u/SameArtichoke8913

Some background:
The Tiger-class cruisers were the last class of all-gun cruisers completed for the British Royal Navy. They came from an order of 8 Minotaur-class cruisers in 1941-2; work on the second group of three ships was effectively suspended in mid-1944. HMS Cerberus was originally one of these conventional cruisers for the British Royal Navy. Cerberus started out as HMS Superb and was the last of the Minotaurs to be built. The ship was completed to a slightly different design to that of the previous members of the class, with a foot more beam than her immediate predecessor HMS Swiftsure.

With Superb, the first Type 275 sets, modified versions of the lock and follow radar, were introduced to also control anti-aircraft fire of the twin 4-inch mounts. Construction on Superb’s unfinished sister ships was halted after the end of the war and they were later scrapped or converted into the new Tiger-class automatic gun cruisers.

Superb herself was planned to be converted to full automatic 6-inch and 3-inch/70 gun Tiger specifications. The plans to modernize Superb at the time of the 1957 Defense Review were much more cost-constricted and would have been similar to the limited modernization of HMS Belfast, with new MRS8 multi-channel directors for four twin 4-inch and six twin proximity fused L70 Bofors and new radar, fire control, AIO and a data link to the modernized carriers Victorious and Hermes.

Superb spent some time as the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Herbert Packer, was refitted in 1955-6 and decommissioned, 18 months later in December 1957, when the ship’s update was cancelled in April 1957. She was approved for disposal 2 years later and arrived at the Dalmuir yards of Arnott Young on 8 August 1960 to be stored, waiting to be eventually scrapped. This did not happen, though.

In parallel, the Royal Navy was undergoing severe structural changes: In 1957, the Royal Navy had 21 cruisers, 9 of them in operation, but by 1961 the cruiser fleet had declined to 9 of which 5 were in service. By that time, the revised Tiger Class had been put into service (HMS Tiger was the first converted ship), but its automated weapons turned out to be unreliable and ineffective. One reason for this was that the Tigers’ revised weapon fit was based upon immediate post war requirements, and by the late Fifties her 6 inch turrets were insufficient to guarantee surface fire and were even less effective in the AA role due to improvements in missiles and aircraft. Furthermore, the basic fit of three twin 3 inch turrets was poor for effective, reliable coverage of the fire arcs – even more so without the L60 40mm Bofors guns or twin L70 40mm Bofors guns approved in 1954/57 as essential for CIWS. But the Tigers had no lighter anti-aircraft armament, and also lacked torpedo tubes.
Furthermore, the crew lacked space and comfort, even though air conditioning was fitted throughout the ship, and a 200-line automatic telephone exchange was installed.

HMS Tiger’s first captain (Captain Washbourn) said that the ship “(…) had been designed to cope with nuclear attacks, in that she can steam for up to a fortnight through radio-active fall-out with remotely controlled boiler and engine and armament operating with re-circulating purified air below decks, and could operate as a fighting unit even if a nuclear bomb was dropped nearby." However, in real life, the Tigers were not the modern, well-armed, fast, long range cruisers, likely to be “effective ships for a long period to come, and especially is this true east of Suez, where distances are so gigantic." Despite the many deficits, HMS Tiger and its sister ships Blake and Lion were accepted by the Navy in 1959 in order to fill the gaps among operational Royal Navy ships.

The ships’ career was lackluster, and in 1966, the decision was made to convert the Tiger Class ships into "helicopter and command cruisers" from 1968-72 in HMNB Devonport. This reconstruction included a thorough reconstruction of the upper structures and of the ship’s rear section, and beyond the modernized hulls of Tiger, Lion and Blake, Superb (still moored at Dalmuir, but surprisingly well preserved) was also chosen for a thorough conversion and further modernization.

In order to accommodate a flying deck, the ships’ hull rear section was widened and the aft 6 inch and 3 inch mounts were removed. Instead, a large, even deck and a hangar underneath to store and operate four helicopters was installed, together with a lift in an armored deck hangar bay.

When these plans were announced to Parliament in March 1964, it was said that the Navy did "not expect this conversion work to be difficult or particularly expensive". The refits were planned to take 18 months and to cost £5 million each, and the Tiger class update program was executed. Despite its rather derelict condition, Superb was the first ship to be modified, in order to test the plan and to have a benchmark for the other conversions.

Superb was earmarked to be given an even more thorough change, with a lengthened hull, that not only resulted in a larger flight deck with three landing pads instead of only two on the other ships. A 66’5” plug was inserted in front of the hangar section, and the resulting gain in internal space would now allow to store six helicopters and more fuel to operate them.

Superb’s upper structure was different from the other Tiger-Class cruisers, with an additional structure between the hangar and the command section ahead. The space was direly needed for crew accommodation: With the ship's helicopter squadron added, the ship's peacetime complement increased to 985 (95 officers and 870 ratings). The original Tigers had, before their conversion, a complement of roughly 720 men, and this had already been quite cramped. The other, later Tiger ships had, after their modernization, still a crew of round 880 men.

The modified upper structure of Superb was, however, also used for more sophisticated radar systems, which would allow long-range air space observation. The original two separate funnels for the four engines were grouped into a single structure, what made room for a second antenna array mast.

The ship’s armament was modified, too. Only the automatic 6 in turret on the front deck remained as gun armament, the former 3 in station behind it was replaced with a SeaDart SAM launcher against airborne attackers at medium range and altitude. In order to protect the ship from incoming aircraft and esp. modern, low-flying missiles at closer range, a pair of 20mm Oerlikon guns were added, as well as three automated Raytheon Phalanx CIWS 20 mm close-range Gatling guns, one placed on each side of the hull and the third one on top of the hangar structure.

In this new guise, the ship was re-christened Cerberus (C22), and even though she differed considerably from its shorter sister ships Tiger (C20), Lion (C34) and Blake (C99), Cerberus was still counted to the Tiger-class of cruisers. They all had, after the renovation, excellent command, control and communications facilities installed, and found use as flagships to task groups.

