Mirage Hobby 1/350 'HMS Spiraea' Flower Class Corvette

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iggie
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Mirage Hobby 1/350 'HMS Spiraea' Flower Class Corvette

Post by iggie »

Following on from Przemek posting about acquiring one of these kits in 'Oh, No - My Stash Just Grew Again - Again!!', I ordered one and this is a quick review:

The box is nice and sturdy, approx. A4 in size and 45mm deep. There are 3 runners of dark grey styrene, with crisp moulding and detail evident on all parts; the hull plates are nicely represented (in fact better than the Matchbox/Revell 1/72 equivalent!! :shock: ) as is the wooden foredeck.
Small parts are also well formed, and sprue gates are not massive so should be easy to separate without damage.
The Photo etch fret is small, but again well done, with handrails provided for the fo'c'sle, main gun surround, radar lantern and others. There is a beautiful ladder for the mast as well!
Decals are minimal as you'd expect, but crisp and in register.
The instructions are on both sides of an A4 sheet; on a cursory look, I can foresee difficulties in establishing exact part locations/orientation but I'm hoping all will be clear with the part(s) in hand/tweezers as it were!
Painting instructions are in colour, but no topside view is provided for deck clours; a bit of research will be needed for that as some 'Flowers' had the wooden decking painted, others were left with exposed timber.

All in all, it looks a very nice little kit, and will be added to my growing collection of 1/350 naval vessels (ready for life on board our narrow boat :-D )

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Best wishes

Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
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Stuart
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Re: Mirage Hobby 1/350 'HMS Spiraea' Flower Class Corvette

Post by Stuart »

That's a nice looking kit Iggie - thanks for sharing it.
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gnomemeansgnome
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Re: Mirage Hobby 1/350 'HMS Spiraea' Flower Class Corvette

Post by gnomemeansgnome »

That looks like a cracking kit, Iggie. Dig in and have fun.
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Stevehnz
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Re: Mirage Hobby 1/350 'HMS Spiraea' Flower Class Corvette

Post by Stevehnz »

I'm looking forward to this, I've just read "The Cruel Sea" yet again, & on a bit of a Flower Class kick at the moment, so keen to see what this comes out like.
Steve
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iggie
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Re: Mirage Hobby 1/350 'HMS Spiraea' Flower Class Corvette

Post by iggie »

Stevehnz wrote:I'm looking forward to this, I've just read "The Cruel Sea" yet again, & on a bit of a Flower Class kick at the moment, so keen to see what this comes out like.
Steve
I have two copies of The Cruel Sea; one which is a 1952 edition and which is worn out totally, and one which is a little newer and is now used for reading to save the older edition!
Another of his books if you've not read it is 'HMS Marlborough Will Enter Harbour'; excellent reading
Best wishes

Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
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Re: Mirage Hobby 1/350 'HMS Spiraea' Flower Class Corvette

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

iggie wrote: Small parts are also well formed, and sprue gates are not massive so should be easy to separate without damage.
My experience with their 1/400 4-stackers is that the plastic is a bit soft and does not like stress, so for long parts (shafts, staffs, masts, etc) you should be very gentle removing them from the sprues.
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Re: Mirage Hobby 1/350 'HMS Spiraea' Flower Class Corvette

Post by Stevehnz »

iggie wrote: Another of his books if you've not read it is 'HMS Marlborough Will Enter Harbour'; excellent reading
I read that years ago Iggie, I've a Monsarrat collection on its way to me thru an interlibrary loan which has that as well as his 3 Corvettes, that should satisfy me for a bit. From what I've seen of this kit so far, I'm torn between hunting down on of these & the new Revell 1/144 kit that is about to emerge, though I want to read opinions of it first. It will be rather more spendy too :frown:
Steve.
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