¹⁄700

Battlecruiser, HMS Queen Mary

In my opinion, -- had this same plan been used in the construction of the master model...-- the construction time of my model would have been cut dramatically...!




The reason for this is that the huge amount of cast on deck detail is all in the correct place--is however all flat! Study of plans in side elevation and cross-section shows the many flat squares on the deck casting to be actually square and round mushroom vents of varying sizes and heights, small deckhouses, tackle bins, lockers and skylights which are all very much three-dimensional. I made all these using styrene stock, paper and brass wire etc.

The lower position (wartime) boat crutches were all removed and their reinforced skid positions marked in with tape strips. I added the coaling winch drums to the bulkheads as well as made 4 x winches for the correctly placed but flat positions. All the entirely missing cable reels were either scratch built or WEM Pro-series resin items. I drew in hinges and clips on all lockers with a very sharp pencil and outlined many of the deck fittings in pencil to sharpen up the final effect.

The above comments in no real way detract from the overall excellence of the product which I would highly recommend to anyone wishing to build a model of this great but flawed warship.
This high quality kit has flawless casting- but there are some areas that required research and further work to be undertaken to allow me to be satisfied!



The firstmajor area that required work was the aft casemate/ boat stowage area. The outline plan view footprint was spot on, however the walkway around the top on the real ship was supported on pillars giving an undercut not represented in the kit casting-this area being solid....