This 1:700 scale HMS Furious was built mainly based on R.A Burt's plan & photos in "British Battleships of WWI" and some other photos I've found through internet. I liked the hybrid look of the ship a lot when she had just completed and had carried both the big gun & flight deck. Nevertheless, photos of Furious in this era are rare and once I started I found that observation towers of the foremast and the main mast on the Burt's plan didn't match the photos. So I had to make these parts based on my own measurement of the photos. The whole ship was built from scratch using styrene sheets and brass rod, except the boats and the gun shields of her secondary armament. I took these parts from the Italari 1:720 Hood and the funnel was from modified parts from a Tamiya 1:700 Hood. The camels were modified from Pitroad's IJN floatplanes and the large Fairey Campania floatplane was full scratch-built. I'm not sure if she did carry this plane before her 1st major modification. The moment I saw the photo that showed her carry this large plane on her tiny flight deck I told myself I must have it on my ship! The pattern on the quarterdeck was made by brass wire I got from an electric wire. It is amazingly easy to do and I was very satisfied with the end result.

When finished the Furious was a beautiful ship. What a pity that I didn't have enough references to detail up my model and could only made a simple replica of her. Nevertheless, it is still a great joy to have built my Furious and seeing her laying on my bookshelf. I'm a slow builder and the ship from start to finish took 2 years. I suspended the build for months, re-worked on it for a weekend, and then suspended it for months again. If I didn't have a bet with my friend Alex to have both of our ships ready for last year's model competition, it is very likely that she would still be gathering dust on my workbench. Our bet was that if either of us couldn't finished our ship on time to enter the competition, then the loser would have to finish the ship and give it to the other as a gift. Alex's ship was 1:700 scale IJN Akagi, which placed 2nd in the competition and is the most detailed 1:700 scale Akagi that I've ever seen. During the building period I've seen Mr. Jim Baumann finish his 2 beautiful Furious models of later eras. That was also a driving force for me to hurry and finish my ship.

Vincent Lau
Hong Kong

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