Big D Builds A Ferret (Badly)

Disclaimer: If you are looking for tips on how to make your plastic models look better then oh boy, are you in the wrong place. If you want to see what happens when a man with no fine motor control tries to build a model kit then read on. Serious modelmakers may want to have a few stiff drinks before continuing because I'm about to upset you.  

 After building yet another Spitfire I promised myself that the next thing I made would be a bit more exotic.  So on my next visit to Waterlooville Models (which isn't in Waterlooville. Don't ask) I was scanning the shelves for something that was within my budget and limited skills when I saw the box above and immediately thought "Yep. That'll do me."

 Now at this point even the aircraft buffs are thinking "How come I've never heard of the MB6? Also, who thought "Night Ferret" was a good name for a fighter?"  so some explanation is required.

 Martin-Baker came up with a couple of interesting fighter designs during the war, culminating in the 1943 MB5

 Pic sourced from https://oldmachinepress.com - which has a great article on this prototype. 

The MB5 was a promising design, being fast, well-armed and possessing a decent range but by the time it was ready to fly in late 1944 there was no real need for it any more. The RAF already had an armada of Spitfires and Tempests which could handle what was left of the Luftwaffe and it had been decided that the next generation of  fighters would be jet-powered.  The MB5 is therefore a classic example of a "What-if" aircraft.

 The MB6 is a hypothetical 2-seater development of this design.  So a what-if version of a plane that was already what-if  to begin with. 

Seems reasonable to me. Lord knows there's loads of kits of speculative Nazi Wunderwaffe on the shelves so why can't we have an RAF equivalent? 

Digressing for a moment, although I do find it fascinating to see what weird and wonderful jets could have served with the Luftwaffe, is anybody else a bit disturbed by the enthusiasm certain people show for them. "If the war had gone on a bit longer then the Germans would have had all these cool jets and stuff and that would have been awesome."

To which my reply would be 

A. They would still have lost and B. You realise you're basically cheering for the Nazis right? What's wrong with you? 

Moving on. 

Opening up the box I was immediately struck by one small detail.

 Why have I got two fuselages?  No idea. But this does mean that at some point I'm going to have a go at kit-bashing. All I need is some wings.

I was also quite glad to see that the contra-rotating props came in a nice, easy format. Gluing individual prop blades in place is a right sod and I'm convinced that half my Spitfires have the propeller-blades on backwards.  

As we shall see, this is the last time I could use the word "Easy" in regard to the MB6.

 In this little cockpit section there are  11 different parts. All of them very tiny. I've built entire kits that have maybe 20 parts full stop.
  Remember also that this is a two-seater.

 Yes, I know it looks like crap. Read the disclaimer again. 

 There's something else that didn't help.  In the Airfix kits I'm used to there's all these helpful little tabs, slots and pegs to show you where all the bits should be.  AZ Models clearly think this is cheating so they don't do any of that.  I also had some issues with the instructions being a bit ambiguous as to how things fit together. I had to jiggle the rear cockpit around a bit before I found a configuration that seemed to work.  

   Next stage was to glue the fuselage together

    I didn't get it quite right so I deployed just a little putty to smooth things out a bit.

  There's more on the underside.

  Oh dear. That's not pretty. 

What you can't see - the inserts for the wheel wells.

That's because I gave up trying to fit the sodding things and threw them out the window.

Nobody is ever going to look in there anyway.

 More putty. More sanding and fitting the undercarriage, which was surprisingly easy. 

I had to improvise a jig to keep the MB6 in position while the glue dried. 

 The props are now on, the guns are in place after a lot of fiddling and some swearing and I've painted the whole thing black because I'm lazy.  I don't have any Night-Fighters in my collection so this is really going to stand out. 

Hmm. Wonder where the radar on this thing is? I'm assuming the wingtip pods.

For some reason a lot of kits nowadays don't give you a radio aerial so I had to improvise using one of the struts that was supposed to go into the undercarriage.  When I lost tiny Undercarriage Strut #1 under the fridge I had to raid my spares box for something more or less the right size.  

Fuck it. Nobody is going to look that closely anyway. 

My whole modelmaking philosophy summed up right there, folks.

  I deliberately left the canopy and the exhaust stubs until after I'd applied paint so now let's see what the Night Ferret looks like once I glue those in place and add the decals. 

  

  I wasn't overkeen on the decals as they seemed a bit fragile. I'm also not entirely sure a Night Fighter would have nice big white bits on the markings but this is a hypothetical aircraft so once again, fuck it.

  So there you go, another model for my growing collection. The MB6 is a striking design which looks really cool in Nightfighter colours and I reckon I can feel pleased with myself.

