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HMVS Cerberus, what an unusual
name. The name Cerberus, a three headed beast guarding the underworld, is not 
unusual
as the Royal Navy had great numbers of warships named after gods, heroes and
creatures from Greek and Roman mythology but HMVS is an unusual prefix to
the name. HMVS stood for Her Majesty’s Victorian Ship, as Queen
Victoria was the only sovereign to rule during the entire life of navy of
Victoria. In the mid-nineteenth century, Australia was not a unified nation.
Instead it was composed of a number of independent states, the largest of which
in population was Victoria on the southeast coast of the continent across the
Bass Strait from Tasmania. Before the Australian states were unified as one
country, each of the smaller states had a navy of some form. The smaller or less
populated states didn’t have much, maybe a revenue cutter or two but Victoria
was the largest of the states and her largest city, Melbourne, was the largest
city in the entire British Empire. In 1865 the Colonial Naval Defense Act was
passed that allowed each colony of the British Empire to maintain their own
warships within their own waters. This certainly was not a bit of altruism on
the part of parliament, as the Act broadened the sources of funding for warship
construction and it was naturally anticipated that colonial ships could be used
by the RN in case of war.
Although the Royal Navy kept a force of cruisers on the Australian Station,
these were based at Sydney and orientated
to the South Pacific. Victoria, as befitting a prosperous colony, wanted her own
ships. In July 1853 the Governor of Victoria purchased the colony’s first
"war steamer" to protect transports shipping gold from Melbourne, with
the seven gun steam sloop Victoria.
The navy of Victoria had legal status by 1860, five years in advance of the
Colonial Naval Defense Act. Shortly after passage of the Act, the government of
Victoria decided that it needed a first class major warship as the centerpiece
of the colony’s navy. After entering into a special agreement with the
Admiralty, that guaranteed the Royal Navy control of the ship in case of war,
the colony had Edward Reed design a breastwork monitor for the Navy of Victoria
in 1866. This was at the start of the iron warship era. The first all iron
warship for the Royal Navy, HMS Warrior,
was completed October 24, 1861. The Warrior
was more powerful than any wooden ship of the line but was rated as a frigate,
as her guns were mounted on one deck. With the birth of the iron navy the old
rates and classes of warships of the days of wood and sail were outmoded but it
took some time before ships of the line, frigates, sloops and brigs evolved into
battleships and cruisers. The Warrior
was revolutionary and yet her armament was mounted in the old broadside format.
There were those in the Royal Navy that argued that there was a better method
for mounting heavy guns on a warship. Many credit John Ericsson with the
introduction of the turret with his design for the USS
Monitor of 1862 and the monitor was indeed the first ship
actually built with this feature but others had the same idea, long before the Monitor
was ever started. Captain Cowper Coles of the Royal Navy had designed an armored
battery which had a turret for use in the Crimean War in 1855 and in 1859
prepared a design which featured eight twin gun turrets on centerline with two
twin gun turrets abreast at the bow. Neither of these designs were built but in
1861 the Royal Navy did place a revolving turret on the floating battery, Trusty,
in order to test the idea of the turret. After being struck 39 times by 40, 68
and 100€pdr projectiles, the turret was still fully operational. Captain
Ashmore Powell called the turret, "One of the most formidable
inventions adapted to naval warfare, as well as coast defences that has ever
come to my notice". Coles boasted that he could design a warship
employing the turret that would be more than a match for the Warrior.
