by Dennis Vella
1/192 HMS Invincible (Scratchbuilt)
The subject of this model is HMS Invincible a small British aircraft carrier that almost did not make it into Her Majesty's service and then if it was not for the Falklands War she would have, in all probability been sold to Australia. The Invincible class carrier coming so close after the last fleet carrier did not impress the old timers with neither her size nor with her air wing. In fact for sometime after she entered RN service the ship was referred to by numerous titles printable ones being "Flash deck cruiser" and "Anti-submarine carrier" amongst others. Still she introducted many new novel features to the Navy. It was during that war that she proved her worth for if it was not for her air wing the results would have been a lot different and rather more mundane for the Royal Navy and Britain.
I was so impressed by her achievements that I decided to model this ship to serve as the basis for my series of RN carriers.
As in all my previous models I followed the same pattern of construction and used the same materials. The model is based on the Jecobine 1/192 scale drawings and numerous photos obtained from various sources. The model is built in wood with the small details including railings, missiles etc in brass. For the first time I designed and made the main radar by photo etching. The paint used is Humbrol
All items including the aircraft, tractors, crane and Sea Dart missiles are also of home manufacture. The model took nearly 10 months to finish.
