by Mike McCabe
1/700 HMS Bedouin (Samek)
My latest in the destroyer line is the Tribal class destroyer HMS Bedouin, shown during, or rather moments before, the second battle of Narvik, April 1940. The idea came from a grainy photo in 'Destroyers at War' by Gregory Haines which shows Bedouin in company with HMS Warspite steaming up the fjords past snow clad slopes to engage the trapped German forces. The model shows Bedouin moments before entering Ofotfjord, all weapons trained starboard for a close quarters battle.
The kit is from Samek and a good one, I used the WEM Tribal class set for smaller parts, replaced the quad pom pom with one of their resin versions and used GMM ultra fine railings and crew, the remainder is not far from being out of the box as I couldn't find much at all that needed any alteration. One word of caution with this kit though, there is a recess around the hull which is meant to aid the placement of etched railings, but I found it did anything but help and I had more trouble with railings on this kit than any since I first started using them.
Rigging is stretched sprue and after some intial problems with too much heat in tensioning, I did find it quite easy to use and was pleased with the effect. I wanted to build an early Tribal with the full 4.7" armament and to my mind more graceful equally sized funnels (the aft funnel was cut down slightly later to improve the arc of fire for the pom pom), which also meant an overall mid grey (507B) scheme as a change from all the intricate camo patterns of later war RN destroyers.
Apart from some dodgy railings which I may still go back to, I'm pretty pleased with how she turned out.