Despite the high costs and the extensive modernization phase, Cerberus was eventually recommissioned on 6 May 1972. The reconstruction of Superb, Blake, Lion and Tiger was examined in the third report of the Public Accounts Committee for 1972. Michael Barnes said in parliament that the refits "show too lax an attitude towards the way in which the taxpayers' money is being spent". "...”, but in the end, the Tiger-Class refit took over five years and cost over £28 million. Rear-Admiral Morgan-Giles suggested bringing the full-fledged aircraft carrier HMS Eagle back into commission instead of manning the Tiger-Class cruisers, which he said were "among the worst abortions which have ever been thrust on the Royal Navy."

The Tigers’ large crew (and esp. Cerberus with 100 men on top) made them expensive ships to operate and maintain, and the complex systems, esp. the aircraft infrastructure, raised operational costs even further. When the economic difficulties of the late seventies came around, this led to a defense manpower drawdown that resulted in manpower shortages. As consequence Cerberus was, together with the other Tiger ships, placed in reserve again in 1978. She was decommissioned on 4 May 1979 and soon put on the disposal list, but Cerberus and her sister-ships remained listed as part of the Standby Squadron, moored inactive at HMNB Chatham until further notice.

When the Falklands War broke out in early April 1982, the Tiger-Class ships were rapidly surveyed and it was determined that HMS Tiger and HMS Cerberus were still in very good material shape. Both were immediately dry-docked (Tiger in Portsmouth and Cerberus at Chatham) and recommissioning work was begun.

Whilst there was speculation that their remaining 6-inch guns would be useful for shore bombardment, the real reason for their potential deployment was the size of their flight decks (Cerberus offered the third largest in the Royal Navy at that time, after the aircraft carriers Hermes and Invincible, Tiger came in the fourth place).They offered the potential to use them as mobile forward operating and refueling bases for Task Force (Sea) Harriers, even though their benefit would be more as platforms to extend the range and endurance of the Harriers and as a refueling stop on the way back to the carriers, rather than as somewhere to operate offensive missions from.

Cerberus was intended to place two pairs of Sea Harriers as an extended-range CAP (Combat Air Patrol) ahead of the two carriers, reducing their own exposure to air strikes, but the need to take off vertically rather than the use of a ski-jump severely reduced the Harriers' endurance and weapons carrying capability. Two Sea Kings would also be carried for SAR and aerial surveillance missions, and there were plans to use the ship as launch platform for small commando troops on helicopters.

The British government had no contingency plan for an invasion of the islands, and the British task force was rapidly put together from whatever vessels were available, including HMS Cerberus. The nuclear-powered submarine Conqueror set sail from France on 4 April, whilst the two aircraft carriers Invincible and Hermes, in the company of escort vessels, left Portsmouth only a day later. The whole task force eventually comprised 127 ships: 43 Royal Navy vessels, 22 Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships and 62 merchant ships.

The retaking of the Falkland Islands was considered extremely difficult. The chances of a British counter-invasion succeeding were assessed by the US Navy, according to historian Arthur Herman, as "a military impossibility". Firstly, the British were significantly constrained by the disparity in deployable air cover. The British had 42 aircraft (28 Sea Harriers and 14 Harrier GR.3s) available for air combat operations, against approximately 122 serviceable jet fighters, of which about 50 were used as air superiority fighters and the remainder as strike aircraft, in Argentina's air forces during the war. Crucially, the British lacked airborne early warning and control (AEW) aircraft with suitable range - the Sea King AEW helicopters were only able to cover the direct vicinity of the carriers, in order to protect them from Exocet missile attacks from vessels and aircraft.

HMS Cerberus was ordered on 2 April 1982 to join the task force being assembled to retake the islands. Ammunition and supplies were taken on board. To avoid her being mistaken for Argentinean cruisers, a vertical black marking was painted on the funnel and down to the side to her waterline to aid recognition – a marking that soon disappeared after initial battle contacts, because Argentinian Skyhawk pilots used these markings as visual aims to place their bombs!

Departing for the South Atlantic HMS Cerberus reached Ascension Island on 10 April, sailing from there on 14 April accompanied by HMS Arrow, HMS Brilliant, HMS Coventry, HMS Glasgow and HMS Sheffield to be later joined by RFA Appleleaf. They joined other vessels of the Task Force 317 and commenced operations in the Total Exclusion Zone around the Falklands on 1 May 1982.

It was British policy that any Royal Navy vessel that suspected it might be under missile attack would turn toward the threat, accelerate to maximum speed and fire chaff to prevent the ship being caught defenseless again. The codeword used to start this procedure was 'handbrake', which had to be broadcast once the signal of the Super E Agave radar of Super Étendard aircraft was picked up.

Cerberus was first detected by an Argentine Naval Aviation Lockheed SP-2H Neptune (2-P-112) patrol aircraft at 07:50 on 4 May 1982. The Neptune kept the British ships under surveillance, verifying their position again at 08:14 and 08:43. Two Argentine Navy Super Étendards, both armed with AM39 Exocets, took off from Río Grande naval air base at 09:45. At 10:35, the Neptune climbed to 1,170 meters (3,840 ft) and detected two large and two medium-sized contacts. A few minutes later, the Neptune contacted the Super Étendards with this information. Flying at very low altitude at approximately 10:50, both Super Étendards climbed to 160 meters (520 ft) to verify these contacts but failed to locate them and returned to low altitude. 25 miles (40 km) later they climbed again and, after a few seconds of scanning, the targets appeared on their radar screens.

Both pilots loaded the coordinates into their weapons systems, returned to low level, and after last minute checks, each launched an AM39 Exocet missile at 11:04 while 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 km) away from their targets.

One of these Exocets struck Cerberus, even though the missile was detected and a SeaDart ASM launched on short notice to counter it - but without success. The Exocet hit and impacted on the starboard side at deck level 2, traveling through the junior ratings' scullery and breaching the Forward Auxiliary Machinery Room/Forward Engine Room bulkhead 2.4 meters (7 ft 10 in) above the waterline, creating a hole in the hull roughly 1.2 by 3 meters (3.9 by 9.8 ft). Cerberus’ second line of defense, the Phalanx CIWS, though, apparently hit the missile and damaged it, because the warhead did not explode. Nevertheless, the missile’s initial impact disabled the ship's electrical distribution systems and breached the pressurized sea water fire main, severely hampering any potential firefighting response. With this severe damage, doubts about the ship's self-defense capabilities and a crew of almost 1.000 men exposed to further attacks, Cerberus was retired and sent back home. Before leaving the theatre of operation on 6 May, Cerberus’ complement of four Sea Harriers and two Sea Kings, together with their crews and maintenance personnel, was transferred to HMS Hermes.