"I will undertake to prove that on my principle a vessel shall be
built nearly 100 feet shorter than the Warrior and in all respects equal to her
with one exception, that I will guarantee to disable and capture her in an hour;
she shall draw four feet less water, require only half the crew, and cost the
country for building at least 10,000€(pounds)less. I am ready to fall or stand
on these assertions." (British Battleships, 1971,
by Oscar Parkes, at page 45)
December 1849 the Royal Navy had laid down the HMS
Royal Sovereign. She was to be a steam powered, three
deck, wooden ship of the line, mounting 131 guns. She was launched in 1857 but
with the appearance of the French Gloire,
work was stopped, as it became clear to many in the RN that the long era of the
wooden walls of Britain was over. Coles stated that he could give the wooden
hulled ship of the line new life by removing the upper decks, by giving them
armor plate over the wooden hull and by equipping them with turrets. His ideas
were tried out on the Royal Sovereign,
which became the first British turret ship to be completed. She mounted five
10.5-inch muzzle loading guns (ML), which fired a 300 pound round shot. The guns
were disposed in five turrets, a twin at the bow and three single gun turrets,
all on centerline. She was completed in this manner on August 20, 1864. It had
taken two years to "razee" her to the lower deck and then to add the
iron upper works and turrets. She was an extraordinarily ugly ship with one huge
funnel and a very tall ventilation trunk at the tip of the bow. She displaced
5,080-tons and had a top speed of 11-knots. In 1865 her captain reported, "As
she now stands she is the most formidable vessel of war I have ever been aboard
of; she would easily destroy - if her guns were rifled - any of our present
ironclads." The conversion was successful but hardly cost
effective. The next step was to add rifled guns to the turrets and build a
turret ship from the keel up.
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The first iron turreted ship of the Royal Navy to be built from keel up was HMS
Prince Albert completed February
23, 1866. The Prince Albert was
classified as a coast defense ship because of her low freeboard and mounted four
centerline turrets, each of which carried a single 9-inch muzzle loaded rifle (MLR),
firing a 250 pound projectile. Her displacement was 3,880-tons and she had a top
speed of 11.26-knots. The Prince Albert
had the same length of the Royal Sovereign
at 240-feet but only 48-feet of beam compared to the 62-feet of Royal
Sovereign. However, unlike USN monitors, which used a steam
engine to revolve the turret, the RN design used man power to revolve their
turrets. Two smaller turret ships were built as well. HMS
Scorpion and HMS Wivern
carried two turrets mounting two 9-inch MLR each with both turrets on
centerline. Displacing 2,750-tons, they were 224-feet in length with a maximum
speed of 11.5-knots. Both were completed on October 10, 1865. As with the Prince
Albert and Royal Sovereign,
they were rated as coast defense ships based on the low freeboard.
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In 1863 Edward James Reed became the Chief Constructor for the Royal Navy. Although the Royal Navy continued to build battleships without turrets, the trend was to greatly increase the size of each gun while correspondingly reducing the number of guns carried. This started the evolution of ships that would culminate in the 1870s with ships armed with a small number of monster guns. During this early period, central battery ships with guns mounted in broadside arrangements still competed with turret ships. The next two RN turret ships jumped in size from the earlier builds. The HMS Monarch and the ill-fated HMS Captain increased the size of the turret ship and the size of the guns carried. Unlike earlier turret ships, designed for coast defense, these two were planned for deep ocean operation
Monarch was 330-feet in length
with a displacement of 8,300-tons and a speed of 14.9-knots, while Captain
was almost
as big at 320-feet in length, 7,767-tons displacement and a top speed of
14.25-knots. Both were equipped with two turrets each of which mounted two
12-inch MLR firing a 600 pound projectile. As secondary they both had 7-inch MLR,
three in Monarch and two in Captain.
However, unlike the four earlier coast defense turret ships which carried fairly
light sailing rig, the Monarch and Captain
carried a full rig of sails. Unlike the earlier coast defense turret ships,
which did not need a full rig because of their coast line operation, these two
were expected to steam anywhere in the world and a full rig was considered a
necessary piece of insurance in a period of balky steam engines. There was one
very important difference between the two. Monarch
had three complete decks with a freeboard of 14-feet, while Captain
had only two decks with a freeboard of 8-feet. Monarch,
completed in June 1869 and Captain completed in January 1870, were much more
powerful than the earlier turret ships because of their 12-inch main battery. Captain
completed deeper in the water than anticipated and Reed was apprehensive about
her stability, however her builder was unconcerned. On September 6, 1870 HMS
Captain was with the fleet when she encountered heavy weather.
Although she was taking water over the deck, Coles, who was aboard saw no danger
to the ship. By midnight it was a full gale and the angle of heel was such that
the upper sails could not be taken down. At 12:15 under the press of wind, the
low freeboard Captain heeled over and
sank, taking Cowper Coles and another 472 sailors to the bottom. Only 17 crewmen
were saved. Low freeboard and a full sail rig proved to be a bad
combination.
