Matchbox MAY! 1/72 Flower Class Corvette PK-901 'Holy Grail' kit review
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- Опубліковано 12 тра 2024
- The 'Holy Grail' of Matchbox kits reviewed, thanks to it's loan by Jason @ModelkitStuff
Let's take a deep-dive (pardon the pun) at this submarine -killing convoy escort ship!
For more similar content, please check out my channel: / @peter-oxley-modelling... .
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Great review Peter...I tracked down the original two page Matchbox advert in the December 1979 Scale Models magazine. RRP was £27.15 with a footnote declaring "Prices quoted are those prevailing at press date and are subject to alteration due to economic conditions"....equivalent to £128.00 in 2024!
This is truly my "Holy Grail" kit - when I was a kid it was an unaffordable dream. Luckily over the past years I could get my hands on a couple of these in different states and basically "merged" them into a mint condition one. That means I have two further partially built ships with damaged boxes as well as the Revell Platinum Edition (with PE and wooden deck) in my stash.
Box art was always my favorite part of Model shopping. I would build and then display both on my shelf. Or not build and just put it up for show like that.
Thanks Peter, brilliant review. As a cadet back in the 80's I got anything but keelhauled if I didn't have my nomenclature right, Bow, Foc'sle, Wheelhouse, Bridge(wing), Midships, Poopdeck, Stern, Lanyard and on and on. Read some up on the Flowers and you can barely believe the hardship that the crews went through on the North Atlantic crossings in the 3 seasons apart from Summer. Constantly wet living quarters in the foc'sle, just try to imagine that. These folks were the true unsing heroes of WW2.
I was never able to afford this kit when it was first released. Looks great.
Yeah, it was like a monthly wage! 😬
What a great kit that is! It would compliment my U boat dioramas that I build to order.
Hi Peter, great review as always. I have one of these in my garage - it has been in there for thirty years. I bought it originally in the mid-eighties , inspired by reading the Cruel Sea. I made a start and then realised I didn’t have the skills at the time - it is really quite daunting. I might dust it off to have a look and see if I can fit it in to my retirement schedule!
I think it was considerably more than £7 when first released Pete, I was 14 back in 79 and I remember pooling my Birthday money and milk round wages to buy it as a self treat for xmas 1979-80? I think I got mine from Bridge Street Models in Walthamstow (East London) which was my main haunt for models back then and was totally blown away by the size of the box and the size of the kit when built which lived on my bedroom shelf until I joined the Army in 1983 and after that it vanished. I do remember staring at the image of this kit in the matchbox catalogue for that period...brilliant kit....would love to build another if just for the nostalgia fix.
I recall that kit from when I was a lad. A box of wonder. The Merit 1/48 PT boat is sort of a replacement! Goes with Italeri 1/48 landing craft, and all of the Tamiya armour that my Grandson loves and makes dioramas of.
The Must Have Force is strong with this this one!
As much as I love carriers, battleships, cruisers etc., etc., destroyers and corvettes look like they're doing 30 knots even when at anchor!
Excellent video young Padawan....🍻
Hi Pete, the bow is the front, the stern is the rear, and amidships is the middle. Port is the left-hand side, and starboard is the right-hand side. All of the housing above main deck level is known as the superstructure, and the bridge is the main portion of the superstructure behind the bow. Great video as always.
Yes I know all this...but I had an anoying mental blank at the key moment. 😆 Thanks anyway. 😬
Peter is more of an airplane guy...😂
@@AlanToon-fy4hg Yes and an expert on F1 cars! 😜
Thanks Peter! The imaging is great. What a neat kit! Getting ready to build the 1/72 Airfix RAF Rescue Launch boat. Saw the level of detail and quality and I just had to get one. It has realistic structure, guns and crew figures. Look it up if you don't already know all about it. Definitely worth it, WOW! - K.C. CA USA
Hi Peter. I think the Canadians took on some of the production of these little put-puts. Shame they weren't able to eke out a bit more speed out of these. I think U-boats on the surface could outrun them. So, 15 knots was about all they could do.
