"This "First Look" review is the second installment of our coverage of Battlefleet Models, 1/700 scale accessory kits, this time, we take a look at kit # BFM-7104, "Winches".
Winch-"A mechanical device that is used to wind up a rope, cable, or anchor chain." In its simplest form it consists of a spool (winch drum) and attached crank. More elaborate designs have gears, and can be powered by electricity or hydraulics. Some may include a brake or ratchet that prevents it from unwinding.
It is possible to configure most large winches to work either clockwise or counter-clockwise. There are several winches on almost every boat or ship where they are used to pull anchor or mooring lines, halyards, and sheets. Some winches have a "stripper" or cleat to maintain tension. These are known as "self-tailing" winches.
The earliest literary reference to a winch can be found in the account of Herodotus of Halicarnassus on the Persian Wars (Histories 7.36), where he describes how wooden winches were used to tighten the cables for a pontoon bridge across the Hellespont in 480 B.C. Winches may have been employed even earlier in Assyria. By the 4th century BC, winch and pulley hoists were regarded by Aristotle as common for architectural use (Mech. 18; 853b10-13).[2]
The largest electric drive winch in the world is placed on the Balder, a construction ship.[citation needed] It is used as a Mooring Line Deployment Winch with a diameter of 10.5 meter and an SWL (Safe Working Load) of 275 MT.
The accessory...
Quite simply, this accessory kit from BFM consists of one wafer cast sheet of powered boat winches, 16 total in all, cast in BFM's quality resin. There are eight each, port and starboard winches, in which Harry has taken the liberty to scribe a "P" and an "S" under each row for modelers ease in identification.
Overall winch detail is very good, and these winches will fit into a variety of vessel applications where a suitable winch is necessary, albeit a complete scratchbuild, or an added aftermarket accessory to an existing kit build.
The winches trim away easily from the wafer cast sheet with an x-acto, and with a minor swipe or two with your sanding stick, are ready for mounting onto your build.
Reference
Winch History from
Wiki
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