kit review 1/72 scale - Brockley Combe - 1938 British Cargo Ship - Navarino Models

[kurtvd19]

Navarino Models - 1/72 scale - Brockley Combe - 1938 British Cargo Ship 

The Brockley Combe was a small (171’ x 29’ x 13’) British cargo ship built in 1938 by the shipyard Charles Hill & Sons of Bristol City.  It ran aground on May 12, 1953 in the Channel Islands and broke in two, with no loss of life. 

Charles Hill and Sons was originally Hillhouse and Company, established in 1772 with several name changes until Charles Hill took control in 1845 and named the company Charles Hill and Sons.  Charles Hill and Sons went out of business in 1977 with approximately 560 ships built and over 2,000 repaired in their yards over their 205 years.

The 1/72 scale model kit by Navarino Models of Athens, Greece builds into a model that is 29” long by 4 7/16” in beam.  There are two sheets of full size plans and a six page instruction manual with twenty full color photographs to supplement the instructions.

The kit is plank on bulkhead style with a two-part false keel and 11 frames of very good quality five-ply plywood, 0.242” (6mm) thick.  The deck, bulwark, roofs and cabin sides are cut from 3/64” (1mm) three-ply plywood.  There is also a bag of 21 plywood parts of various thicknesses of three-ply and five-ply.  I did not observe a single void between the plies of any of the plywood parts.  All of the wood appears to have been CNC routed rather than laser cut as the edges are char free and very smooth.

The bulkheads fit to the false keel piece very snugly and being CNC cut there is no angle to the cut like with laser cutting.  I dry fit all 11 bulkheads in place without any fit issues. 

Solid blocks of basswood are supplied for the bow and stern blocks that are carved to the shape of the hull to be planked over.  There are also 20 pieces of 0.006” thick aluminum sheet pre-cut into 1” strips for the hull plating. 

 

 

Planking material is 1/16” (1.5mm) x 5/16” (8mm) basswood.  The deck planking is 0.021” (0.6mm) x 0.081” (0.2mm) of an unidentified dark wood.  Various other sizes of basswood strip are also supplied for the hatch covers.

There are a number of very well cast resin parts with very little flash and no pinholes that I noticed.  Brass stanchions, brass tube and rod, rigging line, eyebolts, brass wire, anchor chain, cast metal anchors, 3 blade nylon prop and eight each of 3mm and 5mm single and double blocks make up the misc. pieces.  There are also British flag and ship’s name decals provided.

The instructions are very brief and without the twenty photographs provided would not be adequate for a beginner.  Prior plank on bulkhead construction experience will definitely be an advantage.  Anybody with just a bit of experience should be able to build this model without a problem. 

I am looking forward to seeing just how the aluminum hull plating material will conform to the hull.  Rivets are absolutely needed at this scale and the instruction photos show a good representation of rivets on the built up model.  I plan to use a rivet press by North West Short Line but there are a lot of sources now for rivet heads for those without a rivet press.

The photographs and plans show the placement of all of the supplied components of this vintage cargo ship, but supplemental research materials will be needed to make it an accurately detailed model.  The supplied kit parts and instructions will provide a nice but not highly detailed model and like all kits can be upgraded with additional details to the builder’s level of detail with some additional research and some scratch building. I think that small cargo ships are underrepresented as a modeling subject and I think this kit is a good representation of a classic design.  

Review previously published in the Nautical Research Journal Issue 62.4 (Winter 2017)

[James H]

I remember reading this review in the journal, but it's nice to see it here in colour. 

 

An unusal subject choice. Plenty of scope for finishing and weathering too.