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First Look Review
1700
1/700 Scale Winches
Battlefleet Models, Accessory Set
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by: Mark R. Smith [ GUNNY ]

"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
SUMMARY
Highs: Good detail, versatile, and quality casting, all along with a great price!
Lows: None!
Verdict: Overall, a good, useful accessory set that can be adapted to many uses in either scratch-building or adapting to an existing kit. Highly recommended from this modelers point of view!
Percentage Rating
95%
  Scale: 1:700
  Mfg. ID: BFM-7104
  Suggested Retail: $5.00 USD
  Related Link: Official Company Website
  PUBLISHED: Aug 26, 2008
  NATIONALITY: United States
NETWORK-WIDE AVERAGE RATINGS
  THIS REVIEWER: 87.23%
  MAKER/PUBLISHER: 93.31%

Our Thanks to Battlefleet Models!
This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.

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About Mark R. Smith (Gunny)
FROM: PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES

I have been building models of all sorts all of my life, concentrating mainly on the coolest one's when I was younger, but now I focus directly on all military subjects, from armor to warships. After years of counting rivets, I put away the calipers, dial indicators, and micrometers and now just ha...

Copyright ©2021 text by Mark R. Smith [ GUNNY ]. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of Model Shipwrights. All rights reserved.



Comments

and the price is also right... one for my list
AUG 27, 2008 - 08:23 AM
   
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