by Christian Bruer
1/700 Aurora (Kombrig)
The russian cruiser 1st class Aurora was one of the three ships of the Pallada class. Her keel was laid in 1897 an she was commisioned in 1903. Aurora took part in the battle of Tsushima on 27th Mai 1905, she was one of the few that escaped. Interned in Manila she was back in home waters at the end of 1905. She took part in the first world war and in 1917 her crew members where involved in the Russian october revolution. She spent her time as a school ship in the Baltics. In WW II Aurora was sunk by German bombers in Leningrad. After the war she was raised and repaired. Since 1956 she is a permanent memorial in St. Petersburg (former Leningrad). Combrigs Aurora is a nice little kit and allows her to build out of the box in her 1903 - 1914 configuration. There are only some minor points to do to make a really nice and accurate kit out of the model. I cut of the bridge railings and made them new with white glue covered GMM railings. I replaced the the masts and made new ones of brass and steel rods in different diameters. For some details I used WEMs foto etched set WWI cruisers. Painting was done with WEM Colorcoats, for the first coat of the black hull I used WEMCC KM12 blue gray - a very dark, nearly black grey. Then I use different shades of grey and black to set some shades and filters to the basic color. The rest was to paint some streaks in grey and brown to simulate the weather effects along the hull sides. All the decks, vents, etc. were hand painted with Valejo acryl colors. Rigging was done with streched sprue. The base is my typical wooden base with “water” made in Frank’s silicone method. The scene shows Aurora moored at Libau prior to leave harbor. A small patrol boat is coming up to untie Auroras mooring line.
