Military Model Scene

Title: British Light Cruisers ShipCraft 33
Author: Les Brown
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-3990-3753-2

'Town, Colony and Later Classes' makes up number 33 in the ShipCraft series of books from Seaforth Publishing, an imprint of Pen & Sword and it adds more to the story of Royal Navy cruisers. A 64-page soft-cover book in the well established style for this series of books for the ship modeller.
This is a third book in the ShipCraft series to tackle the topic of cruisers (number 19 & 30) as this one looks at the Light Cruisers, with the Southampton (5 vessels), Gloucester (3), Edinburgh (2), Fiji (8),Uganda (3) and Minotaur (3) classes all covered, plus the post-war Tiger class (3). Lots of detail on each ship in each class, including their basic careers, including a good selection of archive photos. Added to these there are line drawings plus colour artwork showing the various camouflage schemes worn by them over time. So plenty on the real thing but then so much more for the modeller. There are 11 pages with details of kits, conversion and detailing sets for models in a wide variety of scales, with plastic, resin, and card models, along with etched detailing and 3D printed accessories. This section is followed by 18 pages of model showcases, with 11 expertly built and presented models, in a variety of scales, including 1/700, 1/600, 1/350 and others.
Included amongst these ships are HMS Belfast, an Edinburgh Class vessel, and HMS Tiger, another well known ship from the post-war period. For me I think Belfast is one of the most attractive simply because she is now a museum ship in London, part of the Imperial War Museum, and with a great career history that should inspire anyone who has visited her. For some of us, HMS Tiger may well be remembered for a role in hosting the delegations discussing the Rhodesian declaration of independence in 1966. After that she was converted into a helicopter & command cruiser. I like these books for their combination of modelling information along with the history and detail of the real thing. Recommended for all ship modellers.
Thanks to Seaforth/Pen & Sword for our review copy.

Robin