Scale: 1/350 waterline or full hull

Price: US $95 (US $76 if ordered direct from Armada Scale by December 31, 1997)

Producer: Armada Scale Models

Media: Resin, etched brass, brass rod, chain

Strengths: Casting, etched brass, packaging

Weaknesses: Mis-aligned scuttles

The Ship
Launched late in World War I, V & W (all class members had names beginning with “V” or “W”) class ships were the most powerfully armed and seaworthy destroyers of their time. Armed with four 4” guns and six torpedo tubes, these fast 312’ destroyers met with immediate favor. Built too late to see significant action in W.W.I, they gave sterling service during the inter-war period. However peacetime budgets did not allow for retention of the entire fleet. The Admiralty wisely refrained from scrapping these excellent ships. The Royal Navy retained the V & W destroyers during the 1930's through both careful maintenance and laying them up during inactive periods.

This farsighted policy paid dividends with the onset of World War II. 58 V & W destroyers were available for service in 1939. Initially serving as convoy escorts, a role for which they were ill suited, most of the class was eventually converted to either Long Range Escorts (“LRE”) or anti-aircraft destroyers (“Wair”). This involved both re-boilering the LREs and making them more habitable, pre-requisites for convoy escort duty. Depending on the theatre, various combinations of depth charges, hedgehogs, 4” AA guns, and 20mm cannons either replaced or were added to existing armament. Typically at least one, and sometimes both of the triple torpedo tube banks were landed.

Eighteen V & W destroyers were lost during World War Two. They accounted for forty Axis submarines, not to mention countless U-boat attacks avoided by virtue of their presence. It is a tribute to the excellence of the initial design that these WW I era ships could be so successfully adapted to the far more demanding role in which they found themselves in 1939.

(Drawing by Alan Raven)

The Model
Located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Armada Scale Models is better known to armour modelers as Custom Dioramics, a maker of fine resin diorama accessories. Judging by the quality of this first release, we ship modelers are in for a treat. The hull is cast in upper and lower halves. I regard the mating of hull halves as only slightly more inviting than a root canal. But the Vega’s hull went together with minimal filler (and swearing). This is a first for me. And the resultant full hull is spot on accurate. The hull castings and deck structures were uniformly crisp and clean. There were no air bubbles or voids to be found.

You will need to remove a thin film from the small resin parts. This was easy and the parts themselves were free of both voids and resin overpour. Armada Scale thoughtfully provides redundant small pieces. This is one of the many nice touches that abound in this kit. The masts and prop shafts are fabricated from the included brass, and there is a miniature black metal anchor chain for that extra bit of realism.

The photo etch is all you could ask for. The deck railing is custom fitted to the Vega, so you can forget about guesswork and measurements. The 4” gun splinter shields are etched brass and look right. And the instructions, which include an illustrated and numbered parts list, are thorough and clear. My only suggestion is that they be more explicit regarding the gun decks. There are no locator holes to assist you in placing the fore and aft gun decks atop the deckhouses. The instructions simply tell you to affix the decks. It is up to you to achieve the proper positioning. Beginning modelers could easily do this incorrectly.

Suggestion
The kit portrays the Vega in her “as built” 1917 fit. I suspect that many modelers would prefer to build their V & W in a WW2 fit, especially those of you partial to Western Approaches paint schemes. Modifying this kit to a WW2 V & W should be very easy, mainly a matter of substituting weaponry and performing minor bridge alterations. I have spoken to Bo Kaufmann, the owner of Armada Scale, about this ,and they are now preparing an enclosure that will explain how to build the Vega as a WW2 V & W destroyer.