Always thought this was a fascinating model kit given that it is so huge for a ship kit. I know Revell has reissued it on occasion and I wonder how much of it they have changed in comparison to the original that you have there. I know it's worth a fortune now, but while I have no problem with collecting classic kits, I think building them is where the fun is. But how long would it take to complete something this size, especially given that if you actually do so, you'd want to super detail every element of it? What Matchbox managed to do over 40 years ago was really outstanding based on the quality of the kit I'm seeing here, as well as the fact they kept the price reasonable back then. Something that size made in modern times with photoetch, real wood on the decks and other detailing elements would be prohibitively expensive from the start and would likely only attract only the most dedicated ship modelers who would make an effort with it.
I have this model twice... The 1st one I bought it in a 2nd hand shop, very cheap, but big parts from the superstructure were missing. I rebuild it completely. a Sort of "possible version" With circular gunplacements on top, with the steering cabin inbetween. Also I did put a catapult with a plane on the back. Place enough for that. I made it Radio controlled and became a member of a RC boatingclub in The Hague, the Netherlands. That was in 1989.... I still have this model in my possesion
The painting: I did use 4 colours for camouflage. And I did put rust and dirt on many places on the model. It looks great! There is always a lot of attention from the public.
The 2nd Corvette is from Revell and is still in the box. But I want to change it in the "Aurora" . A ship in a comic of Kuifje or "Tin Tin" for the French. Maybe also for the UK? The writer and cartonist Hergé, did use a lot of WW2 planes, tanks, ships and even the German V2 in his comics. Also this Corvette. With a catapult and a yellow German Arado AR 196. I have this plane from Airfix, 1:72 scale. When to build? I don't know. But when I do find an other Corvette, I will buy it. To make it original and RC ofcourse!
I recently bought a 1/350 Mirage kits Corvette, HMS Spirea and you review actually highlights how good this little kit is. It is nearly as good as this Matchbox version. It has most of the things of this kit plus some photo etch. Back to the Matchbox kit, these kits were popular with the radio control boat folks as they had plenty of room for the older rc gear. The local model shop regularly had one in for sale that had been converted. I have seen one running on our local park lake and it looked well. I'm sure Revell released it and also did a 1/144 scale version of it.
I have two of these ship kits, one is made as Saucy, one as Snowberry (one of which survived the war), they are both being/ have been converted to RC. I purchased them separately in the 90’s and 2002, I’m taking my time. The decals for the gun are horrendous, I had to make my own once I’d worked out what it was supposed to look like. The superstructure is a bit ‘breaky’ for an RC, so I have replaced many parts over the years and continue to do so as they ping off. Some of the detail is a bit vague, (small boats, depth charges, guns, hedgehog, radar) and needed to be either modified or scratch built or when I could afford it purchased as an upgrade kit. It needed minimal chopping to allow to put the RC bits in, a bit more bracing and reinforcement. They both sail well and are head turners, even now. The decks were very warped in both kits and need a lot of fettling to straighten out. There is an existing example of a flower class corvette in Canada, with some good UA-cam videos, excellent for reference. Step 43 is the Radar.
This should be your journeyman piece😀
Build it aside a U-boat VIIC in 1/72 in a diorama🤓
Cheers Peter, I have 2 of these kits. As a 11 year old when it came out I wanted this soo bad , it was$ 42 Canadian dollars at the time , my dad said no because it was too expensive so he let me get $ 10 worth of Matchbox figures and Armour. I am retired RCN living in Halifax Nova Scotia. We have the last flower class in the world 2hich is HMCS SACKVILLE. You can just her during the summer for free. If you ever get a chance to come here definitely tour her, you will not be bored. So the 2 flowers I have are Snowberry and HMCS Wetaskiwn. Also have a 1/144 flower that Imade into HMCS SACKVILLE. Most Canadian built flower had the after gun tub farther aft around where the Lewis guns are. Great review
@@petelindstrom5294 Thanks Pete! 👍🏻☺️
I remember it when it came out, and it was always up on the top shelf along with the Airfix Bentley. I would need a new house for that lump though. The Morse flasher was a Morse Flasher/Signal Lamp/Aldiss Lamp depending on where you live, often a dual searchlight/signal device. The "access Ladder" and "safety railings" you pointed out were the depth charge rack top and sides, and the "depth charge dispensing unit" was the Engine room skylights / roof. The "funnels" are ventilators, and the "Light Mast" is the RADAR housing. It's a lot more manageable as a kit and an awful lot cheaper if you buy the 1/144th scale Revell release (the 1/72 is no longer on sale, and goes for silly money on the unmentionable auction site) . That has almost the same level as detail as this does, and in some places better detail - no crew unfortunately.