  I'm not great at making models and this sure as hell does not stand up to close inspection but I really don't care. I could make myself upset about the talent I don't have  - or I could run with it, do the best I can  and have fun.  

Now what am I going to do next? I fancy doing some sort of jet...maybe something a bit unusual.

I wonder if there's a kit for this oddity?

.     Picture sourced from https://www.avgeekery.com
Read the article to go with it: The Gutless Cutlass: This Vought Jet Was So Bad Pilots Landed and Quit Flying!

That's All Folks. 

Cheapo DVD Reviews: Vampire Apocalypse (2012)

Back cover Blurb

"Vampire Apocalypse takes the Vampire genre to a new level of intensity and violence. Danika has lost her memory. When Danika turns out to be a vampire in need of fresh blood, and sinks her fangs into Jack's ex- girlfriend Sherry (Jordan Madley), Jack is soon into something very deep and twisted. Tidying up the mess, Jack tries to find a way to satisfy his new girlfriend's needs, that doesn't involve homicide, but alas only blood from a live human will do. At work, Jack's partner Roger (Robert Fitzpatrick) notices changes in his friend, and becomes concerned when his behaviour becomes more and more erratic. With bodies rising from the dead, and corpses piling up in his apartment Jack has arrived at

The Vampire Apocalypse!"

The DVD cover isn't remotely subtle about what it's ripping off. A leather-clad brunette looking out over a rain-soaked cityscape, shiny, shiny butt front and centre.  If you didn't immediately think "Underworld" then you haven't bought a DVD in about 20 years.
   However, the notion that you might be watching a vampire action flick comes to a screeching halt about a minute into the opening credits. The jazzy, Mexican-style music and graphics really don't fit the movie the DVD cover is trying to sell you and it's glaringly obvious that a new title has been pasted in over the top of the original.

 Now here's what the movie cover looked like when it was released in 2008 

 Huh... it's almost like somebody repackaged a film with the cynical intent of  fooling the punters.  

Well it worked because I bought the bloody thing. In my defence I wanted to see whether it really was an Underworld rip-off or not. Which it isn't

 The annoying thing is, I would happily have forked out a few quid to see "Bitten" and I wouldn't have pent the first half minutes wondering when the Vampire Apocalypse was due to happen. 

As it turns out Vampire Not-Remotely Apocalypse is a quirky story about a young man finding out his new girlfriend is a vampire.  And it's not bad.   

 Jason Mewes does a good job of  playing an unlucky dude trying to deal with the strangeness, Erica Cox could easily have phoned it in and let the fan service do the job  (Seriously, she's fully dressed in only two scenes and the rest of the time she's wearing her pants.) ...but manages to make Danica complex, seamlessly evolving from distressed damsel to predator and veteran Roger Fitzpatrick has fun as Mewes's crude mentor/best buddy Roger.

 I also enjoyed the way Vampire Apocalypse Bitten gets darker as it goes on.  The humour that's there for earlier scenes drains away as hero Jack tries to rein in Danica's murderous tendencies.  What you initially think is going to be a darkly amusing Boy Meets Girl story turns into a Boy Meets Train Wreck.  

How much did I pay for this: £2.50

Was it worth it: Once I got over the initial disconnect from the film I was expecting, yes.  Bitten has it's slow moments but is overall worth seeing. 

Now can somebody please find the guy that did the DVD cover for this and give him a punch in the dick? 

Heavy Metal Cover Girls: Even more warrior women

Just for the hell of it, how about another Heavy Metal Cover Girls post?

(Which, for those currently wondering, is where I post a selection of album covers starring attractive women and comment on each. )

I've decided to revisit an old favourite because...well, it's a favourite and there's been some interesting new covers come my way lately.
Yep. we're doing Women Warriors again.

   Симфония Ветра - Перекрёсток эпох (Ukraine 2018)

(Simfonia Vetra - Crossroads of the Ages)

 "This is a good sand castle" she thought sadly "A shame I have to go off to war and leave it to be eaten by the incoming tide."
In darker days to come, she would think of her sand castle often and promise herself that she would return to this beach and rebuild her castle.

The Metal Project: Thank You For The Metal

Evening all.

It's about time I dropped some more headbanging tunes on you all so here we go. I don't ahve a theme this time round besides the usual (Metal songs with "metal" in the title) so let's just grab some stuff at random and see whether it makes you happy.  Enjoy.

