- TAMIYA WATERLINE SERIES
- KIT NUMBER-77502
By Ian Ruscoe
Take a look at the: Conclusion, Gallery and PDF…
Born out of the Royal Navy’s requirement to build new “modern” battleships after Britain signed the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922 two new vessels were ordered for the Navy, they being Nelson and Rodney named after famous Admirals of the Royal Navy. Their maximum tonnage could not exceed 35,000tons as agreed under the Naval arms treaty which led to their unique appearance in that the main armament was sited forward of the superstructure rather than split either end of the superstructure. This was done to maximise the armour fitted in the vessels. The vessels were viewed as a compromise as before the Naval Treaty was signed Britain was designing super dreadnoughts of 18 inch main armament and Battle Cruisers carrying 16 inch main armament. The vessels when built came out over a thousand tons under the weight agreement. Also once they entered the Fleet in the mid to late 1920’s it was found that they were slow to respond to manoeuvres at slow speed, in fact one vessel was slightly worse than the other. It was thought to be the cause of the wind hitting the large and high superstructure acting as a sail in windy conditions. However the ship’s commanding officers soon learnt how to compensate when manoeuvring. With a top speed of approximately 24-25 knots they were considered fast vessels until the fast American battleships appeared just before the outbreak of the Second World War. The two ships served the Navy well with either one or the other serving in all naval theatres throughout the Second World War.
The Tamiya kit is actually quite old being initially released to rave reviews in the late 1970’s, saying that even today the quality of moulding is still very good. Tamiya’s Rodney depicts the vessel how she would of appeared when she entered service with the Royal Navy in 1927 up to the early 1930’s, after this time the appearance of the ship started to change. The superstructure details are sparse but they have been added in this review using photo etch doors and hatches, drilling portholes “scuttles” and fitting inclined ladders etc. The update sets used in this review came mainly from White Ensign Models (WEM) with a few others from other manufacturers.
In this build I replaced the main, secondary and anti aircraft gun barrels with either turned brass, photo etch or cast resin parts.
The updates used were;
- White Ensign Models – PE723 HMS Rodney/Nelson photo etch detailing set.
- ABER – 1:700L18 RN 16 inch turned brass gun barrels and 1:700L19 RN 6 inch turned brass gun barrels
- NIKO Model -ZW7024U single 3inch/50 cal. MK.34 Anti Aircraft guns (5 units in pack)
(These are really US Navy weapons but looked the part. The kit examples are still very good but I thought I’d replace them with the Niko weapons).