Lovely pencil drawings in instructions. With me being X RN I'm jumping up,& down at your phases for ships parts.
Never less a great review. Anchor windlass .
Lol...I did say I was ignorant on nautical matters...😜
It’s a beautiful kit would love to see it when it’s built
LUV YOURE VIDS HERE IN DETROIT MY MAN, HAPPY MEMORIAL WKND.!
Fascinating stuff, I never knew such a kit existed. The crew figures are a nice touch.
Thanks Capt! Spectrum is GREEN! 👍
At the time it was critically acclaimed, not least for the choice of subject and bravery of scale etc. I always wanted one but realised I never had the room let alone the skills to do it justice.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the hull was moulded in two halves due to the size of the tooling that the Matchbox moulding machines were capable of, if that makes sense. Great review of a stunning kit and I wish I had one, cheers Peter,
Thanks for the info 😊
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab I think that the same was true with some of the larger aircraft in 1/32 scale but you would probably know more about that than I do, thanks Peter.
Hi Peter. A greatreview of a stellar model. I can remember seeing this kit when I was about fourteen and I was impressed by its size then. I somehow can,t imagine asking my mum if I could have one, it was hard enough to get a Lancaster let alone a Corvette. So how would you build it ? I know that you like to make your Matchbox kits out of the box like your tank kits or would you go full aftermarket and scratchbuilding route? I think that I would go down the latter. I have seen one of these kits done this way and it was spectacular. It definately needs a good paint job to bring the best out of it. Some of the bits are a bit chunky but thats how Matchbox was so some parts can do with replacing. Maybe you should have genned up on your ship terminology before you started, I don,t know how many times I was saying Bow,Bow,Bow Peter. But you got there in the end. I could here your brain grinding as you struggled to remember the word. I know ships are not your chosen subject so I think that you are excused. Anyway, great review of a great model. And yes its a bloody big ship. Regards.
Hi Peter. Thanks for the show🙂
When do you start building the ship?
If you can't bring yourself to build the Matchbox kit, Revell has released both a Platinium set and a Technic set. I suggest you combine these two sets😂
Cheers mate👍🍺
I don't own that one, so no danger of building it.😉
A lovely video Peter and genuine thanks to the kind owner, I love how you have been given the chance to put the hull sections together! Let's be honest here, how many of us have torn into dry fit assembling the fuselage/ hull major sections as soon as we got the kit out of the box , just to get a feeling for the scale and size of the finished model. ( And not just as kids! I'm guilty of this to the present day.) Thanks again, James.
Thanks James. ☺️
A very good friend of mine, and a superb modeler and artist, John Ficklen, turned one of those into a IPMS /USA national award winner shortly after it came out.
Believe it was last released in a Revell box!
Matchbox was always at their best doing unusual subjects!
John built the HMCS Snowberry..
The circular tower at the top of the bridge is the radar.
Dang, how much I wanted this huge beast as a kid!
But my pocket money was just enough for a good amount amount of some nice 72th scale planes from Matchbox, Airfix and Revell - and beyond this, the corvette was pretty hard to find back in the day here in Germany.
I couldn't afford it back then either...😩
I feel the same way as you about ships Peter. But for some reason I find ships an amazing topic I will always watch Master & Commander for me that film is more about the interactions of the crew and the ship more than the battles. And even more strangely I have come to the conclusion that we will never explore space until we have vessels which can be maintained on the move by materials sourced in local.
Would love to build that, my grandfather served on a Flower class corvette, Petty Officer in charge of the pom poms, mostly in the Indian Ocean escorting the convoys from East Africa supplying the 14th Army. He said they only saw a japanese sub once and had to steam away from it at full speed. Every time they dropped depth charges the shock broke the toilets. And my uncle from Liverpool served on a Canadian built Flower class corvette on the Atlantic convoys. Going to have to track one down now! Don;t know who currently makes them.
