by Rob Kernaghan
1/700 HMS Roberts (HP Models)
A 1/700 scale RN monitor, which I built in Autumn 2004. HMS Roberts was one of a pair of WW2-built RN 15”-armed monitors (the other being HMS Abercrombie) which re-used turrets from the WW1 Marshal class. She was the last surviving 15”-gunned ship in the Royal Navy, spending many years in a static role at Devonport before going to the scrappers in the mid-1960’s. One of her 15” guns survives as an exhibit outside the entrance to the Imperial War Museum in London.
The model is from the fairly accurate HP kit, one of the best in their range. Masts were scratch-built from brass rod and she wears PE from WEM’s Tiger, KGV and generic WW2 frets. AA guns came from WEM and Skywave, boats from Sealsmodels. The one let-down of this kit is that she has poor AA guns and boats. The kit is a bit on the expensive side for monitor kits, but otherwise, well worth having.
Although hard to spot against the AP507A decks, she is crewed by Eduard 1/700 figures.
The camouflage was brush painted using WEM enamels, followed by a coat of Deco-art varnish (again brushed) and artist’s oils washes. Rigging is stretched sprue and davits are brass rod.
The seascape is made from a layer of white glue, followed by a layer of acrylic gel, then painted in artists’ acrylics, followed by a coat of white glue to seal it.
All the photographs were taken by Jim Baumann.
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