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While Monarch and Captain
were under construction the Colony of Victoria approached the Admiralty about a monitor
with Coles turrets to be built for them. The size was to be limited based upon
financial restrictions and also because the ship was to be designed to defend
the harbor of Melbourne. To meet the requirements Reed designed a vessel that
was revolutionary in a number of ways. The main hull had a very low freeboard of
3-feet. However, the two Coles turrets were mounted on a higher position called
a breastwork, called this after field artillery works of the day. The hull was
225-feet in length but the breastwork which mounted the turrets, stack and
superstructure, ran only 112-feet amidships and was set back from the sides of
the hull. The height of the breastwork was 7-feet above main deck. The result
was a totally unique combination that provided a low silhouette, small target
for the lighter armored hull and yet the turrets were given much better
visibility and fighting ability because of their placement atop the breastwork,
10-feet above waterline. The much smaller size of the breastwork and the fact
that it was stepped in from the sides of the hull, enhanced stability. HMVS
Cerberus was the first of the breastwork monitors.
One of the great disadvantages of the USN/Ericsson type of monitors was that
the ventilators, access hatches and other
openings in the deck were very close to the waterline. As a result water could
easily be taken aboard and sink the vessel as happened to the Monitor
herself. The breastwork design eliminated this very significant defect as almost
all openings in the deck were confined to the deck at the top of the breastwork.
What openings were still on the main deck were heavily sealed against water.
Since the ship was designed with harbor defense in mind, Reed dropped all sails,
thereby eliminating the source that had doomed HMS
Captain. It was another groundbreaking first. Even the first four
coast defense monitors of the RN had some form of sail fit, not to mention the Monarch
and Captain with their full fit of
sail. With her mission in mind, if HMVS Cerberus
had an engine casualty, she would be close to a dockyard that could repair the
vessel. In some regards, Cerberus
also foretold the future standard battleship that would reign from 1885 to 1905
with two twin turrets placed in armored positions, one at each end of the ship,
with the turrets commanding the greatest degree of firing arc and uninterrupted
bow and stern fire. Another first for the design, which would also be seen in
battleship designs of the future was the appearance of a central superstructure.
Other designs of the time represented a kaleidoscope of features. Some had no
superstructure and others had a structure stuck here and there. One common
design had a superstructure running the length of the hull with the turrets
located at a lower level. With her central superstructure the design of Cerberus,
can again be traced as the direct ancestor of battleships at the end of the 19th
and start of the 20th centuries.
Since the ship was much smaller than Monarch
or Captain, the 12-inch guns used in
those ships were not fitted. Instead
Cerberus mounted four 10-inch MLR.
Displacement was 3,340-tons. The distribution of armor reflected not only the
desire to protect the most crucial areas and systems in the ship, but also the
anticipated likelihood of each area being struck in battle. The low freeboard
hull had 6-inches of iron armor at bow and stern and 8-inches at amidships. This
armor completely covered the hull of the ship from the deck to well below the
waterline. However, since the raised armored breastwork was a significantly
larger target, that area received more armor. At the fore and aft end of the
breastwork, around the two turrets, the armor was 9-inches of iron with the
amidships area being 8-inches in thickness. The turret armor was 9-inches with
10-inches on the face in thickness. Deck armor was 1 ˝-inch with breastwork
deck armor at 1-inch. The superstructure was unarmored. Armor on the hull,
breastwork and turrets was backed up by teak ranging from 9 to 11-inches in
thickness.
Quarter Views & Hull Detail |
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The Cerberus had twin screws and a
power plant that developed 1,370€ihp for a top speed of 9.75-knots. She was
built at Palmers shipyard and laid down on September 1, 1867. Launched on
December 2, 1868, she was completed in September 1870. It was recognized that
the extremely long open sea voyage to Melbourne could pose a significant risk.
Since HMS Captain had capsized in bad
weather the very month that Cerberus
was completed, it was thought wise to erect temporary structures to raise the
freeboard of Cerberus for her voyage
halfway around the world. To this end temporary bulkheads were erected from the
breastwork forward to the bow and aft to the stern. They were of such height
that they concealed the turrets except for their crowns. Another temporary
measure to safeguard against an engine failure in the open ocean was the
mounting of three masts for sails. During the long passage, sail was actually
used as the prime motive power to save wear and tear on the engines. Cerberus
did encounter heavy weather and did experience difficulties but the design was
so sound that the maximum roll realized was 15 degrees.