Revell 1/144th scale, just ordered one!
Revell still sell it my friend! 😄
I do remember Revell reboxed it at one point. But it is huge. I ended up buying the scaled down 1/144 version last year. It sits in my stash and is a fairly big box even at 1/144.
Fantastic video Peter ! Looking at the monster kit I'd give this one 10 out of 10 mainly because of its age. Once built and the warped issues gone it will look I'm sure 100 per cent. To you 12 out of 10 for the detail especially around the sprue Starboard matching and other parts. Also for nautical terms the Bow or front part of the hull on the corvettes were specifically designed to ram opponent submarines if surfaced. Moreover I'm trying to remember where that model shop was in Stockport. Anyway an excellent video. Thanks again Dean.
Bramhall Lane I think. Long gone now sadly. Cheers.
Great review of a grail kit mate, well done.
Great review Peter, a real trip down memory lane for me. One of their finest kits. I built mine about 10years ago (sorry!) and it still has pride of place in my living room. The detail OOB is very impressive but the painting was a mammoth task, lots of finely detailed parts to finish and weather. It does make for a magnificent display model though. I know people who have fitted lights to it, and it's sheer size makes it a great candidate for RC. I must get around to making a slideshow on YT to show it off!
Hope you are keeping well, all the best, Gary
Always wanted to have one. Mine has a scuffed box as well. But the kit is mint 💥👍💥
Thanx for sharing Peter- greetings from Sweden from Sadolf ( Most Popular MAn in Europe)
I always wanted one of those to go with my Airfix E-boat and MTB, but my parents always said that we never had the space.
Fantastic box art, a real attention grabber.👍
Peter + to me its worth $200 dollars for me just because of the size of the kit and the possibilitys of detailing that can be done with it
Monster! 🙂🫡
I can see this as a replica of the Greyhound movie Canadian Corvette represented Thanks, Dane
Great review , fun to see it .
Glad you enjoyed it 😊
Ahoy Sir Peter Superb video Of the Matchbox Covette, your spot On sir This the Holly Grail Of Matchbox. In 1979 I Purchased 6 Of These kits At $75.00 A Shot you will find this kit superb from Her Keel to the fore top. wonderful video
Hi Peter. It’s difficult to be sure from the screen but I suspect the “paint spots” you referred to are probably insect poo. I only know about this as my wife is a Conservator and she told me that’s what I had on a few of my stash boxes which were in a loft! Every day’s a school day as they say. If it is, it comes off quite easily with a lightly dampened non-abrasive cloth. Cheers Marty.
I built one of these when they first came out..yes I'm old :)
Monday morning, Matchbox factory :
- Good morning boss. Have an idea, we have ships in the catalogue in 1/700, I recommend to make a bigger one...
- Good idea Bob, lets say 1/450 sale
- Hum.. why not 1/72... Lot of investment in the conception, tons of plastic (enough for 10 1/32 Ww2 planes), enormous box, and of course à stratospheric selling price !
- perfect, lets do it. In 3 years Matchbox will have financial problems, Revell will get the moulds and make easy profit.
Lets have a cup of tea to celebrate.
😊
Lol! 🤣 Though Lesney really went bust as a result of poor sales of their traditional Matchbox toys cars in the recession of 1981-2.
51.34; that is not the depthcharge disperging unit, but a roof with glass for on the backstructure on the ship. Only strange that they did not let the windows open for real transparent sprue/glass...
Some of the builders of this ship, make it RC, and do stabilize it to get in the water. Handling with Radio Controll is doing pretty well. The model is not too big, but watch it going by is quite an impressive sight! I guess further on on YT, the films are possible to find.
film cruel sea staring j hawkins and corvette must watch.
Thanks Peter. I remember seeing one of these made up in a local hobby store and was wow`d by its size...and price back then( I don't think these were cheap even in the mid eighties ).
More and more nautical kits have been finding there way into my stash recently and I have already had a look on evil bay..Looks nice!
I also wish I had bought one back in the day now! 😢
Snorkers, good-oh!
The size of that box
If you want to learn about serving on Flower Class corvettes read The Cruel Sea. The book goes into way more detail than the movie. Corvettes were important to the war effort, but I don't think anyone that served on them would call them "good" ships. They tended to wallow in the North Atlantic weather.
