„Captain“ – the British armored ship

British Navy battleship HMS "Captain" in 1870 at the time of launch was one of the most powerful high-speed ships of its class in the world. The Lairds firm of Birkenhead designed and built the vessel under the direction of renowned shipbuilder Cooper Phips Coles. Launched on March 27, 1869. in 1870 April 30 the battleship officially entered service as part of the Channel Squadron. The general appearance of the battleship was quite peculiar. After reducing the overall height of the side, Colz decided to install the maximum possible sail equipment on the ship, which had to be adjusted to the two gun turrets. However, the artillery in the turrets required large angles of fire, and this was greatly hindered by the masts and rigging, so the designers got around the situation by building on the narrow, only 26 feet (7.9 m) wide turret bridge in the form of a canvas deck running from bow to stern. Thus, the upper deck, where the towers stood, remained minimally loaded, and all rigging work was carried out from the awning deck, which was sometimes called the "hurricane deck". As a result of this decision, the center of gravity of the ship increased. The total overload was 731 tons, and most of this excess was in the upper parts (shangout and tarpaulin deck). On her second out to sea in the Bay of Biscay, the "Captain" maneuvered well under sail, reached a speed of almost 14.2 knots and weathered a strong storm without any problems. However, the "Captain's" third trip to the sea as part of the escadre ended tragically. The escadre got into a storm, the wave height reached 8 meters. The most dangerous thing was, that the direction of the wind was opposite to the direction of the sea current. The battleship overturned and sank at a great depth. Only 18 people survived. Most interestingly, none of the other ships of the escadre suffered any damage.

A complex, small but interesting model. Recommended for intermediate to advanced naval enthusiasts. This model features a high level of detail, with some detail sheets, sails and flags printed double sided. Some parts of the model are printed with "metallic" bronze paint. The model is intended for intermediate to advanced modelers, but it won't be an "easy walk" for them either. The model is rich in details, but the extensive and informative graphic instructions will greatly help in the process of assembling the model.