The largest warship in the world when launched in 1918. She was the pride of the Royal Navy on sailing to intercept the Bismarck in May 1941. After making contact with the German battleship she, with HMS Prince of Wales opened fire. The Bismarck returned fire and with her 5th salvo hit the Hood a fatal blow and she sunk within two minutes. Only three crew from her total of 1,500 survived.

The most powerful battleship in the world in 1941 when she sailed to raid Allied shipping in the North Atlantic with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. After being spotted by the Royal Navy she was shadowed and then engaged. In this engagement the Bismarck sank HMS Hood. She was then damaged by at least one torpedo from attacking Swordfish, slowing her down. She was eventually sunk by torpedoes fired from Royal Naval ships with the loss of almost 1,900 crew.

One of the Town Class Batch 3 cruisers, the Belfast saw action at the Battle of the North Cape in World War II, as well as protecting the Artic convoys and taking a major role during the D-Day landings. After being refitted and seeing action in other conflicts including the Korean War, she is now preserved and anchored in the River Thames near to Tower Bridge in London.

Scale: 1:600
Skill: 3
Flying Hours: 2
Number of Parts: 131
Dimensions (mm): L530 x W75

The 83,673 ton Queen Elizabeth was the largest liner in the world when it was built at Clydebank, Scotland and launched in September 1938. She served as a troop ship throughout WWII and was completely reconditioned before entering commercial service in October 1946 on the Cunard Line’s express service between Southampton, Cherbourgh and New York. At 1031ft long, she had accommodation for more than 2000 passengers and a crew of 1290 over 13 decks.

Introduced to the RNLI in 1995, the all-weather Severn Class Lifeboat is the largest in their fleet. It has a range of 250 nautical miles and a top speed of 25 knots. It carries a powered Y boat that can be launched and recovered by a lightweight crane to enable rescues close to shore. It propellers are protected so it can take ground without damage.

In 1625 while Sweden was busy building an empire around the Baltic Sea, the Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus ordered new warships. Among them the Wasa. On its maiden voyage in 1628 the Wasa set sail and fired a salute. But only after a few minutes of sailing the ship began to heel over. She righted herself slightly - and heeled over again and, to everyones horror and disbelief, the glorious and mighty warship suddenly sank.

The Golden Hind was an English galleon best known for its global circumnavigation between 1577 and 1580, captained by Sir Francis Drake, who on his return with a haul of Spanish gold and other treasures was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

The Hind was a well armed and nimble galleon, she was orginally commissioned as The Pelican and built in Deptford, London, where she was launched in 1577.

She was the flagship of an expedition to explore the regions beyond South America commanded by Drake, with personnel support of Queen Elizabeth of England, Drake's mission became one less of exploration and more of piracy as he wreacked havoc against Spanish interests in the region.

• Launched: 1577, Deptford, London
• Displacement: 300 Tones
• Length: 120ft (37m)
• Beam: 18ft (5.5)
• Draft: 9ft (2.7m)
• Crew: 80 - 85
• Armament: 22 Guns

The Royal Navy’s destroyer, the Type 45 has the most distinctive design. Her sleekly designed straight edges and superstructure free from clutter is designed to give the ship a low radar cross section – commonly called stealth features. This is reported to give her a radar signal no larger than a fishing boat. Britain’s six Type 45 ‘Daring class’ destroyers are the most advanced escorts the nation has ever built. They are designed to shield a naval task force from air attack by using the Sea Viper missile system. Their Aster missiles can knock targets out of the sky over 70 miles away if required. The Type 45 destroyers are also capable of a range of other roles and will spend their commissions switching between them, often at short notice.

In 1768 Captain James Cook set off on a voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The expedition’s main purpose was to study and observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the sun (in conjunction with several other observations made from different locations). However, a more pragmatic reason was to be relayed to her captain by the Admiralty in additional instructions; namely to search out the southern Pacific for signs of the yet to be discovered continent we now know to be Australasia.

• Skill: 3
• Flying Hours: 3
• Number of Parts: 250

RMS Titanic was an Olympic-class passenger liner owned by the White Star Lineand built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, NI. On the night of 14 April 1912, during her maiden voyage, Titanic hit an iceberg, and sank two hours and forty minutes later, early on 15 April 1912, with the loss of 1514 luves. At the time of her launching in 1912, she was the largest passenger steamship in the world.

RMS Titanic was an Olympic-class passenger liner owned by the White Star Lineand built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, NI. On the night of 14 April 1912, during her maiden voyage, Titanic hit an iceberg, and sank two hours and forty minutes later, early on 15 April 1912, with the loss of 1,514 lives. She was the largest passenger steamship in the world at launch.

• Skill: 1
• Flying Hours: 1
• Number of Parts: 19

The Mary Rose was a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. After serving for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland and Brittany she saw her last action on 19th July 1545.

While leading the attack on the galleys of a French invasion fleet, she sank in the Solent. She now resides in a superb new exhibition site in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard.

Paint Scheme - Mary Rose

Airfix Starter Sets are ideal for beginners. Each Small Starter Set includes glue, brush and four acrylic paints - all that is needed to complete a fabulous first kit!