Kombrig 1/700 HMS Majestic

HMS Majestic was a Majestic-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1895, she was the largest predreadnought launched at the time. She served with the Channel Fleet until 1904, following which she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. In 1907, she was part of the Home Fleet, firstly assigned to the Nore Division and then with the Devonport Division. From 1912, she was part of the 7th Battle Squadron.

When World War I broke out Majestic, together with the rest of the squadron, was attached to the Channel Fleet during the early stages of the war before being detached for escort duties with Canadian troop convoys. She then had spells as a guard ship at the Nore and the Humber. In early 1915, she was dispatched to the Mediterranean for service in the Dardanelles Campaign. She participated in bombardments of Turkish forts and supported the Allied landings at Gallipoli. On 27 May 1915, she was torpedoed by a U-boat at Cape Helles, sinking with the loss of 49 men.

Combrig has gained a reputation for producing a wide range of naval vessels in 1/700 scale. Those who want to build a pre-dreadnaught battleship or a late 1800s Chinese cruiser or other similarly unusual subject will probably find something in their catalog.

Their resin kits are not for beginners, thanks to a rather extensive number of small, delicate parts. The kits do not rely on photo etch, hence the fragility of some of their parts. The overall quality of their moldings are first rate. The single piece hull is nearly 7 inches long, has no flaws and is perfectly flat on the bottom so no need to sand away sprue attachment points. Some of the parts are in a resin wafer and you will find  some others on resin pour blocks, but nothing that cannot be cleaned up with minimal effort.

One thing that struck me was how petite some of the parts are. They are such that one almost wants to build the kit inside a large plastic bag for fear of losing bits. One thing you may notice from the instruction sheet is that you will have to make some of the masts and yardarms. I'd use stretched sprue or fine plastic rod as I'd think that, aside from the main masts, using metal would be a bit much in terms of weight.

As you can see, instructions are an exploded view that shows where everything fits. The other side of the instruction sheet has a side and upper view, something that will help not only in getting the bits in the right place, but also mandatory when it comes to rigging this one. There are a LOT of rigging wires to attach. You'll also need the upper surface view to figure where to put the ship's boats.

One thing I noticed on the drawing that is not on the kit are the booms for the anti-submarine nets, nor are their stanchions for the ship's railings or the boarding ladders. You'll have to look elsewhere for these bits if you really want to use them. No painting information is supplied, but I'm thinking black, white and cream would be the norm. There are photos of the ship on the net and places you can go to ask questions.

This is obviously not for the beginner and I'd recommend getting a few resin kits under your belt before tackling something like this. You have all the basics in the box and while not inexpensive, are kits that, if you like pre-WWI ships, you should seriously look into. /

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Majestic_(1895)

October 2017

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