Revell 1/570 HMS Prince of Wales

[Ron Bell]

Recently I've been bingeing on building early injection molded ship kits. I find them enjoyable, not very fiddly as most new ship kits are and look nice enough on display. My most recent was this 1974 (according to Scalemates) HMS Prince of Wales. I think it's actually older than that myself as I seem to recall building it as a kid and that was a long time before 1974.  I would guess the original kit, the King George V, came out around 1960 as that is when the movie that made that ship famous in the USA, "Sink the Bismarck", came out and it would figure that Revell might do a "tie in" it of it. Also the molding and level of detail is much more indicative of a 1960's kit than one from the mid 70's. Now, mind you, Aurora also did one released in 1958, so maybe that's what I remember. I have no real proof either way, just my conjecture based on a fuzzy memory. Anyway, as was typical of Revell, it was also released as the King George V and the Anson. It's a basic kit that is generally accurate in outline but none of the releases reflect the differences that existed amongst the class. Fit over all was what you would expect from a Revell ship kit of this era (whenever it was) with only minor problems here and there. This is done OOTB with the exception of drilling out the portholes and main gun barrels and the what I term "representative" rigging. I found the camo scheme on the internet and cannot vouch for it's accuracy nor do I care. It looks vastly different from all the other ships in my fleet so I'm happy. 

[EJS]

I like the old ones too. I have a late 1950's era Revell 1/530/540 scale USS ESSEX with the angled flight deck. That was exactly (kinda) the ship I served on in 1961 - 1963. The aircraft were wrong but I found some aftermarket one's for her. Aftermarket aircraft, decals, island, hangar deck and details from  Starfighter, Photo etch from Gold Medal. Corrected faired in hurricane bow from Mattie. Turned a simple build into a real project.

 

Hope mine turns out a nice as yours did.

 

EJ

Edited July 14, 2023 by EJS
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[Ron Bell]

I've seen those old carrier models with all those extras done to them and they are quite striking. Good luck with your's. It's a lot of work and will take patience to complete. This is my try at the Atlantis re-release of the old Renwal kit of the USS Sangri La done OOTB. I've been told that it's all sorts of inaccurate, but it still looks pretty good and with all you're going to do to your ship, it will be even better. 

[Mark Deliduka]

Magnificent work on all these ships! I also have a Shangri-La in progress that I won't be correcting; I just want it built OOB.

 

Man that Prince of Wales is outta this world, especially given how old it is! Way to go you guys!

[Ron Bell]

Eugene,

That is a pretty early release the the Essex. As the kit was released and re-released many times with several names and air wings, you could probably easily replace it with a newer release to build and sell the one you have. It might go a ways to pay for all those "extras" you have obtained.