Rodney and Nelson

Book excerpt: “Simply the best reference for any model maker” on the most instantly recognizable British battleships in history (Warship World). The ShipCraft series provides in-depth information about building and modifying model kits of famous warship types. Lavishly illustrated, each book takes the modeler through a brief history of the subject class, highlighting differences between sisterships and changes in their appearance over their careers. This includes paint schemes and camouflage, featuring color profiles and highly detailed line drawings and scale plans. The modeling section reviews the strengths and weaknesses of available kits, lists commercial accessory sets for super-detailing of the ships, and provides hints on modifying and improving the basic kit. This is followed by an extensive photographic survey of selected high-quality models in a variety of scales, and the book concludes with a section on research references—books, monographs, large-scale plans and relevant websites. The two ships covered in this volume were the only capital ships designed and built between the wars—a special concession of the Washington Treaty’s ban on new battleships—and they were unlike anything before them, with the superstructure three-quarters aft and all main armament turrets forward of the bridge. During the war, Nelson survived mine and torpedo damage, while Rodney played a major part in the destruction of the Bismarck, both surviving to be broken up post-war.