HMS Scimitar by Mike McCabe, HP models, 1:700 scale
 
HMS Scimitar was one of the S class destroyers, built in 1918 and so a long in the tooth survivor when the second world war broke out.  Employed at the start of the war as a channel convoy escort, Scimitar found herself embroiled in the evacuation of the BEF from Dunkirk, before being transferred to the Western Approaches Command for Atlantic convoy escort duties, which she continued almost continuously until October 1943.  Originally intended as channel escorts, these small destroyers were not suited for the work of Atlantic escort, but the lack of suitable vessels made this an uncomfortable necessity.
 
Scimitar saw out the remainder of the war as a channel escort before being reduced to a training role in October 1944, eventually being struck off and scrapped in 1947, after almost thirty years of long, hard service.
 
The Model
HP models released a number of models of the R and S class destroyers a couple of years ago, at the time I purchased HMS Sabre.  Typical of more recent HP releases, the kits are sharply cast, though in some areas lacking a little in detail and benefitting from the replacement of small parts.  When Tamiya released their HMS Vampire kit and White Ensign responded with a comprehensive photoetched fret for the kit, I realised that some of the parts in that set would be very useful for the S class kit as well, so I decided to tackle the model. 
 
Having looked at references, which were not exactly comprehensive for these ships in WW2, I decided to build Scimitar as in 1941, when she carried a very heavy depth charge armament and so would make an interesting looking ship.  Construction was straightforward as there is not a great deal of superstructure on the ship, although I did add a clear bridge windscreen and screen shields.  I replaced the midships oerlikon platform with brass sheet as I find this a better method with the way HP casts its platforms.  Much of the remaining detail was taken up with adding the depth charges and handling equipment, which were made from a variety of plastic rod sizes, brass rod and copper wire.  Masts were made from brass rod as well, with much of the remaining detail coming from the White Ensign set.  The 3” AA gun was scratchbuilt and the V/W fret came in handy for davits and some other details.  I used GMM ultrafine railings as the small size of these ships needs something fine otherwise there is a tendency for less fine railings to look too heavy.
 
The model is painted in the overall light grey scheme for which I used Humbrol 147, which is a good match for Royal Navy 507c.  Weathering is with pastels mainly on the hull to show the heavy wear to which these ships were subjected.  Rigging is with stretched sprue and signal flags added from the now sadly defunct Dunagain decals.
 
I was pleased with the outcome of this build, the model I think shows the small and delicate build of these ships which were completely unsuited to the task of Atlantic escort, but the result is a nice model from a good kit that fits in well with my growing fleet of RN WW2 escorts and destroyers.