Another ship from the same group, HMS Sheffield, was hit by the other Exocet missile and sank after fire broke out. The loss of Sheffield was a deep shock to the British public and government and justified the decision to save Cerberus and its crew from a similar fate with potentially disastrous outcome.

Back in Great Britain, Cerberus was immediately decommissioned again and tied to a mooring buoy in Portsmouth harbor. After the hostilities in the Southern Atlantic had ended, Chile showed a faint interest in acquiring the Tiger-Class ships, but this did not get past the discussion stage. Cerberus existed in a slowly deteriorating condition until mid-1986 and, following competitive tendering, she was sold for scrap to Desguaces Varela of Spain. She was towed to Spain and scrapping started in October 1986.

General characteristics:

• Class and type: Tiger-class light cruiser
• Displacement: 11.170 tons standard, 13.530 tons deep load
• Length: 622.1 ft (189.9 m) overall
• Beam: 64 ft (20 m)
• Draught: 21 ft (6.4 m)
• Complement: 985

Propulsion:

• 4× Admiralty-type three drum boilers (400 psi), driving 4× Parsons shaft steam turbines, producing 80,000 shp

Performance:

• Speed: 31.5 knots (58 km/h)
• Range: 2,000 nautical miles (3,704 km) at 30 knots (55.6 km/h)
  • 4,000 nautical miles (7,408 km) at 20 knots (37.0 km/h)
  • 6,500 nautical miles (12,038 km) at 13 knots (24.1 km/h)

Sensors and processing systems:

Types 278, 903 (x4), 965M, 992Q radars, Types 174, 176 and 185 sonars

Armament:

• 2× 6-inch (1 × 2) guns
• 1× Sea Dart SAM missile system (1 × 2)
• 2× Oerlikon 20 mm cannons
• 3 × Raytheon Phalanx CIWS 20 mm close-range Gatling guns
• SeaGnat launchers for chaff or flare decoys
• Up to six aircraft; initially only helicopters (Westland Wessex, then Sea King), but later Hawker Sea Harrier VTOL aircraft could be operated, too

The model and its assembly:
Well, I am treading on hazardous terrain with this one, but I like the challenge. I have built some ships in the past, including some of Matchbox’ waterline models in 1:100, but that was decades ago. I have never built Matchbox’ HMS Tiger before, though, but I found the concept of a WWII cruiser turned into a quasi-modern heli carrier so absurd that the ship lent itself as basis. My initial idea was to create a fictional Royal Navy Tiger-class ship, but with Sea Harriers on board, part of Task Force 317 that took part in the Falklands conflict. For that purpose I had already stashed away a Revell HMS Invincible, primarily for the Sea Harriers, which are not available as aftermarket sets (e .g. from Trumpeter – you only get AV-8Bs, and the difference is quite visible).

However, for a what-if model, OOB is never enough – with the Invincible kit at hand I quickly considered some transplants and detail changes, and finally I wanted to enlarge the landing deck for more traffic and operational security. This called for a hull extension, and this is where the real adventure began.

I found a straight hull section around the hangar area, and with an L-shaped cut the ship was cut in two pieces. A 3cm 1.5mm styrene plug, together with internal stiffeners, was implanted, and the landing deck replaced with a tailored piece of 0.5mm styrene sheet.

The section between the hangar and the command structure was totally changed with parts from the Invincible’s kit, including a twin funnel that replaces Tiger’s separate funnels. The masts were also modified – the rear mast come from the Tiger, but made slightly taller, while the front mast comes from Invincible, but it was shortened.

The Invincible kit was furthermore used a donor bank for the modified armament and the aircraft models (4 Sea Harriers, 2 SeaKings, (one of them an AEW.2 with a retracted radome) and a Lynx).

Painting and markings:
Since I like subtle what-if models, I stayed close to the paint scheme of the real HMS Tiger: all upper structures in a uniform light grey (I assume it is RN “Light Weatherwork Grey”, BS 381C 676? But I am absolutely NO expert when it comes to ship camouflage and the respective authentic tones!) with a black waterline, together with deck surfaces in very dark grey (black?) and sea green. I used, after an unsuccessful experiment with FS 16473 (ADC Grey, from Modelmaster), which turned out to have a weird, greenish touch, Humbrol 127 (FS 36375), Revell 9 (Anthracite) and Humbrol 88 (Royal Navy Deck Green).

Due to the small scale of the model I added only a VERY light black ink washing for more contrast between the single structures and surfaces and to point out details on the hull. The whole painting process turned out to be nightmare, because there are so many edges and small parts – I know now (again) why I am not a fan of small-scale ship models!

The quick ID marker for British aircraft was created with black decal sheet material – very simple and effective. The landing deck markings come partly from the HMS Tiger OOB sheet, but some more white stripes were added. The tactical codes on the flanks and on the landing deck were created with single letters in black and white in various sizes. While the font is not exactly RN-like (it should be more squared), it works well.

Finally, the model received a coat with matt acrylic varnish from the rattle can, and final details were added, like the lifeboats (which received, according to real life pictures, different liveries in bright red and a dull dark blue), a crane and the aircraft – the Sea Kings and three Sea Harriers were painted in Dark Sea Grey while one Sea Harrier and the Lynx received a dark blue/white “peacetime livery”, in order to add some highlights to the flight deck.

Well, the first 1:700 ship model after years, and probably the last one for the next decades. This is not my home turf, but I am happy that I used the group build to motivate myself enough to tackle it. I am not 100% satisfied with the outcome, but that’s due to the many conversions and my lack of ship building experience. And the latetr A.I.-generated scenic shots based on the model "hide" the biggest flaws and do the model more justice. ;-)
In the end, I can live with HMS Cerberus, since I was able to turn my ideas into model hardware – and overall the ship does not look bad or implausible at all?