When I get to refurbish my rescue kit, she will definitely be HMS Compass Rose.
certainly my great uncle, who was in the navy second on the Cruel sea being a very realistic read.
The Irish Navy also used them
The ladder you mention at 47.25, is a part of the depthcharge rack on the stern of this ship. So... it's not too big.
I made that one but turned it I to a radio controlled shop it took some doing but it worked well.
58.14; that is not the lightmast but the housing for the radar, already in use then. So also at night the submarines could be spotted. On the surface but also when submerged.... the periscope could be tracked. So, from 1943, the sinking of German submarines rised steadely...
I got my kit back in the day and with a brass detail set but somehow it got lost in the loft and is now under tentative construction. Its a beast of a kit and your box looks just like mine! I want to light mine but it is a warship so just the radio room and red in the wheel house. Why does no one know any details on the bridge semaphore post?
I have the Revell rebox of this kit.
What a beautiful piece of artwork is that by Roy Huxley ?
Yes indeed!
I truly WISH this was re-reissued today
Still available in Revell rebox. 👍🏻
Biggest problem with this kit to my mind is the thickness of the keel member. Look at photos of the real thing and it appears more like a blade compared with the 9 inch scale box girder you get in the kit! Dont know how you correct this.
The throwing weapons were Hedgehog depth bombs, not depth charges.
10k views, I knew it would be popular.
Yes, an amazing success for this remarkable kit of yours.👍🏻 Many thanks for the loan. 😊
It may be an old kit, but has anyone produced a newer kit of these ships in that scale?
No they haven't
Where are all the molds gone now for Matchbox kits Peter?
Thanks Alan
2/3 Are in the hands of Revell (Sadly) the rest seemingly lost or destroyed
Какой большой корабль...удивительно🎉
Are you in the process of getting the photo-etch kit from "DAVID J. PERKIONS".... I've heard of this kit but I am unable to find it on you tube.. Not able to find the web site. Supposedly all the parts are including "all" except the 2 piece hull.....
I don't own the Kit but Jason @modelkitstuff might be?
I've watched many, though I must admit not all, of your videos. I'm curious about the gloves though. Do you bite your nails? lol
Many, if not most of the the model reciews are of other people's kits as was the case here. We dont want my paw prints all over them, it's just part of my OCD approach and I wear them when modelling too.
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab lol fair enough.
I guessed it yeah 👍:) haha 😛
Tempted to get one and turn it into a nasams equipped tomahawk cruise missile drone boat lol 😂
Thankfully… the wife is now on major clampdown mode!!!
Why isn't it safe in your stash sir ?
Don't tempt me...it's not mine! 😈
I suppose I could have hidden it away with the 'Lost Ark' of WNW kits & the 'Holy Grail' in my secret warehouse, but Jason knows my location, and might send 'the boys' round! 😵😱
This kit is very chunky. I had the Revell version.
Not many 1/72s of ships....
The deck is completely incorrectly molded as wood planks, most is steel
Yes, several have pointed this out, it's the Elephant in the room with this kit. 🫢
I don't think a re-box can be called holy grail. Is this not an ex Revell kit????? This is not 'true' Matchbox is it?
It is the exact opposite! 1979 Matchbox original later reboxed by Revell. Did you not watch the vid?😆
The millennial coming out without knowledge!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
This kit WAS one of absolute holy grail kit from 1978!
I got, and still have, mine since my birthday in 1984.
It was even more awesome then the original 1/32 Tomcat FROM Tamiya, and probably just slightly behind Nichimo Yamato in 1/200, which was like 600$ back in the early eighties, without accounting for inflation. It was a time when kits were designed on a drawing table and the moulds made welding them by hand, which made large kits rare and extremely expensive!
No numerically controlled 5 axis machines, back then!
I paid the Flower Class 125$ in 1984, plus another 110$ for a photo etching set from Flyhawk!
BTW, this Flower class kit is certainly better then the Revell kit, having thousands of molding less on the shoulders.
Je suis un Français amoureux des maquettes de la marque Matchbox. Mais votre présentation est insipide.
Have you seen my other Matchbox videos? Everyone else seems to love them!?