This is the Combrig kit of HMS Majestic, a resin model at 700 scale which is a recent addition to the vast Combrig resin ship navy. It depicts the HMS Prince George in shore bombardment at the Dardanelles. The ship is part of Combrig’s Royal Navy pre Dreadnought range, and represents the British fleet in the late nineteenth century with a typical configuration that represented the cutting edge of world navies at the time. When it came to the First World War however, the advance of technology made this battleship appear to be somewhat of a dinosaur compared to its counterparts. The Battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth, the latest in the Royal Navy depicts the vast difference between the eras. Nevertheless, the old pre-dreads still had their uses, and shore bombardment was one of them. Checking my references, and in particular the R A Burt book of British Battleships, the Majestic class is shown in detail with a very interesting picture of HMS Prince George with all the updates to show the 1915 version. This included a mine catching net over the bow, a reduced bridge area, and anti ranging devices on both masts. It was a difficult thesis for me to resist, and added into the mix, I had seen another picture of a battleship of the time which had healed over to increase the range of the guns for shore bombardment. So, out come the torpedo nets, deploy some ships boats, and we have a nice little diorama that is both original and unusual. I added to the kit are Atlantic Models pre-dread rails, and IKEA net curtain to form the torpedo nets or at least one of them. The rig is Caenis 20 denier line, and small cars 0.1mm black wire for the thicker mast stays.

Peter Fulgoney

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