I built this about a year ago, it was my first attempt at a resin kit.
Launched in Glasgow in 1916, HMS Melton was one of 32 Paddlewheel Mine Sweepers of the Race Course class or sometimes called Ascot class. She continued clearing mines for a few years after WW1 before being sold in 1927 to a ship breakers,in 1929 she was sold on to the New Medway Steam Packet Company, converted to carry passengers and renamed Queen of Thanet. She spent the next 10 years on the north Kent Coast carrying passengers between London, Gravesend, Margate and Dover, as well as to Southend in Essex and Calais in France. In 1939 at the out break of WW2 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty, converted back to a Mine Sweeper, and renamed HMS Queen of Thanet. In May 1940 she was sent to Dunkirk and rescued 4000 troops from the beaches before being sent to Granton near Edinburgh in Scotland. 1944 saw her being sent to Selsey near Chichester to become a Mulberry Despatch Control ship for Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings. She returned to her previous owners in 1946 and once again carried passengers along the north Kent coast. 1949 she was sold to Red Funnel at Southampton, renamed Solent Queen, she was damaged in a fire and it was too expensive to repair her, so she was scrapped in 1951. I grew up on the north Kent coast and my Mother used to tell me about the Paddle Wheel steamers that ran along that coast using the piers at coastal towns to disembark and embark passengers. It seemed a good reason to build this ship.
The kit is resin with a sheet of Photo Etch and some short lengths of wire for the masts. The instructions are 3 pages, very clear and detailed, but the photo of the resin parts is a bit difficault to make out, the light coloured resin against a white background.
Launched in Glasgow in 1916, HMS Melton was one of 32 Paddlewheel Mine Sweepers of the Race Course class or sometimes called Ascot class. She continued clearing mines for a few years after WW1 before being sold in 1927 to a ship breakers,in 1929 she was sold on to the New Medway Steam Packet Company, converted to carry passengers and renamed Queen of Thanet. She spent the next 10 years on the north Kent Coast carrying passengers between London, Gravesend, Margate and Dover, as well as to Southend in Essex and Calais in France. In 1939 at the out break of WW2 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty, converted back to a Mine Sweeper, and renamed HMS Queen of Thanet. In May 1940 she was sent to Dunkirk and rescued 4000 troops from the beaches before being sent to Granton near Edinburgh in Scotland. 1944 saw her being sent to Selsey near Chichester to become a Mulberry Despatch Control ship for Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings. She returned to her previous owners in 1946 and once again carried passengers along the north Kent coast. 1949 she was sold to Red Funnel at Southampton, renamed Solent Queen, she was damaged in a fire and it was too expensive to repair her, so she was scrapped in 1951. I grew up on the north Kent coast and my Mother used to tell me about the Paddle Wheel steamers that ran along that coast using the piers at coastal towns to disembark and embark passengers. It seemed a good reason to build this ship.
The kit is resin with a sheet of Photo Etch and some short lengths of wire for the masts. The instructions are 3 pages, very clear and detailed, but the photo of the resin parts is a bit difficault to make out, the light coloured resin against a white background.
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