1/700 SLP-3 IHP HMS Invincible British Battlecruiser Design G3 1922 - Hull Plus Large And Unique Parts Only - Imperial Hobby Productions
Plastic Model Kit, Box Condition: NM
This kit consist of a beautiful high-definition resin cast waterline hull and the ship's large & unique parts. These parts include 3x main turrets, fore and aft funnels, secondary turrets, several superstructure parts for fore & aft and four gun directors. The instructions say that it is 'about 70% complete" so like all IHP 'hull + unique/large parts' models, you will need another kit to completely detail it; in this case, IHP recommends the 1/700 Tamiya Rodney or Nelson kits to detail the model to the 1922 configuration. In some cases the Pit Road/Skywave sets of "Equipment For Navy Ships" works well for even finer details. Never started. The hull is in mint condition. The small parts are still factory sealed. Includes instructions with excellent drawings and references. The Invincible class was parts of Britain's attempt to maintain naval parity with Japan and the United States in the year immediately following WWI. The Japanese 8-8 Plan and the American Military Laws passed in 1916 provided for very large battleship and battlecruisers, all of which would have outclassed even the Royal Navy Hood, which was under constructions. In response the RN drew up plans and requirement for capital ship to carry no less than 16 inch guns. These battlecruisers were laid down in 1921 and were known as the Invincible class. They were worthy of the name; indeed, they would have been the most powerful capital ships ever built for the Royal Navy. The Invincible design has the main armament concentrated forward to shorten the armored citadel and allow for high-powered propulsion machinery to be install aft. This results in a very forward-looking vessel and the firing arcs of some main guns were limited. The British simply justified this by stating that British ship do not run away, and therefore no heavy aft weapons were needed. For the first time in British capital ship construction a transom stern was fitted. The G3 battlecruisers were significantly larger than their predecessors of the Admiral class. They had an overall length of 856 feet (260.9 m), a beam of 106 feet (32.3 m), and a draught of 36 feet (11.0 m) at deep load. They would have displaced 48,400 long tons (49,200 t) normally and 53,909 long tons (54,774 t) at deep load, over 8,000 long tons (8,100 t) more than the older ships. They had a metacentric height of 7.786 feet (2.4 m) at deep load as well as a complete double bottom. Four ships were planned: Invincible, Inflexible, Indomitable and Indefatigable. These impressive ships were more like fast battleships than battlecruisers so it seems redundant that a slow battleship companion was also planned (with 18 inch guns). The Washington Treaty brought an end to the construction in 1922. However, this design was modified to fit the new treaty limits and the result was the Nelson class battle ships (called design O3) of 1927.
This item has been sold.
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