Morningstar- Heavy Metal Heretics (Finland 1999)

Honour to: antechirho

Battery - Power Metal. (Demo: Brazil 1990)

Honour to: Rare & Obscure Metal Archives

Mythal - Heavy Metal Hymn (Demo: Greece 1998)

Honour to: Rare & Obscure Metal Archives

Monday Knights - Thank You For The Metal (Demo-USA 2000)

Honour to: MetalobscurE

Thunder Lord - Heavy Metal Rage (Chile 2012)

Honour to: Thunder Lord

Please remember to visit and support the channels listed here.
That's All folks. 

Cheapo DVD Review: Barbarian - Rise Of The Warrior (2017)

"Set in a war-torn land where tribal factions live in fear of annihilation, the film tells the story of a deadly warrior leading a destructive war campaign. When he is betrayed by his own and left for dead, he is healed by a mysterious princess and taken in by a hidden tribe that believes he was chosen to wage a final battle."

  With this sort of thing I always seem to start off with a rant about the DVD cover and how misleading it is.   Previous experience has taught me that certain people are more than happy to repackage a film as something it isn't in search of some fast money. 
  In this case, there has been a certain amount of camouflage going on but it's not as blatant as certain other films I could mention. 

  For starters the original title was "The Veil" and right away we're looking at a film that isn't the smack-inna-mouth brawlfest the cover hints at.  
  (There's also the small issue of the three cover stars wielding Viking broadswords which does not happen in the film. )
  

So, what film did we actually get?  

  Well, I would definitely give the producers credit for trying something a bit different. 

 "Barbarian..." is essentially a film about a warrior finding a new path for his life. In the process his arrival causes drastic upheavals in the new society he's joined. There is some fighting at start and finish but the bit in between is slow-moving and trying to be reflective and a bit dreamlike. 
 There's some stuff about the prophecy, lots of shots of the moon for some reason that's presumably important and our hero does some serious brooding. 

 Personally I found it hard to get into. 

I'm not saying this is a bad film exactly, as there's several things I did like. By and large the acting is decent, somebody has taken time and effort to make the camera work effective and I was particularly impressed by the props department.  Rather than the usual medieval/mud age outfits the design aesthetic incorporates subtle elements of Mayan and Native American into something that does look good. 

Having said all that, the film itself was not easy to become immersed in.  Maybe it's the aforementioned slow-moving narrative. Or the way some aspects seem to have been explained in scenes that got cut. And the ending is ...enigmatic. 

 If you're willing to take a chance you might enjoy "Barbarian/ Veil"  under whatever name you find it.  Or you might struggle as much as I did. 

How much did I pay for this: £1.50
Was it worth it?  Well, it was an interesting viewing experience but I'd hesitate to say I enjoyed this film. Approach with caution.  

Cheapo DVD Review: Hired to Kill (1990)

Genre: Man In A Vest Action Movie. 

  A flint-hearted  mercenary is hired to rescue a political prisoner currently held in a small, vaguely-Mediterranean  country in the hopes that this will kickstart a revoloution against the ruling  junta. 

  His cover: a fashion designer premiering the latest collection.  Recruiting a motley collection of  tough - but photogenic - young women from around Europe, Frank Ryan must mould them into an effective team and complete a dangerous mission while at the same time getting some really good photoshoots in. 

  This is one of those action movies that relies on the bad guys being monumentally incompetent.  The climactic rescue would have come to a bloody end in about 5 minutes if the local bullyboys understood anything about mounting a proper defence perimeter. Or staying awake. 

 They really are bloody useless.

There's a couple of other niggles.

Niggle the first being "hero" Frank Ryan. he's almost impossible to like as he remains cynical, cold-hearted and massively overdosed on Alpha-male machismo throughout the entire picture.  Really, he's like a bitter 14 year old's idea of what a "proper" man ought to be. That makes it even more jarring when an argument with one of his female team suddenly leads to a sex scene. There's absolutely nothing up to that point to explain why these two have any feelings towards each other and my first reaction was that I was about to see the supposed hero rape somebody. 

Earlier in the film Frank snogs bad guy Colonel Bartos (Oliver Reed topping up his whiskey fund.) and that comes across as more passionate and more realistic. 

It makes sense in context and believe me, it's not even the most awkward scene in the film.  

 You also have to wonder why the CIA didn't just send in an all-female team anyway.  Or why they couldn't find half a dozen glamorous killers on their own payroll and use them.

  Sticking with Ryans Angels, they only get a brief sketching in of personality. There's the mute one, the one who had to be blackmailed into going along, the one that has history with Ryan, the bitchy lesbian, the English one, the....other one.  I think it says a lot that they spend more time modelling nice clothes than actually training.  

Having said all that, the end result is a flawed-but-watchable 90s action movie. I found myself getting into it and the big rescue scene is surprisingly tense, and entertaining even if it's a little ridiculous. 

