History...

First off, the basic facts from Wikipedia.org :

Career (UK)
Name: HMS Repulse
Ordered: 30 December 1914
Builder: John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland
Laid down: 25 January 1915
Launched: 8 January 1916
Commissioned: 18 August 1916
Motto: Qui Tangit Frangitur
"Whoever touches me is broken"
Fate: Sunk by Japanese air attack off Malaya on 10 December 1941

General characteristics
Class and type: Renown class battlecruiser
Displacement: 31,592 tons
Length: 794 ft 2.5 in (242.07 m) overall
Beam: 89 ft 11.5 in (27.42 m)
Draught: 29 ft 8 in (9.0 m)
Propulsion: Direct-drive turbines, 4 shafts, 112,000 hp (83.5 MW)
Speed: 31.7 knots (59 km/h)
Range: 3,650 miles
Complement: 1,181 officers and ratings
Armament:

* 6 × 15 inch Mk I guns (3×2)
* 9 × 4 inch low angle guns (3×3)
* 8 × 4 inch AA guns (2×2, 4×1)
* 24 × 2-pdr (40 mm) pom-pom (3×8)
* 8 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA cannon (8×1)
* 8 × 21 inch (533 mm) Mk II torpedo tubes

Aircraft carried: 4 × Blackburn Shark, replaced by Fairey Swordfish in 1939
Aviation facilities: 1 double-ended catapult launcher
History of the HMS Repulse WW I

The whole Royal Navy (RN) Renown class was very much disputed even before the first ship was laid down. Designing the class begun within WW I but the time she was commissioned war was over. Conceptional wise the RN decided to build a ship with more fire power than any other opponent ship of her class and at the same time should be faster than any opponent with greater fire power. This conception was based on the results of the battle at the Heligoland Bight dated 28th August 1914 and the battle of Falkland dated 8th December 1914.
The strategic doctrine is by the way part of what the IJN relied later on when preparing for the Pacific War.
The building plans were based on those of HMS Invincible whereas priority to specific details were ranked as follows:

1. Speed

2. Firepower (The 6 big guns were quiet uncomfortable since the gun directors needed a salvo of 8 big guns to calculate a solution with acceptable accuracy)

3. Armor (The armor of the HMS Repulse just satisfied the needs of old WW I Battleships and was outdated right from the start due to preference No.1)

WW II

When WW II started the whole Renown-class ships had been modernized and refitted several times but never reached the standards needed to compete.
The whole ship design was flawed by instabilities. Well, we know from the IJN Takao class that this fact does not necessarily make a ship useless but it at least hardens its use.
The many modernizations and changes specially to the armor reduced the effectiveness of the HMS Repulse and hardly brought any advantages.
The fate of the HMS Repulse as part of the “Force Z” was decided by Admiral Philips, who was surprised to see the IJN being able to accomplish land based air attacks.
The HMS Repulse and the HMS Prince of Wales shared the same fate at the same day and the same place. Both ships had substandard AA armament.

The packaging...

Trumpeter represents the HMS Repulse in her 1941 configuration. The kit comes within a double protected card box. On the front is a painting showing the camouflaged HMS Repulse in Pacific waters.

You will find some paintings on the side of the box showing the top and side view as well as an illustration of the Walrus reconnaissance airplane and finally a photo of the included photo etched parts.


... and what is inside ...

Content...

After opening the model builder is welcomed with a well filled box. The parts have enough space within the box but not as much as to fear any damage due to transportation.
The two halves of the ships hull are kept separately to prevent any unwanted damage.
The sprues are all well packaged within clear plastic bags whereas non of the bags contains more than two of them.

The Hull...

TRUMPETER allows building a waterline model as well as a full hull model. The under water hull comes in red and the hull above the CWL in grey plastic. Extra strengthening material for the hull is missing. This will not affect full hull model builders but people preferring a waterline version may want to figure something as a workarround.
The portholes are not broken through but are deepened and come with the necessary “eyebrows”. It is a pitty that Trumpeter missed to include the planking structure of the hull.

I, for my part, bought myself some thin (0,1 mm) copper foil which is easy to cut with a scissor and does a good job to represent the plating. Another option would be to utilize the primer iteself by masking the plating structure.

Never the less the hull halves fit together like a dream. So no complaint on that part.


The bottom of the underwater hull shows some mold seams which can easily be sanded away.
I tried to capture the otherwise really well done hull by including a closeup photo above the CWL. You can see beautiful molded doors which happen to also have their hinges as well.


Anyone preferring a waterline model will be pleased to notice that Trumpeter also provided a baseplate for the hull.

The Deck...

The main deck comes in three parts. Where necessery, Trumpeter included the wood planking structure. However, it is not true to scale but rather an approximation.

