Part 1: Unboxing
Hi everyone!
I’m in the process of moving to Munich, and while that is going on, the Enterprise will be on hold – it’s mostly software coding at this point to make sure I’ve got all my lights and sounds are synched and good anyway, so there’s not a lot of hands-on action to report yet. I will say that although I was excited at first to be using those Chinese import MP3 players as a hacky shortcut to adding sound to my model, ultimately they turned out to be a no-go.
Reason behind that is that the Arduino microcontroller I was using is very sensitive to voltage input, and will reset itself if voltage gets too low or spikes. The USB input I had from my PC, as it turns out, is highly variable in just the kind of way an Arduino doesn’t appreciate. As a result, it was impossible to predict with perfect accuracy what track was currently cued on the MP3 player – because the MP3 player wasn’t so sensitive. So everything would look good, I’d start a track, test another function, and the Arduino would reset. The track, however, would keep playing.
So I’m ditching those MP3 players. They’ll be useful sometime if I just want to add one single track or a batch of sounds which I don’t particularly care about their order, but for what I want with the Enterprise, they won’t do. I’m testing several Arduino-compatible sound boards now that are also dirt-cheap, and will come back with a report on those eventually.
But onward!
I’m staying for a couple months in a small studio apartment while I start my new job and move the family into a larger place down here, and to keep my hands busy, I brought this along:
It’s the Belfast!
It was a gift from Hugo back in our trip to visit the Belfast as part of BAD-ARMADA’s field outing, and I promised him I’d make it my next build after the Enterprise. Since I’ve got some time on my hands here, I figured this would be a good place to do it as a from-the-box build, no extra third-party specials. Just glue, files/sandpaper, a razor knife, and some paint.
This kit was a special edition produced for the Imperial War Museum, and to my knowledge it’s not available anywhere but at the Belfast itself (which is a museum ship in downtown London, and a great trip to take for a few hours if you’re at all interested in this sort of thing).
Let’s unbox it together, shall we?
If you’re buying this as a gift for someone, rest assured that everything needed is already in the kit.
Nominally, this kit comes with everything you need – technically you don’t have to buy a thing extra to get it constructed. It has two synthetic Humbrol brushes, a tube of poly cement, and eight little pots of what look like Humbrol acrylics. I won’t be using the paints or glue for this build, but I wanted to show you what’s in here. The paint looks like it could use a good shake, so my recommendation if you’re going to use them is leave them in the little bag, put that into a second Ziploc bag, and throw them in with the cold laundry or something. I don’t have the patience to shake pots that much. Alternatively just stir them with some toothpicks after opening.
Probably could use a wash, but that’s not 100% necessary.
The sprues are contained in their own separate bag, all together. I do recommend that you give these a gentle wash in the sink or a tub with warm water and a little dish soap. I don’t always follow my own instructions, but there it is. Dry them on a towel afterwards, don’t let them dry with beaded water on them or you might get a little calcium buildup if you have hard water.
Full inventory, ready to build.
The sprues themselves are pretty straightforward. Two deck pieces, two hull pieces, and four sprues of general gear and detail. Some of this shows a bit of flash on it, so the molds are probably a little bit old, but there’s nothing really excessive to deal with here.
At 1:600, the smallest thing you’re going to be dealing with are the lifeboats and the AA guns, both of which are 2mm-3mm in size, plus a few spotlights and some of what look to be depth-charge gear. For me, this poses a bit of a challenge, since I have large hands, but the hardest part will be if I drop any of these little bastards on the floor. So – advice #1: cut your parts off while maintaining a good grip on them with tweezers or fingers, and do the cutting over a solid-color drop cloth or cutting mat.
Gets the job done. Nice photo section at the end.
Large painting guide, good to see that. Numbers correspond to numbers on the top of the little paint pots.
The instructions are serviceable. They aren’t as comprehensive as something you’d get from Dragon or Tamiya, but they are fine for general purposes. (I contrast Dragon’s, for example, in that they tend to include a sprue inventory with callouts on where parts are; Airfix doesn’t do that.) A nice touch are some black and white photos at the end showing Belfast at sea, and one entering the Thames on her way past the Tower Bridge, presumably on her way to becoming the museum piece. Finally, a painting guide at the end which includes detailing on the Walrus plane the ship was equipped with (which was later removed when radar proved to be a much more weight-effective spotting device).
If you didn’t have other basing plans already, this would be serviceable. Maybe glue it onto a wooden base cut to size?
In addition to the instructions, a cardstock display base is also included with backdrop photo and some basic stats on the vessel and a short blurb of her history. It’s a nice touch, and it makes this kit a really good candidate as a gift for a younger family member who likes to build models.
All in all, I’d definitely grab this for a kid who’s getting into modeling, as the all-in-one nature of the box is really handy for some households that might be short on space (and when said child doesn’t necessarily have access to a lot of tools). As an adult builder with a lot of goofy accessories, I’m looking forward to building this one just because I like the ship and had a great time visiting it. In fact, I already have a nefarious plan in mind, which will involve basing the completed Belfast in the same frame as her worthy and fearsome opponent…
Dunt-Dunt-DAAA!
Revell makes the Scharnhorst in 1:570, which is close enough that the two can share a base and look roughly to scale with one another.
