HMS Argyll - Armoured Cruiser

 


HMS Argyll was an armoured cruiser of the Devonshire class, launched in 1904. Obsolescent before the start of the First World War, the British armoured cruisers that are now most remembered - Monmouth and Good Hope; Hogue, Aboukir and Cressy; Black Prince, Warrior and Defence - are infamous for the heavy loss of life associated with their sinking by the Imperial German Navy. HMS Argyll similarly ended the war at the bottom of the sea, but from being accidentally run aground and, happily, all her crew survived.

Despite their tragic record in the war, I think there is something magnificent about the lines of these late Victorian and Edwardian ships and, having recently bought "Before the Battlecruiser: The Big Cruiser in the World's Navies 1865-1910" by Aidan Dodson and "British Cruisers of the Victorian Era" by Norman Friedman, I was keen to add some examples to my collection. My first opportunity came with a slightly battered old Navis model of HMS Argyll. One mast was damaged and I'm not a fan of the moulded plastic masts anyway so I decided to fully strip the model, add a bit of extra detail and repaint.


As well as new masts, made from brass rod with thin steel wire cross trees and plastic spotting platforms, I made davits for the ship's boats, new barrels for the casement 6" guns to replace those moulded as ridges on the ship's sides and air intakes. The latter were worst thing as I wanted to get the slight flare of the mouth so bent bits of rod through 90 degrees, added a blob of solder then tried to file it back to shape. It would have been much better to make one and cast multiple copies. Filing the taper on the gun barrels and even drilling a hole in the main mast for the boat lifting boom were quite easy by comparison.

Ready for painting


I'm aware that there is a much improved new Navis model that avoids some of the simplifications and errors of the old one but the original models have a charm of their own and I enjoy the modelling aspect of my waterline models as much or more than the collecting.

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