St Nazaire Raid

**MoJohnson** · #1 03-08-2011, 08:50 AM

Good day, fellow modelers,

It has been in my mind to build sets of ships connected by wartime incidents for some time now. After much thought I plumped for the St Nazaire raid as a first project. The next question to answer was which ship to start with. There are, of course, HMS Campbeltown; HMS Atherstone and HMS Tynedale, both Hunt type I; MGB 314; MTB 74; and the MLs of the 7th, 20th and 28th flotillas. This list I got from the Wikipedia page on the raid. Further research provided two more type I Hunts involved, HMS Brockelsby and HMS Cleveland.

While there are kits available of the Campbelton, none are of the ship as it was addapted for the raid. As I suspect that adapting a kit will be harder to do than even a scratch build, I've decided to start with the four Hunts.

I have found a kit for the type Is, a free download, although it is a very basic single sheet. The problem with this model is the reduced number of frames, only 4!

So, while trying to find a Hunt type I kit, I'll also be trying out the one I found so far.

This will be the first modeling I've done in 20 odd years, I'm begining to think that I've bitten off more than I can chew! Still, faint heart and all that...

**Joerg Schulze** · #2 03-08-2011, 09:50 AM

Hi Mo,

check for the JSC kit of the Campbeltown in 1:400. Kit contains both ships - ram ship and regular escort destroyer. The scale is ideal for such a project.

Have a closer look here:

CAMPBELTOWN - Escort destroyer 1941 and battering ram ship 1942 (JSC 062)

best regards,

Jörg

**MoJohnson** · #3 03-08-2011, 10:03 AM

Thanks, Jorg, you're right, looks ideal. Shouldn't be a problem scaling it up to 1:200. Thanks for the info.

Mo

**mchale** · #4 03-08-2011, 10:07 AM

i have a a british mtb in the download section here

**MoJohnson** · #5 03-08-2011, 07:07 PM

So, I thought that I'd just tidy up all the research I've done on the type I Hunt class escorts. Good thing I did as there seems to be some doubt over HMS Brocklesby. Most sources lists the Brocklesby as a type I, but I've found one that suggests that it was a type II. To add to the confusion the source suggests that it was a type II with type I armaments! Now I have to try and find some distinguishing feature in one of the photos I have.

**MoJohnson** · #6 03-29-2011, 10:02 AM

I think I've resolved my issues, all four will be built as type 1's. I have tryed to work out the colour shemes for each ship from the photos I have. (Thanks Guys.) Please check-out the attached pics and let me know if I got it right.

**Don Boose** · #7 03-29-2011, 10:48 AM

I always enjoy watching this kind of project develop. It looks like you are doing some serious research to insure a high degree of accuracy (or, at least, plausibility) and I will be watching with interest, even though I have no authoritative information to add.

Tim Perry, who occasionally appears here as wunwinglow used to run a site called "Kipper Boxes" with an excellent build of an LCT 4 (in styrene, but using paper modelling techniques) and links to sites concerning amphibious warfare and commando raids. If he is guarding this push, he might weigh in with useful info.

Don

**dto** · #8 03-30-2011, 01:33 AM

By the way, the current HMS Campbeltown (a Type 22 frigate) will be decommissioned April 7 after nearly 22 years service. Her "farewell cruise" included a last visit to her namesake town in Argyll, Scotland... and a final stop at St. Nazaire to commemorate the 69th anniversary of Operation Chariot with a few surviving members of "the greatest raid of all". Nice gesture, that.

**MoJohnson** · #9 03-30-2011, 08:57 AM

Thanks to some advice received on annother site, I've re-done the colour schemes for the 4 Hunt Class Destroyers.

**Don Boose** · #10 03-30-2011, 10:10 AM

Excellent. I take it these were all variations on the Western Approaches scheme?

Don