming into harms way. The box holds the four bags of grey styrene parts, one fret of PE parts, decals, and the instruction sheet.

Sprue A holds the hull halves as well as a few different sections to the superstructure. The detail in the parts is nicely done and crisp. The hull might require some clean up along it seam. I dry fit my sample and the split was noticeable. With careful gluing it is possible it will not be as noticeable. The hull is only set up to make the full hull version. So those who like the waterline versions of ship will have to do some surgery.

Sprue B brings with it the flight deck of the carrier. The flight deck has raised detail, as does the ski ramp. The raised detail looks a little large for the scale. Advanced builders might want to sand the deck flush and scribe the lines into the deck. Other parts on this sprue are used for the superstructure and side details of the ship.

Sprue C contains some of the ships Harriers, Sea King Helos, boats, and a few other odds and ends parts. The aircraft have a decent amount of detail for being so small. There are two of the sprues. One also holds the display base for you ship.

Sprue B is one of those that gives your spare parts box a good deal of parts. There are only a few parts actually used for this particular build.

The brass photo etched fret include railings for the flight deck, netting for the ships ski ramp, and radar systems. They are finely done and will look great once installed.

The details are simple and straight forward. There are markings for your Harriers as well as those for the ship.

Reflections

Overall, I liked this kit. It is a straight forward simple kit and will give you a nice looking ship when you are done. HMS Invincible was a very unique ship and filled the position of flag ship for the Royal Navy. She was such an important ship that Argentina still claims to have sank her during the war 25 years ago. During our operations in the North Atlantic we operated with Invincible. We never did get any closer than a few miles, but she still look like an impressive ship.

Novice builders should have few if any problems building her. More adventurous builders can do some surgery and make a nice waterline ship.

Sources:

Royal Navy.mod

Naval Technology.com

Wiki