Some background:
The Type 99 armored 8x8 Command Car in Special Vehicles Section service with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD) was both a successor for the rather simple Type 97 Command Car as well as a complement to the agile but diminuitive Type 98 Command Car that was introduced a year later.

The Type 97 Command Car was a 4x4 command vehicle, designed to support and command labors such as the AV-98 Ingram and MPL-97S Python from the rear. Unlike the Type 98, which is primarily designed for single-person operation ansd scouting missions esp. In an urban environment, the Type 97 was larger and offered ample interior space, capable of transporting personnel beyond its command mission. This unarmed but lightly armored vehicle carried backup personnel who give instructions to forward personnel (Patlabor crew members) on-site. It is effectively a small armored vehicle equipped with all the necessary equipment for use on-site, possessing both the mobility to follow a patrol labor into the scene and the defensive capabilities to command at dangerous Labor crime scenes. In some cases, the platoon leader also can command from atop this vehicle. It boasted external loudspeakers for commanding purposes and floodlights as well. The rear of the Type 97 Labor Command Vehicle had a simple bed, which could be used as a substitute ambulance or a makeshift bed for overnight stays at the scene. On the other hand, communication and information functions were provided by two separate systems, one in the driver's seat and the other on the command platform on the roof – even though the vehicle was usually operated only by a single person, the „attached“ Labors’ pilot.

This on-on-one support vehicle concept was soon found to be ineffective, though, because the Type 97 was simply too small to fulfill more than a „mobile command post“ mission, more capabilities and esp. cargo space for equipment and staff were required, together with compact dimensions so that urban environment deployment was still feasible. The main idea was to allow not only the back-up commander from the rear line to guide the Labor pilot more effectively, a mechanic or other support staff should also be carried, together with tools for basic field maintenance and ad hoc repairs. Alternatively, more staff should be carried, with options to create space for up to four folding beds.

Since there was no time or budget to develop a dedicated police vehicle, the resulting TMPD Type 99 Command Car vehicle was the hardware adaptation of the JGSDF Type 96 8x8 RCV and personnel transporter vehicle family, with only minimal changes for a quick service introduction among police units. Most of the TMPD Type 97‘s communication equipment was retained, even though an encrypted laser communication system was added to prevent radio jamming and bugging. For urban police use on public roads the vehicle received smaller wheels with shot-resistant street profile tyres, optimized for on-road handling and comfort, even though the Type 99 retained its 8x8 drivetrain and off-road capabilities.

As a novelty, having learned from initial Labor crime deployments in 1999, the new vehicle was allowed to be armed, even though no heavy weaponry (esp. against armored Labors) was allowed by the government. Armament was taken over from the JGSDF vehicle but adapted to rather defensive police duties. It consisted of a light 7.62 mm Type 74 machine gun on the roof in a remote-controlled motorized barbette that could be aimed and fired from the inside as well as via remote radio signals from the outside. Ammunition was restricted to rubber bullets for riot control, though, and no “sharp” ammunition was carried. Another less visible on-board weapon was a 40 mm automatic grenade launcher in the roof. Built by Howa it fired 40x56mm grenades from 50-round belts. It weighed 24.5 kg and fired up to 350 rounds per minute, even though single shots or short bursts of up to 5 rounds were typical. The ammunition range included smoke, IR smoke, flash, stun/concussion grenades, but HE and fragmentation grenades could also be fired if cleared for service.

Specifications:
Crew: Two (commander/radio operator, driver/mechanic) plus up to 8 passengers
Weight: 15 t (15 long tons; 17 short tons)
Length: 7.20 m (23 ft 7 in)
Width: 3.36 m (11 ft) incl. rear-view mirrors
Height: 3,54 m (11 ft 7¼ in) with flashlights
Ground clearance:0.45 m (1 ft 6 in)
Suspension: Coil springs
Fuel capacity: 720 liters (160 imp gal; 190 US gal)

Armor:
Kevlar laminate plates and rolled homogeneous aluminum armor up to 15 mm (0.6 in)

Performance:
Maximum road speed: 100 km/h (62 mph)
Operational range: 500 km (310 mi)
Power/weight: 20.3 hp/t (15.1 kW/t)

Engine & transmission:
Yotsubushi Heavy Industries 10PBI 4-stroke V10 liquid-cooled diesel
with an output of 305 hp (227 kW) at 2,700 rpm

Armament:
1× Type 74 machine gun with 400 rounds in magazine, plus 4.000 rounds in store
1× 40 mm Howa Type 96 automatic grenade launcher (AGL) with a 50 round belt

A preface:
This is a kind of prelude for better understanding of the kit's origin, intention and what I made from it. I procured Kotobukiya's first MSG vehicles set kits soon after their release, 2010 or so, dircetly from Japan, with the vague plan to use them in mecha dioramas, because. they offer some interesting building options like an armored excavator. Any they were quite cheap at the time of their release: just 1.200 yen (about EUR 12,- at that time) then;, which is today less than EUR 7,-/USD 8, and they were quite affordable – then.

However, when they arrived I was greatly disappointed because each of the kits is just a single vehicle (the box art suggests two), and you get parts to just create one of the types shown on the box - more or less a universal chassis with add-ons.

Then, both kits/sets are basically the same, but it's not obvious or what you'd expect: the chassis only differs through 8x8 wheels vs. tracks - with the benefit, that all "toppings" might be fully interchangeable, though. Then, the kits are VERY toylike, effectively snap-fit models with very rough details, even with poor solutions. And, worst of all: they are a kind of box-scale. I should have been warned because scale information is lacking on the boxes. I had naively expected a 1:72 scale, so that combining them with usual mecha kits in popular scales (that's how the kits were explicitly advertised!) would be easy and actually the idea behind their design and marketing. It's hard to tell what scale these things actually are, esp. when the parts are still bagged and on their sprues, somewhere between 1:72 and 1:48...