The three masts and temporary bulkheads were removed after she had safely
made Melbourne. As originally built the
central flying deck overhung both turrets. When the temporary masts and
bulkheads were removed the portions of the flying deck that overhung the turrets
were also removed so that they would not pose a danger of encumbering a turret
by falling on the turret from damage. Also, the original design had two light
pole masts, one at either end of the breastwork. At Melbourne she received a
single pole mast that was placed amidships. For the rest of her service life she
was based at Melbourne and only took to the open sea for short periods of
gunnery practice. When World War One broke out Cerberus
was almost half a century old but she was spruced up and made battle worthy as
far as her ancient design would permit, to fulfill the primary mission for which
she was designed, to protect Melbourne against an attack by the SMS
Emden or any other German raider on the loose in the Pacific. She
was eventually assigned the role of depot ship until July 1926 when it was
decided to scuttle her as a breakwater.
As the building of the Cerberus
was underway, the crown government of India decided that they too, needed their own
ironclads and the design of the Cerberus
was decided to be just right for their purse and purpose. Thirteen months after Cerberus
was laid down the HMIS Magdala was
laid down at Blackwall on October 6, 1868 to the same design. Although launched
on March 2, 1870, she was quick to complete in November 1870, only two months
after Cerberus. It was decided to skip the extra precautions taken for the deep
ocean voyage of Cerberus so Magdala
did not receive the temporary bulkheads erected on Cerberus.
However, she did receive the same three masts and rigging as fitted to Cerberus
and sailed to Bombay mostly under sail. Although the Admiralty was nervous about
the lesser precautions taken for Magdala
she was allowed to sail under very strict instructions to lessen risk of loss to
the ship. Magdala proceeded alone but
was lucky in that she did not encounter any heavy seas. The maximum waves she
encountered were 7-feet and she took little water over her main deck. The
greatest roll she experienced was 12 degrees. When she reached Bombay she was
refitted as Cerberus with the removal
of the three sailing masts, fitting of a single light pole mast and removal of
the portions of the flying deck above both turrets. She remained at Bombay with
occasional ventures into the Indian Ocean for firing practice. Magdala
was sold in 1903.
Superstructure & Turrets |
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Another, half sister to the pair, was the HMIS
Abyssinia, which was ordered by the crown government of India at the
same time that they ordered Magdala.
The government did not have the finances to purchase two ships of the Cerberus
design, so Magdala was ordered to be
of the Cerberus design and Abyssinia
of a cheaper modified design to Cerberus.
Freeboard was slightly lower and the breastwork was lower and 12-feet shorter
than Cerberus. The turrets were
larger and the superstructure was more built up than the other two. However, she
proved to be more stable than the Cerberus
pair and was finished in October 1870, one month after Cerberus
and one month before Magdala. The
government was so impressed by her stability that she did not receive any
additional fittings for the voyage to Bombay, no bulkheads and no masts. With no
sail rig, she used her steam plant for the entire voyage and made better time
than the other two. As a precaution she was accompanied by a hired steamer. In
1892 both Magdala and Abyssinia
had their 10-inch MLR guns removed and replaced by 8-inch breechloaders. Abyssinia
was also sold in€1903.
The influence of the Edward Reed design for Cerberus
continued to appear in RN designs after his departure as Chief
Constructor in 1870 after the loss of the Captain. A whole series of breastwork
monitors were built. These designs, through Devastation,
Thunderer and Fury, culminated in the
HMS Dreadnought of 1879,which became
the forerunner of 20 years of William White designs. Although little noticed at
the time of her construction, HMVS Cerberus
was the direct ancestor of the Royal Navy of Admirals Fisher and Beresford at
the dawn of the 20th century. That is not a bad legacy for the
short-lived Navy of Victoria.