The hern of the wood planking is not provided as on the real ship but rather uniform in one line. I checked this with photos of the real ship and feel a bit sad Trumpeter did not pay enough attention on this detail. One can not fix this error easily and I am currently clueless how I will handle this.

The herm of the three deck parts shouldn´t be visible when installed or at least can easily be hidden with some smart painting and filling.


Unfortunately Trumpeter molded the anchor chain onto the deck. For this, there is no easy way to replace the chain with a real one. On the other hand the chain representation is done quiet nice and may only bother the advanced model builder.

The Sprues...

The kit comes with Sprues A - J, some clear parts for the airplane and a model stand.

Sprue A

Sprue A deals with the decks. You can see the same planking srtucture as described above.
Also, the brackets for the boats are molded on. The base floor for the superstructure elements are visible as well.


Sprue B

Sprue B deals with superstructure elements and some platforms as well as the funnel caps.


The funnel caps are done very nice even though they appear to be slightly off scale.


The parts for the superstructure show great detail over all.


Sprue C

Sprue C comes mainly with the side elements of the superstructure and two boats.


The skylight and boxes are sometimes molded onto the platforms. This will demand some attention when painting. On the other hand this parts are so narrow, that I can not imagine how Trumpeter could have solved the issue any other way for an average model builder.


The boats do not have any planking structure as they should. The superstructure of the barge can´t even be recognised as such unless you already know what it is supposed to represent.

Sprue D

With Sprue D comes another set of sidewalls of the superstructure as well as some masts, some platforms also for the masts as well as the parts for the model stand.


Sprue E

Sprue E surprises the model builder with another set of platforms and some delicate bars.

Some of the really fragile parts are secured by extra foil coverage.


The main funnel vents come as extra parts, which will ease the painting a lot.


Sprue F

With sprue F the model builder is provided the funnels, some smaller decks and the wave breaker.


The wave breaker comes with the needed support bracket.


The funnels look convincing but do not show details, which to some degree is correct when looking at photos.


Sprue G (2x)
Now we are getting with sprue G to the armament and some other boats.


Trumpeter really pushed the bar a bit when looking at the armament and the life raft.

The muzzle of the heavy guns are hollow, which can hardly be seen in other kits.

Even though the hull of the boats are kind of a rough representation the comparison to the barge reveals great detail.


Sprue H (2x)

Well, I guess you were missing it already, so here comes with sprue H all those tiny and fragile parts like davits, cranes, etc.


Among all, you may find it interesting how superbly Trumpeter molded the bigger machine guns on this sprue. The machine gun barrel is honestly delicate but even though provides great detail within. It will be a task of its own to enhance this by doing some cautious painting and highlighting. However, the companion hatches are one of those we all have seen a million times - improper.


The short crane does not live up to some other details within this kit and hurts the eye. Even if someone plans to build the Repulse out of the box - please consider to solder an own crane out of metal rods using the provided plastic part as a guide. You won´t regret it.


Sprue J (2x)
We are already through but something is missing... err.. Oh yea, sprue J comes among all with the turrets for the main artillery.


Well, I included a close up of one turret for you to judge. The turret comes with the right shape and dimension. However, the riveting is wrong. One can fix that by cautiously sanding the provided rivets down. However, please take reference photos and check carefully, since some rivets are supposed ti be included on top and to the back side of the turret.


The small guns provided on this sprue really do not look very convincing.


Sprue Walrus MK.1

The reconnaissance airplane comes in clear parts giving the model builder some ease regarding the cockpit/canopy area.


The Model Stand

The model stand represents some drydock scene and comes in black plastic.For my taste the stand is a bit short and possibly will not hold the model secure enough.

The Photo Etched Parts...

This first release kit came with included photo etched parts.


The first fret includes companien hatches, cranes (these will replace those odd plastic ones nicely) and the funnel caps details.

Fret B (2x) gives you general railings of various types.

The Painting Instruction...

Trumpeter gives you a poster of the painted ship from each side and a top view. The manufacturer referrs to CREOS paints. The poster does not have any specific scale but is clear and big enough to be an indispensable.

The Construction Guide...

Honestly, the building plan is clear at every step and easy to follow. It takes si,ple 21 steps to reach your goal. The instructions for the photo etched parts are included at each step.
You may want to decide yourself about fitting the underwater hull at the end of your build.

Result...

Trumpeter provides a really stunning model of the HMS Repulse. You can literally see that someone spent a good bunch of hours to set the details. There is not even one sinkhole or mold seem at any visible part. However, the details provided are not as consistent as they should be.
With Trumpeters HMS Repulse you really get a nice company for the HMS Prince of Wales whcih had to stand alone fo rso many years and you have a really well performed opportunity to honor all those naval officers and seaman that served on such a brave ship.