HMS Rawalpindi
Posted by Roger Dawson on June 24, 2023, 12:29:58
The latest new model from Coastlines Models is the Armed Merchant Cruiser, HMS Rawalpindi. I had planned to cast from an original Len Jordan pattern that I had aquired after Len Jordan had deleted his L1 model and replaced it with a model of HMS Ranpura as an AMC modelled in her 1942 appearance. Len had had a prototype HMS Ranpura on show at Theale and showed it to me when delivering some lighthouse castings to me. When I asked, "Why Ranpura?" Len said he could not cast unshielded 6in guns, so I looked at Ranpura and saw that he had given her 8 guns with the later style of shield. I pointed out that Ranpura had been given 4 upgraded guns, fitted forward but the old 6in with smaller shields were retained aft. He gave me a wry smile and the production model was completed with the old-style shields aft for the next Theale meeting! The Coastlines Models Rawalpindi has been moulded from a patern that was boxed as "Comorin" which I had dug out when this Board was investigating Pedestal Models. I had not looked in the box since purchase, so it came as a shock to discover that it was Rawalpindi in 1/1250 not Comorin in 1/1200. So here you have a new model of HMS Rawalpindi with unshielded guns AND cast holes under the bridge wings (something else that Len said he could not do for me when I asked him to make a one piece mould for a ship....
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