No, instead you get half-baked and IMHO poor toy stuff, "Made in China". So, highly disappointed, I put them on the large "shelf of doom" to collect dust, for years, until I recently remembered them and the Bandai Patlabor kits' odd if not unique 1:60 scale. Maybe [u]that [/u]could be a match and finally a motivation to build them?

I also considered selling them, because today these early MSG kits go for insane prices, esp. when you see what you get: EUR 75,- for NIB/mint kits is common (10 times what they were issued for. WTF?!?), and they even do not appear to be actually rare?!? But, no, I eventually followed my inspiration and will build (and improve!) them into something that fits into the Patlabor universe…

The (first) kit and its assembly:
Kit set #1 was easily destined to become a TMPD vehicle in the colors/markings of SV2/2nd Division's use, the police unit around which the original Patlabor TV series was centered. The optional missile launcher parts ended up in the donor bank.

Work started straightforward with the hull - being a snap-fit fit assemby was basically quick., but I enhanced things with glue and some PSR to hide the most obvious seams. Since the parts come with lots of holes on the surface to attach things or other superstructures, I hid them under styrene plates, too.

Everything is quite chunky and rather robust than "model-like", and the IMHO biggest weakness of the MSG #1 kit are the wheels. They are molded single pieces, with soft and toylike details, very large, and - worst - hollow, which is well visible from certain angles. Anything else was acceptable, with the Bandai Parlabor kits as "quality benchmark", but the wheels required an upgrade.

That led to a replacement/donor parts safari, and I ended up first with several 1:72 8x8 kits, but was eventually pleased to stumble upon resin aftermarket sets for various armored vehicles from OKB Grigorov from Bulgaria. They do excellent stuff, with seamless cast and great detail, and I eventually went for a street tyre set for Revell's 1:72 Luchs 8x8 scout tank.

These wheels were slightly smaller in diamater and width than the OOB parts, but that was a deliberate choice to slightly lower the vehicle and make more realistic room in the wheel arches.

That, however, called for a scratched suspension to connect the totally different wheels with the OOB attachment points. After some experiments I went for a rather simple solution: styrene tube spacers, outfitted with matching adapters on the wheels' back side, and supplemented with rough shock absorbers on the hull to stabilize things further, All this was left rather rough, because the solid wheels would later hide most of the effort, and anything would disappear in/under black paint.

Painting and markings:
Both simple and challenging at the same time. As a Japanese police vehicle the livery was easily determined: all-over white, with a black lower body and a low straight waterline – and there are several Patlabor vehicles from the TV series and movies as reference.

Body and superstructure were painted separately, and, like the separate wheels, first treated with a coat of white acrylic primer (Vallejo),and then with RAL 9016 (Verkehrsweiss). The lower hull was then painted with flat black (Humbrol 33) and slightly dry-brushed to emphasize contours.The wheels received white hubs and the tyres were painted with Revell 09 (RAL 7021; Anthrazit) and later also dry-brushed with grey and chocolate brown to work out the profile.

All parts received a light black ink washing to work out recesses, edges and panel lines, and then the decals were applied. I did not print Japanese tags for the flanks and only gave the vehicle individual codes. The registration plate (which probably should rather be green on white, not v .v., for a public use truck) was printed on paper and then mounted to front and back.

The characteristic black „police car chevron“ at the front, under the Imperial Chrysanthemum badge (created manually with a gold lacquer pen) was done with black decal material. Then the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.

As a late addition I scratched a flashlight bar from clear sprue material (inspired by the canonical small Type 98 Command Car’s design) and added several whip antennae made from heate black sprue material.

Well, a compact armored car, and as a Patlabor universe police vehicle the thing looks the part – even though it’s chunky and toylike. And it also has major logical flaws: for instance, it totally lacks ANY crew entry hatch on the flanks or at the rear! Entry is only possible through roof hatches, which is not very practical… However, the different wheels improve the impression a lot, and it its simple white-and-black Japanese police livery the 8x8 truck looks quite plausible, even though I am still not certain about the model’s scale! I put it next to a 1:60 Bandai AV-98 Ingram model, and it appears slightly bigger in scale to me? But maybe it’s just the vehicle’s bulky and boxy shape…

Some (fictional) background:
A monitor is a class of relatively small warship that is lightly armoured, often provided with disproportionately large guns, and originally designed for coastal warfare. The term "monitor" grew to include breastwork monitors, the largest class of riverine warcraft known as river monitors and was sometimes used as a generic term for any turreted ship. In the early 20th century, the term "monitor" included shallow-draft armoured shore bombardment vessels, particularly those of the Royal Navy: the Lord Clive-class monitors carried guns that fired the heaviest shells ever used at sea and saw action against German targets during World War I.

Two small Royal Navy monitors from the First World War, Erebus and Terror survived to fight in the Second World War. When the requirement for shore support and strong shallow-water coastal defence returned, new monitors and variants such as coastal defence ships were built. Allied monitors saw service in the Mediterranean in support of the British Eighth Army's desert and Italian campaigns, and they were part of the offshore bombardment for the Invasion of Normandy in 1944.

During the First World War, the Royal Navy developed several classes of ships which were designed to give close support to troops ashore through the use of naval bombardment. The size of the various monitor classes of the Royal Navy and their armaments varied greatly. The Marshal Ney class was the United Kingdom's first attempt at a monitor carrying 15 in (381 mm) guns, two of these ships were eventually built and showed a disappointing performance. The Admiralty immediately began the design of a replacement class, which incorporated lessons learned from all of the previous monitor classes commissioned during the war. Some of the main modifications were an increase in the power supply to guarantee a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) and a change to the angles and lines of the hull to improve steering. Another significant change was to raise the top of the anti-torpedo bulge above the waterline and reduce its width; both changes would improve the stability and maneuverability of the ship at sea. The new design would later be named the Erebus-class, the first ship being launched in June 1916. Two ships were built and took part in WWI, but the Admiralty was not fully convinced with these ships, which also had shown major operational flaws, and requested in early 1918 three ship from another monitor class with higher firepower and better performance at sea, which led to the Trebuchet-class – even though it came too late to take part in any hostilities.

