The Duke's Shipyards Launch Ten Ships in June
Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2026 3:18 pm
After a few productive days, my Shipyards were able to launch ten new ships for my navies. The first four are from a box set of four ships in one kit from Airfix, all in 1/600 scale. These are crude by today's standards but I did the best I could with them. After all, the three British destroyers were the only ones of those type that were available back then.
First up is the HMS Cossack, the largest of the three British destroyers. I had lost one of the anchors so I left them off until I can find some suitable replacements:
The second ship is the HMS Hotspur, one I knew very little about until I looked it up, Yes, the B turret gun is broken here, I saw it too late, but fixed it afterward:
The last British destroyer is the HMS Cambletown, one I had never expected to have in my Navy since no one had ever kitted one in either 1/700 or 1/600, but here it is. This is another 'Holy Grail" kit I've wanted for many years, even one as crude as this one:
This last Airfix ship is the German Narvik-class destroyer. The instructions claim it is the Z-28, but based on the next four German destroyers I built; it is more of a hybrid with features from different makes of Z-class destroyers Here it is built anyway:
Now for some actual versions of German Z-class destroyers, these are in 1/700 scale. Three are form Trumpeter, the fourth is Dragon. First is the German Z-7, one of the earlier makes of this ship:
Next is the German Z-28; the actual Z-28:
Followed by the German Z-31. This one is the Dragon kit:
The last one is the German Z-43, one of the latest marks of this ship:
Finally we get to the USS Springfield, a light missile cruiser by Revell in 1/500 scale:
The final ship we launched is a Japanese assault carrier I got in a Distressed kit Auction. It had no box; everything was in ziplock bags so I decided to build it before major pieces got lost. This is the 1/700 scale JMSDF Assault carrier Shimokita:
And that completes this news bulletin from the shipyards, thanks all for watching the parade of ships heading out to their shakedown cruises. Comments are always welcome.
By the way, completing these ten ships allowed me to break another milestone: I now have reached the grand total number of 1905 completed models of all genres and categories.
Not that anyone's counting that is.......
First up is the HMS Cossack, the largest of the three British destroyers. I had lost one of the anchors so I left them off until I can find some suitable replacements:
The second ship is the HMS Hotspur, one I knew very little about until I looked it up, Yes, the B turret gun is broken here, I saw it too late, but fixed it afterward:
The last British destroyer is the HMS Cambletown, one I had never expected to have in my Navy since no one had ever kitted one in either 1/700 or 1/600, but here it is. This is another 'Holy Grail" kit I've wanted for many years, even one as crude as this one:
This last Airfix ship is the German Narvik-class destroyer. The instructions claim it is the Z-28, but based on the next four German destroyers I built; it is more of a hybrid with features from different makes of Z-class destroyers Here it is built anyway:
Now for some actual versions of German Z-class destroyers, these are in 1/700 scale. Three are form Trumpeter, the fourth is Dragon. First is the German Z-7, one of the earlier makes of this ship:
Next is the German Z-28; the actual Z-28:
Followed by the German Z-31. This one is the Dragon kit:
The last one is the German Z-43, one of the latest marks of this ship:
Finally we get to the USS Springfield, a light missile cruiser by Revell in 1/500 scale:
The final ship we launched is a Japanese assault carrier I got in a Distressed kit Auction. It had no box; everything was in ziplock bags so I decided to build it before major pieces got lost. This is the 1/700 scale JMSDF Assault carrier Shimokita:
And that completes this news bulletin from the shipyards, thanks all for watching the parade of ships heading out to their shakedown cruises. Comments are always welcome.
By the way, completing these ten ships allowed me to break another milestone: I now have reached the grand total number of 1905 completed models of all genres and categories.
Not that anyone's counting that is.......