To sum up: Don't expect too much and you might enjoy Hired To Kill. 

How much did I pay for this: 50p

Was it worth it: Taking into account the aforementioned niggles, I was pleasantly surprised. 

Cheapo DVD Review: The Long Weekend (2005)

 Starring:

Him from "American Pie" The one that was knocking off Mena Suvari

That bloke...he was in that thing...You know the one I mean?

Her from How I Met Your Mother. The Canadian one. 

Holy crap is that the bloke from London's Burning?

 Advertising man Ed Waxman (Fehr) is not only recovering from a horrific breakup but his creative spark has vanished and his job on the line.  Naturally his lothario brother  

Cooper (Klein) decides that the cure is to get him laid. 

Hilarity ensues, he says sarcastically.  

I picked this one up as part of an "8 for £5" deal. I'd never heard of it but I thought it might be funny enough to watch while I was eating my tea. 

Bad idea. 

 I began to regret my choice when we got to the scene where Ed finds his missus with a mouthful of his best mate's spunk.  Which she swallows.  Tone well and truly established.

  The idea was to mine the same seam of  near-the-knuckle, gross-out humour that made the "American Pie" and "Harold & Kumar" movies such a hit.  Problem is, none of it is actually funny so we get the gross without the good bits.   Then after an hour or so of Ed getting repeatedly humiliated there's a feel good ending nailed on to wrap things up.

 There's nothing particularly wrong with the performances; Chris Klein does a good job as a shallow, sleazy pickup artist and Brendan Fehr does his best to make us root for poor Ed but it's hard to feel anything much for either character since the writing isn't on their side.  Meanwhile Cobie Smulders is there to look good and be Ed's reward for all his bad times. It feels a bit contrived frankly.

  And I'm fairly certain she gets more dialogue than all the other female characters put together. 

How much did I pay for this?  62.5 pence. 

Was it worth it?  Not really. This film isn't the worst would-be comedy I've ever seen - check my review archive for more details - but I struggled to watch this all the way through. And it put me off my tea so...nope. 

The Metal Project: Happy Independence Day, Mexico.

Today Is Mexico's Independence Day so I thought I'd celebrate by posting some (head)bangin' choons from Mexico.  Enjoy. 

Stahl Metal - Metal De Acero (2007)

Honour to: manolin flores

Voltax - Metal Master (2011)

Honour to: Nor kastorena

Beast Light - Metal Dog (2012)

 Honour to: Beast666Light

Aserrador - Hermanos Metal (2010)

Honour to: manolin flores

If you want to check out some of the other Mexicin bands I've posted then have a look here:

METAL FROM MEXICO

MEXICAN METAL MANIACS

That's All Folks. 

Music from the weird part of Youtube: The Most German Song Ever.

       I spend a lot of time on Youtube. 

No. really. 

If I'm not looking for tracks for The Metal Project, watching Cube compilations or
trying to find some genuinely entertaining reaction videos then I'm surfing for new music. 

Sometimes the current washes me up in some very strange places. 

Like this track I'm about to share with you. 

Since I don't understand German I have no idea what he's singing about
 (although bratwurst seem to quite central to the narrative.) and the music video doesn't help.  

But I defy you to listen to this and not get the tune stuck in your head for days afterwards.

If anybody knows what the hell is going on here, or even what genre this is, drop me a line.  

I fancy a Bratwurst in a bread roll now. 

The Metal Project: Heavy Metal Invasion:

Evening all. 

Ready for some more obscure songs from the 1980s?

Good. Me too. 

Let's get stuck in. 

Severed Head - Heavy Metal (UK 1983)

 Honour to: TCorporation66

S.M.F - Heavy Metal (France 1986)

Honour to: heavymetaller1978

Fantom - Black Metal (Hungary 1988)

Honour to: thrashtilldeath90

Allied Forces - Heavy Metal Invasion (NLD 1987)

Honour to: MSPainkiller13

Sweet Poison - Metal Rocks (USA 1984)

Honour to: metalscavenger78

And that's it for another trip into the vaults.

I hope you enjoyed yourself and I'll see you again soon.

Please remember to visit and support the channels linked above.

That's all folks. 

The Metal Project:Keep It Metal

 Evening all. 

Sorry about the extended break. I've been off doing stuff. 

If it makes you feel any better I didn't enjoy most of it. 

So for those of you who just came in, the point of this project is to find Metal songs on Youtube that have Metal in the title. 

If you want to see the ones I have so far then pop over to this page: Metal Project Songlist

I guarantee you'll find some cool stuff that you didn't know about.

Anyway, back to tonight's post and I'm continuing where the lat post left off with a fistful of obscure songs from the 80s.   Enjoy. 