The class’ ships were to be the name-giving HMS Trebuchet, HMS Mangonel and HMS Ludgar. The latter would be the first and eventually become the class' only ship, because Trebuchet and Mangonel were quickly cancelled. HMS Ludgar was named after the famous, probably largest trebuchet ever made, also known as “Warwolf”, which had been created in Scotland by order of King Edward I of England, during the siege of Stirling Castle, as part of the Scottish Wars of Independence. Still seeing a need for this specialized ship for local conflicts in the British Empire around the world, Ludgar was proceeded with and laid down at Harland and Wolff's shipyard in Govan on 12 October 1918.

Due to the lack of wartime pressure, though, Ludgar took three years to complete and was launched on 19 June 1920. The new design was a thorough re-modelling of the earlier Royal Navy Monitors, even though most basic features and the general layout were retained - with all its benefits and flaws. Overall the ship was slightly larger than its direct predecessors, the Erebus-class monitors. Ludgar had a crew of 224, 9,090 long tons (9,185 t) loaded displacement, was 436 ft (133.1 m) long, 97 ft (29.6 m) wide with a draught of just 11 ft 8 in (3.6 m, less than a destroyer) for operations close to the coastline. Power was provided by four Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers, which would generate a combined 6,000 ihp (4,500 kW) that were produced by triple-expansion steam engines with two shafts. The monitor had an operational range of 2,480 nmi (4,590 km; 2,850 mi) at a speed of 12 knots.

HMS Ludgar’s deck armor would range from 1 in (25 mm) on the forecastle, through 2 in (51 mm) on the upper deck and 4 in (102 mm) over the magazine and belt. Unlike former British monitors, the Trebuchet Class featured two main turrets, which were each armed with two 15 in guns, what considerably improved the ship’s rate of fire. With the main 15 in guns being originally intended for use on a battleship, the armor for the turrets was substantially thicker than elsewhere in the design; with 13 in (330 mm) on the front, 11 in (279 mm) on the other sides and 5 in (127 mm) on the roof. The main guns' barbettes would be protected by 8 in (203 mm) of armor. Learning from the earlier experience with Ney, the turrets were adjusted to increase elevation to 30 degrees, which would add greater firing range. The 15 in guns had a muzzle velocity of 2,450 feet per second (750 m/s) – 2,640 feet per second (800 m/s), with supercharge. Maximum firing range was 33,550 yards (30,680 m) with a Mk XVIIB or Mk XXII streamlined shell u-30° – 37,870 yards (34,630 m) @ 30°, with supercharges.

Just like on former British monitor ship designs, the turrets had to be raised high above the deck to allow the small draught, what raised the ship’s center of gravity and required a relatively wide hull to ensure stability.

The tall conning tower was protected by 6 in (152 mm) of armor on the sides and 2.5 in (64 mm) on the roof. The former monitors retrofitted anti-torpedo bulges were integrated into the Trebuchet-class’ hull, extending the deck’s width and giving the ship a more efficient shape, even though the short and wide hull still did not support a good performance at sea. The outer air-filled compartments under the waterline were 13 ft (4 m) wide with a 9 ft (2.7 m) wide outer section and an inner compartment 4 ft (1.2 m) wide containing an array of protective, air-filled steel tubes which would take the blast from an eventual broadside torpedo hit.

Ludgar conducted sea trials on 1 September 1921, during which the ship was faster than her predecessors at 16.5 knots (30 km/h; 19 mph) compared to 13 knots (24.3 km/h; 15.1 mph) for the Erebus-class monitors. However, like her ancestors, the wide and shallow hull of Ludgar made the ride rather unstable, and under practical conditions the ship’s top speed rarely exceeded 14 knots, making Ludgar only marginally faster than older monitor ships. The inherent flaws of the ship class’ design could not easily be overcome. However, Ludgar was officially commissioned on 2 September.

Upon entering service Ludgar was immediately deployed to the eastern Mediterranean as part of the 1st Battle Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet to mediate conflicts between Greece and the crumbling Ottoman Empire. While in the Ottoman capital Constantinople, Ludgar and the other British warships took on White émigrés fleeing the Communist Red Army.

The 1922 Washington Naval Treaty cut the battleship strength of the Royal Navy from forty ships to fifteen. The remaining active battleships were divided between the Atlantic and Mediterranean Fleets and conducted joint operations annually. Ludgar remained with the Mediterranean through 1926. On 4 October 1927, the ship was placed in reserve to effect a major refit, in which new rangefinders and searchlights were installed and the ship's original secondary armament, eight 4 inch naval guns against enemy destroyers and torpedo boats, was replaced be anti-aircraft guns of the same caliber.

On 15 May 1929 the refit was finished, and the ship was assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet. The squadron also consisted of Royal Sovereign, her sisters Resolution and Revenge, and Queen Elizabeth, and based in Malta. The only changes made during the Thirties were augmentations to Ludgar’s anti-aircraft batteries.

Fleet exercises in 1934 were carried out in the Bay of Biscay, followed by a fleet regatta in Navarino Bay off Greece. In 1935, the ship returned to Britain for the Jubilee Fleet Review for King George V. In August 1935, Ludgar was transferred to the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet, where she served as a training vessel until 2 June 1937, when she was again placed in reserve for a major overhaul. This lasted until 18 February 1938, after which she returned to the 2nd Battle Squadron.

In early 1939, the Admiralty considered plans to send Ludgar to Asia to counter Japanese expansionism. They reasoned that the then established "Singapore strategy", which called for a fleet to be formed in Britain to be dispatched to confront a Japanese attack was inherently risky due to the long delay. They argued that a dedicated battle fleet would allow for faster reaction. The plan was abandoned, however. In the last weeks of August 1939, the Royal Navy began to concentrate in wartime bases as tensions with Germany rose.

At the outset of war in September 1939, Ludgar was assigned to the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet but remained at Plymouth for a short refit. In May 1940, painted in an overall light grey livery, she moved to the Mediterranean Fleet. There she was based in Alexandria, together with the battleships Warspite, Malaya, and Valiant, under the command of Admiral Andrew Cunningham.

