Exeter

One of the games I'm hoping to run at the Gosport wargames event next week is a refight of the battle of the River Plate in 1/600, using the same ground scale as the models. Simon Stokes is providing the models he used for one of the NWS games on board HMS BELFAST a few years back (most welcome as, although I've got Graf Spee in 1/600 I've not had time to make AJAX or ACHILLES). Of course, whilst Airfix do a nice model of SUFFOLK (which can be used for CUMBERLAND, en route from the Falklands to join Harwood's squadron at the time of the battle, and present at the time of Graf Spee's demise) they never got around to making a  model of EXETER. Whilst I could have done what Simon did and run a "what if?" game based on Graf Spee breaking out of Montevideo, I really wanted to recreated the original battle.  To solve this conundrum I decided to attempt a conversion based on a spare AJAX hull that I picked up many years ago. The model was pretty ropey, but given that I was converting or scratch building everything from the weatherdeck upward this wasn't really a problem. A spare SUFFOLK kit provided the 8" turrets and a multitude of detail. The results, whilst never at risk of winning any prizes for accuracy, provides a passable reproduction of EXETER, and should be fine for the game.