Royal Navy Carriers?

There are none that I know of.  Many of us have screamed for such a kit, but none have been produced.  However, I have seen many beautiful models that used the Heller kit as a basis, one of my favorites being the HMS Victorious. The modeler used the Heller kit and WEM photoetch sets coupled with the resin conversion set for the Victorious.

Bill Morrison

You are right. The only other close candidate would be a 1/350 Iron Shipwright Bogue, converted to a Attacker or Ruler Class. I'm doing that with a Tamiya Bogue, but its 1/700.

But I like the Heller kit, I'm closing in on finishing mine. and they also sell the Arromanches/ HMS Colossus which is a good kit, on the same scale.

There's plenty of PE available, and aircraft too.

Trumpeter is showing a 1/350 Ark Royal at the shows but we'll have to wait and see.

Don't EVER believe anything you see published from "BMMI". It's a scam to get prepayments.

Bill

It's not too much, given the 1/700 scale.

The Attacker Class that were built from the Bogue design, using converted C3 hulls were:

HMS Attacker, Battler, Chaser, Fencer, Hunter, Pursuer, Stalker, Striker.

HMS Tracker was converted.

The Ruler Class that were purpose built from the Bogue design were:

HMS Ameer, Arbiter, Atheling, Begum, Emperor, Empress, Khedive, Nabob, Patroller, Premier, Puncher, Queen, Rajah, Ranee, Reaper, Ruler, Shah, Slinger, Smiter, Speaker, Thane, Trouncer, Trumpeter.

I've highlighted the ones I think the Skywave/ Tamiya kit is more geared towards.

The differences are relatively manageable, depending on the level of AMS you've been diagnosed with. Primary one is that the ships almost all had British radar, while the PE sets for Bogue have American ones. And the number and location of guns varies. One thing, the RN Escorts as far as I can tell didn't have Pom-pom guns. 5", twin 40mm and single 20mm. There are deck differences, but pretty minimal, and most RN Escorts had only one catapult, port side.

Required reading:

http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Escort-Carriers-David-Hobbs/dp/0907771998

The Heller kit is easy to build. It needs PE of course, and benefits from better airplanes. Also the island is incorrect; there was a resin replacement but I haven't found one so far. With the airfoil shape.

There are plenty of CVE conversion articles online. I'll let you find them, but I am anticipating good results.

Jay,

That is good news! I concur with GM that the Heller kit is an easy kit to build. I had forgotten the Arromanche/HMS Colussus.

Also, if I remember correctly, GM was doing a beautiful job on the HMS Illustrious!  I cannot wait to see finished photos of her.

Bill

I think I may go ahead anr order the kit if i find a good price on it and then wait for the island piece to come out since I already have a few.modela waiting in queue. I do like the Colussus kit, but she was complete after the war (I believe haven't checked) and was sold rather quickly to the french. 

Do either of you know where I can find extra 1|400 aircraft. 

Colossus was commissioned in December 1944, and did go to the Pacific. She transported wounded and ex-POWs in Southeast Asia until the end of the war, so she did not see active service. If memory serves, she was also the last Commissioned ship in the RN to employ hammocks.

Trivia question/ answer: what did the crews of the lunar landers sleep in?

If you can round up those island pieces, you are a mate! The model can live w/o it or do a swap later.

Is anything extra required for the colussus for her to be representd in RN service? I would probably get the PE set from WEM anyways, just curious as to wheter or not there was anything more like the island set for the Illustrious. Knowing myself i wil end up with both kits as my passion for history started with the RN and the RAF as thats where my grandparents served, plus, they truly were great looking ships.

As for the trivia, really havent the foggiest and i feel like referring to wikipedia would be cheating.

The answer is in the question- they slept in hammocks.

Were they strapped into them? Otherwise i can just picture them floating off.

For what it is worth, Trumpeter has a 1/350th Ark Royal in the works. Test shot photos have been surfacing, so I've got to believe it's due within the next six months.

Very eagerly awaited. Could the 1/200 be next?

The good news is that over the last several years there have been all kinds of RN big gun ships kitted in 1/350.

As I don't have the Tamiya Bogue in hand, I'm just going by net posts here.

But, as we know the Tamiya kit is a repop of the Skywave HMS Tracker.

The various other RN versions people ahve built from that kit all look pretty straightforward.

Tracy White

For what it is worth, Trumpeter has a 1/350th Ark Royal in the works. Test shot photos have been surfacing, so I've got to believe it's due within the next six months.

 

Don't EVER believe anything you see published from "BMMI". It's a scam to get prepayments. Tracy can attest to that as well.

JayW

Were they strapped into them? Otherwise i can just picture them floating off.

 

Interesting, I'll need to look more into it. It's not really a subject I've studied much as I would have liked to. I do remember that I thoroughly enjoyed the space exhibit they have at the USAF museum in Ohio. 

 On a side note, I was able to the WEM  island pieces for the Colussus on ebay. Pretty happy about it considering they weren't there the day before. 

Where did you find those? I see Illustious on the WEM site but "out of stock" as I believe they are "out of business".

I found it on eBay for $14.99 including shipping. I am not sure if there are any more from that seller, but the contact i had from Richard Harden at WEM told me that he

"hopes to have them available soon. Working out the production details."

Now i am looking at purchasing somne reference material for the build. Ive found Warship Profile 10 and  11 that look promising.

White Ensign Models had closed but was bought by Tom's Model Works and has started production again.  I found the 1/400 photoetch sets for the Heller HMS Illustrious and the HMS Colossus kits in stock on the WEM site and they were also listed on the Free Time Hobbies/Pacific Front Hobbies website but were not in stock.  Unfortunately, the Illustrious resin set for the island and bridge corrections is not in stock.

Bill Morrison

There's another piece of good news for 1/700 fans. Aoshima apparently is on the verge of releasing a 1/700 Ark Royal:
http://freetimehobbies.com/1-700-aoshima-hms-ark-royal-1941-aircraft-carrier/ .

There was a time when Aoshima waterline kits were pretty primitive, but I have the impression that the company has improved enormously in the past few years. This one's on my wish list.

John,

They have become much better than they were.  Their 1/700 Fuso and Yamashiro are outstanding, as are their Nagato and Mutsu.  I have been very impressed by their offerings in the last ten years. And, I am looking forward to their Ark Royal!  Too bad it is waterlinewith no full hull option.

Bill

It's funny you bring that up. I'm currently fiddling around with a 1/700 CVE to be a RN carrier, as was discussed here earlier. I kind of enjoyed my 1/700 Tarawa, if in no small part because I was able to finish it.

In case you wondered- last night, this morning and this afternoon.

A great feature of this hobby is that for most of us, actually holding something in your hand helps understand it.

I never thought about it before, but the hangar deck in the Bogue class ships had all of the sheer of the original freighter, as can be seen in a side view. THAT must have made for some interesting maintenance operations!