In mid-August 1940, while steaming in the Red Sea, Royal Sovereign was attacked by the Italian submarine Galileo Ferraris and lightly damaged. Later that month, she returned to Alexandria for repairs and she received false white wakes at front and stern to simulate speed and confuse enemies. At the same time the conning tower was painted in a very light grey to make it less conspicuous when the ship was lurking behind the horizon. These were combined with periodic maintenance and the stay at dock lasted until November 1940.

Ludgar then moved to North Africa where she supported Operation Compass, the British assault against the Italian Tenth Army in Libya. The monitor shelled Italian positions at Maktila in Egypt on the night of 8 December, as part of the Battle of Sidi Barrani, before coming under the command of Captain Hector Waller's Inshore Squadron off Libya on 13 December. During the successful advance by the Western Desert Force Terror bombarded Italian land forces and fortifications, amongst others the fortified port of Bardia in eastern Libya on 16 December. After the Bardia bombardment concern was raised about the condition of the 15 in gun barrels which had been fitted, having been previously used, in 1939. The barrels were inspected by Vice Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham and the order was given for Ludgar to reduce the amount of cordite used when firing the main guns, in an attempt to extend the weapons' useful life. In a further attempt to conserve the monitor's main guns, her duties were changed to concentrate on providing anti-aircraft cover for the rest of the squadron and to ferry supplies from Alexandria. The ship also served as a water carrier for the advancing British and Commonwealth army.

Along with the flotilla leader Stuart, the gunboat Gnat and the destroyers Vampire and Voyager, Ludgar supported the assault on Tobruk on 21 January 1941 by the 6th Australian Division with the port being secured on 22nd. By this point the monitor's main gun barrels had each fired over 600 rounds of ammunition and the rifling had been worn away. While the main guns could still be fired, the shots would rarely land accurately and frequently exploded in mid-air. Ludgar was now relegated solely to the role of a mobile anti-aircraft platform and her light anti-aircraft armament was supplemented by two triple two-pounder anti-aircraft guns, mounted in armored turrets in front of the bridge and on a small platform at stern. To make room for the latter the original locations of the ship's lifeboats was moved from stern to the main deck behind the funnel, and a large crane was added there to put them afloat. The crane was also able to deploy a light reconnaissance float plane - and for a short period in early 1941 Ludgar carried a Fairey Seafox biplane, despite having neither catapult nor hangar. However, since the aircraft was exposed to the elements all the time and quite vulnerable, it soon disappeared.

At this phase the ship started sporting an unofficial additional camouflage which consisted of irregular small patches in sand, brown and khaki over her basic grey livery, apparently applied in situ with whatever suitable paint the crew could get their hands on, probably both British Army and even captured Italian paints. The objective was to better hide the ship against the African coastline when supporting land troops.

In March 1941, Ludgar was involved in Operation Lustre, the Allied reinforcement of Greece. The turn of fortune against the Allies in April required the evacuation of most of these forces, Operation Demon. On 21 April Ludgar was in Nafplio and accounted for the evacuation of 301 people, including 160 nurses. Following this, the ship became involved with the Tobruk Ferry Service, and made 11 runs to the besieged city of Tobruk before engine problems forced her withdrawal in July. Ludgar sailed again to Alexandria for repairs, which lasted from September 1941 to March 1942.

Ludgar – now re-fitted with new main gun barrels and two more Oerlikon AA machine cannon to the original complement of eight – was then assigned to Force H in the Mediterranean. Operation Torch saw British and American forces landed in Morocco and Algeria under the British First Army. Force H was reinforced to cover these landings and Ludgar provided heavy artillery support for the land-based ground troops. The end of the campaign in North Africa saw an interdiction effort on a vast scale, the aim was to cut Tunisia completely off from Axis support. It succeeded and 250,000 men surrendered to the 18th Army Group; a number equal to those who surrendered at Stalingrad. Force H again provided heavy cover for this operation.

Two further sets of landings were covered by Force H against interference from the Italian fleet. Operation Husky in July 1943 saw the invasion and conquest of Sicily, and Operation Avalanche saw an attack on the Italian mainland at Salerno. Following the Allied landings on Italy itself, the Italian government surrendered. The Italian fleet mostly escaped German capture and much of it formed the Italian Co-Belligerent Navy. With the surrender of the Italian fleet, the need for heavy units in the Mediterranean disappeared. The battleships and aircraft carriers of Force H dispersed to the Home and Eastern Fleets and the command was disbanded. Naval operations in the Mediterranean from now on would be conducted by lighter units, and Ludgar was commanded back to Great Britain, where she was put into reserve at Devonport, enhancing the station’s anti-aircraft defense.

At Devonport Ludgar was repainted in a dark grey-green Admiralty scheme and on 2 June 1944 she left Devonport again, joining Bombardment Force D of the Eastern Task Force of the Normandy invasion fleet off Plymouth two days later. At 0500 on 6 June 1944 Ludgar was the first ship to open fire, bombarding the German battery at Villerville from a position 26,000 yards offshore, to support landings by the British 3rd Division on Sword Beach. She continued bombardment duties on 7 June, but after firing over 300 shells she had to rearm and crossed the Channel to Portsmouth. She returned to Normandy on 9 June to support American forces at Utah Beach and then, on 11 June, she took up position off Gold Beach to support the British 69th Infantry Brigade near Cristot.

On 12 June she returned to Portsmouth to rearm, but her guns were worn out again, so she was ordered to sail to Rosyth via the Straits of Dover. She evaded German coastal batteries, partly due to effective radar jamming, but hit a mine 28 miles off Harwich early on 13 June. The explosion ripped her bow apart, leaving a gaping leak, and she sank within just a couple of minutes. Only 57 men of Ludgar’s crew survived.

