My new Triang Minic 1:1200th-scale ships

The Triang Minic ships that I recently bought via eBay have been delivered ... and I am very pleased with my purchase.

My recently purchased 'squadron' of Triang Minic 1:1200th-scale warships.

The ships are:

• The Albion-class light fleet aircraft carrier HMS Bulwark.
• The Minotaur-class light cruiser HMS Swiftsure.
• Two Daring-class destroyers (HMS Daring and HMS Dainty).
• Two Battle-class destroyers (HMAS Anzac and HMS Alamein).
• Two Whitby-class anti-submarine frigates (HMS Whitby & HMS Torquay).
• Two Type 15 anti-submarine frigates (HMS Vigilant and HMS Virago).

All-in-all, this is a very nice 'squadron' of ships to add to my collection, especially as it includes two three classes (the Battles, the Whitbys, and the Type 15s) that I was never able to buy when I was a child.

The models are quite basic and are by no means collector's models ... but they are made of metal, are robust, and certainly look reasonably convincing enough from a metre away to be useable in a wargame.

Until they arrived, I had no idea that the destroyers and the Whitby-class frigates models all shared the same model turret (the twin mounting UD Mark VI turret with quick-firing 4.5-inch/45 (114mm) Mark V guns). Whilst this is spot-on for the Daring-class destroyers and Whitby-class anti-submarine frigates, this gun turret was only fitted to the Battle-class destroyers built in Australia. So its right for HMAS Anzac ... but not right for HMS Alamein, which was fitted with a twin mounting BD Mk. IV turret with quick-firing 4.5-inch/45 (114mm) Mark III guns.

HMAS Anzac.

HMS Alamein.

The other 'inaccuracy' is the additional UD Mark VI turret fitted towards the stern of the models of the Whitby-class anti-submarine frigates. I assume that it is meant to represent the twin 40mm Bofors gun Mark 2 on STAAG (Stabilised Tachymetric Anti-Aircraft Gun) mounting ... which was later removed when it proved to be overweight, too complex, and a maintenance nightmare.

HMS Tenby, one of the Whitby-class anti-submarine frigates.

Interestingly, the slightly earlier, diesel-powered Type 41 or Leopard-class anti-aircraft frigates were armed with two twin mounting UD Mark VI turrets with quick-firing 4.5-inch/45 (114mm) Mark V guns.

HMS Jaguar, one of the Leopard-class anti-aircraft frigates.

This class was originally to have included far more ships than the seven that were built (four for the Royal Navy and three for the Indian Navy) but six of them were re-ordered as Whitby-class anti-submarine frigates ... and I wonder if this might be the reason why Triang Minic produced their models with two turrets.