HMVS Cerberus is still in
existence. After being sunk as a breakwater in 1926, Cerberus
started the long decline of
rust and ruin but iron armor up to 10-inches thick takes a lot of rust. It has
only been in the last 12 years that Cerberus
suffered her greatest structural damage as a result of the great weight of her
turrets and guns. Before 1993 the low main deck of Cerberus
was above water but in that year a major structural failure submerged the main
deck. However, the breastwork with turrets and guns are still above water. There
is a very active movement to Save the Cerberus. The first step is to
remove the 10-inch MLR from the turrets, scheduled for February 2005, to lessen
the weight on the breastwork and hull, with the eventual goal of raising and
restoring this irreplaceable relict of history. As always with such worthy
goals, politicians have difficulty seeing the value of expending public funds on
the project. Unlike Mikasa, Olympia
or Avrora, HMVS
Cerberus is not connected with any particular naval or historical
event. It is easy for a member of the general public to see the historical value
of the Victory at Trafalgar, Constitution
in the War of 1812, Mikasa at
Tsushima, Olympia at Manila Bay or Avrora
in the 1917 October Revolution, because these ships are connected with specific
national events. The importance of HMVS Cerberus
lies in her place in the evolution of the battleship. HMS
Warrior was restored as is rightful for the first all iron
battleship but Warrior with her
armament placed on broadside harkened to the past. Cerberus
in contrast was a prophet of the future. Her design features were entirely novel
when she was laid down in 1867 but became the genesis of the designs of the
Royal Navy strength at the height of her power at the dawn of the 20th century.
It is a legacy worth preserving for future generations. For all of those who
wish to preserve and restore HMVS Cerberus,
please visit http://www.cerberus.com.au.
(History from British Battleships, 1971,
by Oscar Parkes; The Navy of Victoria, Australia by Colin Jones, Warship
2000-2001)
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Equipment & Fittings |
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The Combrig Cerberus
small,
measuring around 3 and 7/8-inches (100mm) in length. With the low freeboard the
main deck is not very high above the base, representing waterline. However, in
spite of its small size, the hull casting of the Combrig Cerberus
is a miniature gem. When you look at the hull from either profile or plan, the
hull looks like a double-ender, in that it is difficult to determine bow from
stern by the hull shape. However, the quarterdeck is slightly longer than the
foc'sle and the provisions for anchors on the bow are the give-away. From the
side, the design with its very low height, limits the amount of detail on the
hull and breastwork sides but this is historically accurate in that the hull and
breastwork sides were continuous runs of iron armor plate. Distinguishing
details are the numbers of fine small bollards along the main deck and the short
solid bulkheads rising from the main deck, found at the extreme bow and stern of
the hull. Anchor hawse are present in both bow and stern bulkheads but the
opening is filled. An easy step would be to drill out the hawse openings.
It is the exquisite detail of the decks, both main and breastwork, that
really jump out at you, when you view this casting.
Deck planking at both levels is well above average. In spite of a design that
limited the number of deck openings on the lower main deck, there are still
quite a few fittings and other detail to be found on the main deck. Both bow and
stern have six pairs of bollards, three pairs per side, which are small but very
finely done. These are not mere posts but have an hourglass silhouette, which
was used for securing cables. The bow has large position locators for the anchor
windlass and also what appears to be an elevated circular skylight. There are
also smaller locator holes for cable reels and other fittings. On the
quarterdeck the treatment is repeated but here you'll find two of the raised
circular skylights, a raised deck house for the aft control station with
binnacle atop, and smaller locator holes for a couple of J-ventilator funnels
and other, smaller deck fittings. The ventilators, skylights and other fittings
on the lower deck were designed to be secured in a watertight condition in the
likely situation of taking water over the low main deck.
The breastwork deck continues the detail with locator holes for more
J-ventilator funnels, other fittings, plus a series of
coal scuttles cast on the deck. The coal scuttles were located on the breastwork
deck rather than the lower main deck to prevent the ingress of water through
them. A couple of unique items are also found at this level, inside the two
turret wells. Although, I have not noticed this before on a Combrig
model, the Combrig logo is inscribed in the forward turret well. The well
of the aft turret has what appears to be a monogram in cursive Cyrillic. My
guess is that these are probably the initials of designer of the master of the Combrig
Cerberus. Of course with the turrets
in place, you don't see them, but the hull casting is of such outstanding
quality that it deserves a "Maker's Mark".
