1/350 Zr.Ms. Walrus &Hr.Ms. Zwaardvis (Naval Models)
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by Maarten Schönfeld |
1/350 Zr.Ms. Walrus &Hr.Ms. Zwaardvis (Naval Models)
Two very recent resin kits of Dutch manufacturer Naval Models. These are the current Walrus class subs of the Dutch navy (4 units), and their predecessors of the Zwaardvis class (two units). The Walrus class is equipped with X rudders following the Swedish examples, the Zwaardvis class boats were designed after the United States Navy Barbel class boats, with conventional + rudders.Apart from this numerous small differences between the two types. The models were equipped with a new resin five bladed screw (propeller), which is also provided by Naval Models, as the PE props in the kit were not very convincing. A note on the prefixes Zr.Ms (His Majesty’s) and Hr.Ms. (Her Majesty’s): when King Willem-Alexander was sworn in as the new monarch of the Netherlands on 30 April 2013, all the active Netherlands Navy ships in the fleet had to change their prefix overnight into the masculine form, after 123 years of female monarchs on the Dutch throne. For historical ships nothing changed of course, hence the female prefix remained for the Zwaardvis.
