HMS Havelock

[Shar2]

HMS Havelock

1/350

History

Variant of the H-Class Fleet Destroyers she was ordered on 8th December 1937 from JS White of Cowes, IoW by Brazil. The ship was laid down on 31st May 1938 and was to have been named JUTAHY. However she as requisitioned by the Admiralty in September that year and launched as HMS HAVELOCK on 16th October 1939. The basic design was similar to the Royal Navy H-Class but her cabin accommodation was much improved. Prior to entering RN service the after 4.7in gun was removed to enable more depth charges to be carried. Havelock was commissioned on 10th February 1940. Following a successful WARSHIP WEEK National Savings campaign in January 1942 this destroyer was adopted by the civil community of Wimbledon, Surrey.

Initially Havelock and her five sisters, Highlander, Hurricane, Hesperus, Havant and Harvester formed the 9th Destroyer flotilla and they took part in the Norwegian campaign early in the war. The flotilla then took part in the evacuation of France which resulted in the loss of the Havant off Dunkirk. The flotilla was engaged in anti submarine duties later in 1940 and Harvester and Highlander sank U32 in October 1940. Havelock then sank the Italian FAA Di Bruno in November.

From 1941 the Flotilla served on escort duties in the North Atlantic and Havelock assisted with the sinking of U767 and U242 at the end of 1943. At the end of the war, there were only three of the original six ships left and there was no resale back to Brazil forthcoming, so Havelock was sold for breaking up in 1946.

The model

As part of White Ensign Models British Destroyer series the release of HMS Havelock in kit form is very welcome addition for modellers of British warships.

The kit consists of resin, white metal and photo etched parts, all contained in WEM’s trademark sturdy white box with a colour profile picture of Havelock on the lid.

On opening the box you are confronted with a load of polystyrene packing puffs. These hide the individually bagged small resin and white metal parts and the bubble wrapped hull. At the bottom is the A4 sized instruction manual and the etched sheet. On the back of the instruction sheet is the painting guide, which in all honesty is not very clear as, to my eyes all the dark colours look the same, (This was due to a printing error for the review kit and will be printed in colour in future). WEMs own excellent paint colours are on the callouts.

On unwrapping the hull, it was business as usual for WEM. Superbly moulded upper and lower hull parts, (allowing the modeller to build a waterline or full hull model), with crisp details on the main deck and hull sides. The main deck has a relatively few bollards, winches and deck structures moulded onto it, so painting won’t be too arduous. Having made a dry fitment of the upper and lower hulls there appears to be no warpage at all along the length of the model. The only cleaning up required would be the small injection points on the inside of the join line. If these are removed carefully very little or no filler at all would be needed for the full hull build.

There are 17 resin pieces which are again crisply moulded with no signs of splash and with very little flash, the majority of cleanup is under the superstructure parts where the pour points are. I am always amazed at how fine the detail is on WEM kits and this one is no exception. The thinness of the resin, particularly on the splinter screens around the bridge and AA platform. WEM do not forget about what’s underneath either, as the detail under the forward and aft superstructures can testify. The funnels are also well done as they come with pipework moulded integrally, although handle these with care as the parts are fragile. The other resin parts such as the torpedo tubes are well represented with scalloped ends and the tips of the torpedoes visible.

In a separate bag are the 30 odd white metal parts. Now whilst I understand the use of white metal for certain items I don’t think it is suitable for masts and it is true in this kit. The material is a bit too soft and pliable. I would probably remove the attached crows nest and replace the mast with brass rod of suitable thickness. The rest of the white metal parts are well cast with quite fine detail, particularly the floors of the liferafts and depth charge launchers. There is some clean up required on the metal parts, but nothing too major.

Finally we come to the piece de resistance of any WEM kit, the photo etched sheet. Mad Pete does it again, producing a wonderful sheet of relief etched parts. The sheet appears to be generic for all of WEMs G, H and I class kits, which means that you’re likely to have some parts for the spares box. On the sheet you get the cranes, davits, radars, mast supports, boarding ladders, funnel caps, 20mm cannon, gunwhales and seats for the ships boats, plus oars. There is also a full set of railings to really finish you model off, although the chain, (also on the sheet), is perhaps a little 2 dimensional so you might want to replace these with real chain.

Conclusion

Overall, another fantastic release from White Ensign Models. I actually felt like building it straight upon opening the box, but will have to restrain myself until I have finished some other projects first. Since this kit doesn’t have too large a parts count it would be a good kit to start with if you haven’t built a resin warship in this scale before. It certainly would be a great addition to a modellers fleet of British warships. Don't let the price put you off, as this is a well made kit of a ship which will probably never see a mainstream injection moulding company releasing in this scale.

My thanks to John at White Ensign Models for the review kit.

[John @ WEM]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the very nice review. I feel it necessary to point out that someone in the WEM shop erred, however (time to flog & keelhaul, I see): the colour profile should have been just that--printed in full colour. Obviously, whoever printed the instructions forgot to print the profile on the colour printer (everything else gets run on the faster, less expensive black & white printer). I'll be getting a message off to Dave Carter that he needs to check the other packed kits....

[Paul A H]

That looks really nice!

[Stesca]

Another beauty from White Ensign, my stock of thier kits is growing far faster than i can build!!

Steve.

Edited April 24, 2011 by steve scanlon