Flyhawk HMS Campbeltown

[Tim Reynaga]

How many of you remember the Revell Campbeltown kit from the 1970s? As a kid I loved the dramatic (and, I later discovered, wildly inaccurate) artwork showing the ship charging up, guns blazing, right into the enemy dock! I never ended up building that model, but that wonderful painting did put the Campbeltown firmly on my “someday” to do list.



Not long ago Flyhawk of China released a smaller but far more accurate HMS Campbeltown in 1/700 scale. They even have a “Deluxe” version with extra photoetch, turned brass, and even a small spool of Uschi van der Rosten rigging thread.



How could I resist?

[Tim Reynaga]

I started with the hull, which comes in three pieces: deck, upper hull, and optional underwater hull.



The parts are delicately detailed, and the fit is outstanding with no filler needed at all. I left the small step at the waterline between the upper and lower hull to suggest plating.

[Clashcityrocker]

A bit too small for me, but it looks well detailed.

Nigel

[general rocket]

I'll get my glasses.

[Tim Reynaga]

Adler’s Nest brass pedestals size SS (super small?) will support the model.



I opted to use only one of the mounts so as not to overwhelm the little ship. Test fitting it into the hull, I also trimmed away a little of the curved underside to more snugly accommodate the pedestal’s flat top.



Because the single mount is slightly wobbly before final attachment with glue, I made a couple of simple spacing jigs to ensure that the hull remains stable and horizontal during construction.



The wood base is a cigar “blank” which came in a cigar box I picked up at an estate sale. Even after being sanded smooth, it still smells pleasantly of tobacco!

[ShaunW]

This kit might be small in scale but it is certainly big in quality. The hull looks great mounted on that brass pedestal and cigar blank.

[Tim Reynaga]

This kit might be small in scale but it is certainly big in quality. The hull looks great mounted on that brass pedestal and cigar blank.

Thanks Shaun. Flyhawk is new to me but I certainly like what I'm seeing so far!



For those of you who may not know, the HMS Campbeltown was a US destroyer lend-leased to the British and is best known for the St. Nazaire Raid in 1942, a British commando attack on the Normandie dry dock in German-occupied France. The raid was undertaken to eliminate the only dry dock in the West large enough to accommodate the battleship Tirpitz. The idea was that if the dock at St Nazaire were unavailable, the Germans would be unlikely to risk sending their biggest battleship into the Atlantic.

Accompanied by 18 smaller craft and a force including some 612 sailors and commandos, the Campbeltown fought her way through the German defenses and was intentionally rammed into the Normandie dock gates. Commandos swarmed ashore and sabotaged port facilities and fought the local garrison until they ran out of ammunition and were overwhelmed by the defenders. The specially modified Campbeltown, essentially a massive IED packed with 4½ tons of delayed-action explosives, detonated later the next day against the dock and put it out of service for the rest of the war. Though costly, the raid was a success; the feared Tirpitz never did enter the Atlantic.

Campbeltown was specially converted for the raid with all her antisubmarine equipment, torpedo tubes, and 4 inch guns removed. Also, two of her funnels were cut down and capped off and the other two altered in an attempt to make her resemble a German Möwe class torpedo boat.



Despite referring to the vessel as a “battleship,” this rendering is pretty accurate and shows well the changes Campbeltown underwent before the St. Nazaire raid.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Looking good, Tim.

I chose to do mine from the Mirage Hobby 1/400 kit, with some accurizing: I thought I built this on UAMF, but turns out it was for an IPMS/USA review, and I did not post that or the pix over here on UAMF. Perhaps the hardest part of this was working with White Ensign's Mountbatten Pink to get the "right" look.

[JamesPerrin]

Does look an excellent kit. At this scale a complete dock diorama is feasible.

[Tim Reynaga]

Looking good, Tim.

I chose to do mine from the Mirage Hobby 1/400 kit, with some accurizing: I thought I built this on UAMF, but turns out it was for an IPMS/USA review, and I did not post that or the pix over here on UAMF. Perhaps the hardest part of this was working with White Ensign's Mountbatten Pink to get the "right" look.

Thanks John. I've never seen the Mirage kit - you should share some pics of your build!

I bought some of the Colourcoats Royal Navy 1940-1942 Mountbatten Pink. It looks like a dead-on match with the Snyder and Short “Mountbatten Pink, Light (1940)” color sample in their Royal Navy World War II Ship Colors, Set One. It seemed reasonable to me... but did they get it wrong somehow?

[Tim Reynaga]

Does look an excellent kit. At this scale a complete dock diorama is feasible.

Hi James,

I actually did consider the diorama option, but this is intended to be a quick build so I just kept it to the ship itself... although Flyhawk did include 50 miniscule commando figures in the kit!

[Tim Reynaga]

Next up were the major structures on deck.



I began with the forward and ‘midships superstructures. These are well detailed and fit perfectly.



Perched on its single plinth, the model had a tendency to dip forward, so I added some bits of lead weight to the inside of the aft superstructure to balance things out.



With the cut-down funnels and aft superstructure test fitted, she’s starting to look like the Campbeltown!

[Tim Reynaga]

HMS Campbeltown’s bridge structure received additional protection for the raid.



A natural focus of enemy fire, the pilothouse got a partial cladding of ¼ inch thick protective plating which Flyhawk represented with photoetch brass.



I don’t know how effective they might have been, but a few protective mattresses were also fitted over parts of the plating. The additional armor was limited in part due to the need to reduce the ship’s draft from 14 to 10½ feet to clear the shallows of the Loire estuary. Even though the 4 inch guns, torpedoes, and other gear had been removed, she also had over 4 tons of high explosives concealed inside her hull. In the end the problem was solved by embarking only enough boiler feed-water and fuel oil for a one-way trip.



After adding the various ventilators, boxes, etc. to the deck, I installed the armor fences. Other than some knock out pin marks on the inside surfaces which had to be removed, the parts were well formed and delicately detailed.



Fitted on Campbeltown immediately prior to the operation, they would serve to provide some protection for the commando raiding parties crouched on deck during the final run-in.

[ShaunW]

My goodness me that looks good, Tim, great work and the detail on this little ship is something else. Plus she won't be a tail sitter now!

[JamesPerrin]

It's the Mad Max version of ship really.