General characteristics:
Displacement: 9,090 long tons (9,185 t)
Length: 436 ft (133.1 m) overall
Beam: 97 ft (29.6 m)
Draught: 11 ft 8 in (3.6 m)
Complement: 224

Propulsion:
4× Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers, generating
a combined 6,000 ihp (4,500 kW) via triple-expansion steam engines with two shafts

Performance:
Top speed: 16.5 knots (30 km/h; 19 mph)
Range: 2,480 nmi (4,590 km; 2,850 mi)

Armament:
2× twin BL 15-inch L42 Mk I naval guns
8 × single QF 4-inch Mk V naval guns
2 × triple two-pounder (40 mm) anti-aircraft guns
10x single Oerlikon 20mm (0.787 in) anti-aircraft machine cannon

The model and its assembly:
This 1:700 model was another submission for the "Gunships" group build at whatifmodellers.com in late 2021 - and what would such a competition be without a literal "gunship" in the form of a monitor ship? I had wanted to scratch such a vehicle for a while, and the GB was a good motivation to tackle this messy project.

The idea was to build a post-WWI monitor for the Royal Navy. From WWI, several such ships had survived and they were kept in reserve and service into WWII, some even survived this war after extensive use. However, the layout of a typical monitor ship, with low draft, a relatively wide hull and heavy armament for land bombardments, is rather special and finding a suitable basis for this project was not easy - and I also did not want to spend a fortune just in donor parts.

Then I recently came across Hobby Boss 1:700 kit of the USS Arizona (in its 1941 guise, w/o the hull barbettes), and after some comparison with real British monitors I found my starting point - and it was dirty cheap. Righteously, though, because the model is rather primitive, comparable with the simple Matchbox 1:700 waterline ships. There are also some dubious if not cringeworthy solutions. For instance, in order to provide the superstructures with open windows, the seams between the single levels run right through the windows! WTF? These seams can hardly be hidden, it's really an awkward solution. Another freak detail: the portholes on the lower hull protrude like pockmarks, in real life they'd the 1 1/2 ft (50 cm) deep?! Some details like the cranes on the upper deck are also very "robust", it is, in the end, IMHO not a good model. But it was just the starting for me for "something else"...

Modifications started with shortening the hull. Effectively, I cut out more then 3 1/2 in from the body, which is an integral part with side walls and main deck, basically any straight hull section disappeared, leaving only the bow and stern section. My hope was that these could be simple glued together for a new, wide hull - but this did not work without problems, because the rear section turned out to be a bit wider than the front. What to do...? I eventually solved this problem through wedge-shaped cuts inside of the integral railings. With some force, lots of glue and a stiffening structure inside the new hull could be completed.

Next the original turret bases had to disappear. as well as two of the four anchors and their respective chains on the foredeck. I retained as much of the original superstructure as possible, as it looked quite plausible even for a shorter ship, but since the complete hull basis for it had been gone, some adaptations had to be made. The main level was shortened a little and I had to scratch the substruction from styrene sheet, so that it would match with the stepped new hull.

At the same time I had to defined where the main turret(s) would be placed - and I settled for two, because the deck space was sufficient and the ship's size would make them appear plausible. A huge problem were the turret mounts, though - since a monitor has only little draught, the hull is not very deep. Major gun turrets are quite tall things, on battleships only the turret itself with the guns can be normally seen. But on a monitor they stand really tall above the waterline, and their foundation needs a cover. I eventually found a very nice solution in the form of 1:72 jet engine exhausts from Intech F-16s - I has a pair of these featureless parts in the spares box, and with some trimming and the transplantation of the original turtret mounts the result looks really good.

In the meantime the hull-mounted gun barbettes of USS Arizona had to disappear, together with the pockmarks on the hull. A messy affair with several PSR rounds. Furthermore, I added a bottom to the waterline hull, cut from 0.5 mm styrene sheet, and added plaster and lead beads as ballast.

Most of the superstructure, up to the conning tower, were mostly taken OOB. I just gave the ship a more delicate crane and re-arranged the lifeboats, and added two small superstructures to the rear deck as AA-stations, behind the rear tower - the space had been empty, because USS Arizona carried aircraft catapults there.

For the armament I used the OOB main turrets, but only used two of the three barrels (blanking of the opening in the middle). The 4 in guns were taken OOB to their original positions, the lighter 20 mm AA guns were partly placed in the original positions, too, and four of them went to a small platform at stern. For even more firepower I added two small turrets with three two-pounder AA guns, one on the rear deck and another right in front of the bridge.

Painting and markings:
The ship might look odd in its fragmented multi-colored camouflage - but this scheme was inspired by the real HMS Terror, an monitor that operated in early 1941 on the coast of North Africa and carried a similar makeshift camouflage. This consisted of a multitude of sand and brown tones, applied over an overall light grey base. I mimicked this design, initially giving the ship at first a uniform livery in 507b (Humbrol 64), together with an unpainted but weathered wooden deck (Humbrol 187 plus a washing with sepia ink) and horizontal metal surfaces either in a dark grey (507a, Humbrol 106) or covered with a red-brown coat of Corticene (Humbrol 62). As a personal detail I gave the ship false bow and stern waves on the hull in white. Another personal mod is the light grey (507c, Humbrol 147) conning tower - as mentioned in the background, I found that this light grey would be most useful when the ship itself was hidden behind the horizon from view, and only the conning tower would be directly visible in front of a hazy naval background.

On top of the grey hull I added several other paints, including khaki drab (FS 34087 from Modelmaster), red brown (FS 30118, Humbrol 118), khaki drill (Humbrol 72), mid stone (Humbrol 225) and light stone (Humbrol 121).

The model received an overall washing with dark grey and some rust stains with various brown and red shades of simple watercolors. The waterline was created with long and thin black 1.5 mm decal stripes, a very convenient and tidy solution. Finally, all parts were sealed with matt acrylic varnish, and after the final assembly I also added some rigging to the main mast with heated black sprue material.

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Phew, this was quite a challenge, the result looks good overall, but I am not happy with the finish. Ships are not my strength and you see the Hobby Boss kit's flaws and weaknesses everywhere. Then add massive bodywork, and thing look even more shaggy (*sigh*). Nevertheless, the model looks like a typical monitor ship, and when I take the rather crappy USS Arizona kit as basis/benchmark, the "new" HMS Ludgar is not a bad achievement. It's surely not a crisp model, but the impression is good and this is what counts most to me.