Box & Instructions |
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Smaller Parts
circular
turrets feature a wealth of detail on their flat crowns. Two large ventilation
louvers, three sighting hoods and two access ports are found on each turret
roof. You can even make out the individual slats in the ventilation louvers. The
stubby muzzles of the MLR just protrude from very well incised gun ports. The
central superstructure is represented by four main components. There is a
diamond shaped deckhouse that rests inside of a locator outline on the
breastwork deck. On this small casting you can make out the panel work on the
doors. Atop this structure is the flying boat deck. With the Combrig Cerberus,
the model represents the ship as completed. The flying deck extends above both
the forward and aft turrets. This original design was incorporated to provide
more space for ship's boats but, as mentioned in the historical portion of this
review, the portions of the flying deck overhanging the turrets were removed
when the ship was refitted in Melbourne. The flying boat deck casting has wood
deck planking, a couple of skylights, a conning tower with square access hatch
on the roof and another deck structure. The funnel base has a locator hole for
insertion of the funnel. The funnel itself is a fairly small, slab-sided design
with a single prominent strengthening band and is hollow at the top for a three
dimensional perspective. The fourth prominent superstructure item is a small
square pilot house, located on the forward edge of the flying deck. It is very
well done with crisply incised square windows.
All of the smaller resin parts continue with the same painstaking execution
in detail and fineness in resin casting. From a
large J-ventilator funnel rising from the flying deck to the small J-ventilator
funnels found on the main deck, each cowling is hollow at its mouth to a
significant degree. Each deck fitting from the round circular skylights, to the
anchor windlass, to the raised aft control station has a remarkable amount of
detail for their small size. To really appreciate the detail, you must see the
parts magnified, as the unaided eye is unlikely to notice a lot of the fine
detail worked into these parts.
Because this model is of a subject from the dawn of the iron warship era,
there are many details found with the Combrig
Cerberus that are not found in any
other kit. There are bow and stern anchors, which were hoisted aboard the main
deck with the aid of inverted V shape rigs for each anchor. The flying boat deck
rests not only on the diamond shape deckhouse but also there are four support
posts running along each side of this thin deck. A series of pyramid shaped
platforms run out from the flying boat deck and provide the upper connection and
support for the davits of four of the six boat stations. Only the two amidships
positions do not have these platforms. The six ship's boats are all oared
powered, not steam launches on the 1870 Cerberus.
Each is well done with cleanly incised thwarts and seating. The boat davits
themselves are remarkably thin and do not need to be replaced with brass
photo-etched substitutes. The kit, as previously mention, shows the ships as
completed, which includes two light pole masts, one forward and one aft of the
breastwork. There is no photo-etch brass fret with this kit. However, given the
design of the ship, it appears that only a minimum number of third party
photo-etch would be required for augmentation. Basically this would consist of
generic parts such as railing and a few inclined ladders.
Save the Cerberus These Photographs & the Cerberus Crest Are from Save the Cerberus http://www.cerberus.com.au |
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Instructions
the
small size of the ship, I wish the included plan and profile were of a larger
scale, in that it would help identify locations for inclined ladders and other
additional fittings that the modeler may wish to incorporate. The historical
text is in English as is the statistical data on the ship. The instructions
clearly state that the model shows Cerberus
as completed. The white, buff and black Victorian color scheme was used on the
ship until 1903 when she was painted gray. Combrig provides a listing of
the White Ensign Models Colourcoats paints necessary for this
scheme. These include black C-02, white C-03, buff C-07 and mahogany UC-15. So
if you are acquiring your Cerberus
from WEM, you might as well ask Caroline or John to send you those colors
as well as the kit. One other very notable inclusion by Combrig on the
front page of the instructions is the "Save the Cerberus" logo
and website address. Combrig should be applauded for including this in
their instructions for their kit. Additionally it is amusing since the Cerberus
web site has among its many features a version of the simple matrix game of
Battleship, as in "Ohh, you sunk my battleship". What is amusing is
that the Cerberus version features
the Royal Navy of Victoria defending Melbourne from a marauding Imperial Russian
squadron.
The reverse shows a photograph of all of the parts in the kit, smaller than
scale. Of course the major portion of the reverse
side of the instructions is the assembly diagram done in the standard isometric Combrig
format. With some Combrig kits the usage of a single assembly diagram can
be confusing because of the number of parts included. That is the reason Combrig
started including smaller detail blow-ups in their instructions on their more
complex kits. However, with the 1870 Cerberus,
this is not necessary as the small size and extensive use of locator holes and
locator outlines appears to cover attachment of all of the parts.
Verdict
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