Summary Build quality/fit and finish: good Performance in combat: TBD Overall rating: 8/10 Details The Battlers Connection's Narvik Class Destroyer hull in 1/144 scale is a solidly-built fiberglass mat and gelcoat hull. It incorporates the maximum 3/8" additional hull depth permitted under most rulesets for vessels with small displacements, improving the buildability of the hull compared to what would have inevitably otherwise been the case; nonetheless, this is far from a beginner's hull. The hull was produced from a two-part negatie mold with a very minor seam visible on the finished hull. Layup thickness was reasonably consistent, requiring minor sanding along the surface against which the subdeck mates to the hull. There were a few, small (less than half of a centimeter) areas on the outside surface of the hull where there voids between the mold and the gelcoat, all of which were corrected with very light sanding and fell within areas that would ultimately be removed during window cutting. However, like the majority of hulls on the market, the Narvik Class Destroyer hull does not include any witness marks in the gelcoat indicating the scale position of the stuffing tubes, a feature that would ease construction of a ship based upon this hull. Overall, this hull is a well-built product with few imperfections, garnering an overall rating of 8/10.
Here's a photo as I was waiting for the epoxy for the subdeck on the aft portion of the hull to cure.
The BC Z23 was originally one of my 1/144 projects, the mold being made 9-10 years ago. After a production run of about 18 hulls in Nova Scotia the mold was sold to Battlers Connection. (Around the same time BC bought Ralph Coles' Mogador mold.) As stated in the hull review the hull was made 3/8" deeper than scale, as allowed under IRCWCC rules. I later came across drawings suggesting some of the class had port and starboard bevels aft at the 'corners' where the hull sides/bottom met the transom stern, so there may be an inaccuracy in that regard. I must buy a Z23 kit from BC and see what I can do with it. The Z23 is the only one of my 12+ 1/144 hulls that I haven't attempted as an r/c combat model. Bob Pottle