Spellbound - Heavy Metal (Sweden Demo 1983)

Honour to: Rare & Obscure Metal Archives

Millennium - Keep It Metal (UK 1986)

Honour to: MetalScavenger78

Metal Axxe - Heavy Metal Thunder (USA 1986)

Honour to: Deadhorse99

Deuce- Metal Paranoia (USA 1984)

Honour to: G.Heathen's Rage

I started with a song called "Heavy Metal" so I think it's pleasingly symmetrical to end with one.

Advice - Heavy Metal (Germany Demo 1985)

Honour to: heavymetaller1978 

That's All Folks. 

The Metal Project: Bad Boys Of Metal

Evening All. 

  For tonight's post I was feeling nostalgic so decided to dig into the vaults and pull out some songs from a decade that was crucial to the development of Heavy Metal in all it's forms.  The 1970s may have seen the birth of Metal and the post-grunge era saw Metal go off into all sorts of bizarre directions but it's the 1980s that really saw Metal move away from it's early Heavy Rock roots.  Punk and MTV both had a big impact on this kind of music it it's hard to see where we would be without both. 

 Never mind all that. Let's get some songs on and the old-school headbanging started, shall we? 

  DNA - Metal City (Demo. Brazil 1989)

Honour to: Rare & Obscure Metal Archives

And check out his invaluable blog here: 

http://strappadometalblog.blogspot.com/

Hawaii - Bad Boys Of Metal (USA 1984)

(Featuring a pre-Cacophony, pre-Megadeth Marty Friedman)

Honour to: HAWAIIROXX

Dementia- Metal Detectors (USA 1989)

 Honour to: Wesse Boyman

  Digressing for a minute, I am continually amazed that after doing this for several years I am still turning up all sorts of intresting stuff from way, way back in the 1980s.  It boggles the mind as to how many bands there were slogging away, touring the clubs and putting out material on self-released cassette and vinyl.  It's equally impressive how many people there are dedicated to preserving all this obscure treasure and putting it online.  

Airwolf - Death Metal Rain (Germany 1988) 

Honour to: Wesse Boyman

Assault - Queen of Metal (NLD 1984)

Honour to: MetalScavenger1978

I think That will do for tonight  but stay tuned for more obscure 1980s goodies.

Please visit and support the channels linked above.

That's All Folks. 

Portsmouth Naval Museum Pt 4

Hello again. 

To finish up my brief look at the Portsmouth Dockyard Naval Museum hee's a few random pictures i took in the actual museum itself. 

  The Naval Museum is spread across two different buildings, both dating from the 18th Century. Naturally the life of Admiral Nelson and the battle of Trafalgar feature heavily in the first part with subsequent  displays devoted to the Navy experience in the 19th Century through to modern times.  It really is impressive and definitely worth a look if you're in the area.. 

I think it probably says a lot about me that I only chose to snap certain things I thought were "cool".   

 Although the artist was clearly a master craftsman, my immediate reaction to this figurehead was "He's wondering how to cover his junk when he's only got a silk scarf to work with."

Figureheads really need to make a comeback.  

Meanwhile this saucy miss doesn't seem at all bothered by her wardrobe malfunction. 

Snarking aside, the carving and expressions on both of these are delightful.

It's like somebody looked at the Classical statues in the British Museum and thought "I can do that...but much less formal."

Over in the other building I was fascinated by this:

The guide says this is the gun that fired the first Royal Navy shot in WW1 when the destroyer HMS Lance

ran into the Imperial German minelayer Konigin Louise.  

After a brief scrap Lance and her consort HMS Landrall 

put the German ship down, the first of many ships to find a 

cold, lonely home on the seabed over the next five years. 

More here: The museum article on this gun.

That's a sophisticated bit of technology considering that the Navy had been using cast-iron muzzle loaders only 50 years before. 

Note how little protection there is for the crew. 

They were more cold-blooded times, I feel. 

A collection of promotional posters.

Finally I took some pics of another model

This is an aircraft carrier from... somepoint in the 1950s I think. 

 Th selection of aircraft is interesting, being a mix of WW2 designs and more recent turboporops with jets yet to make their appearance. 

At the back you have Fireflies and Gannets, with AEW Skyraiders and Wyverns ranged forward and a couple of choppers standing by. 

The carrier itself - and I have no idea which one she is - is practically unchanged from WW2 with a full suite of AA guns 

and before the RN saved a lot of pilot lives by introducing the angled flight deck, among other innovations. 

The best part is, if you press a button underneath the radar starts rotating. 

I happily spent ten minutes at a time studying all the models they had here, and over at the Jutland exhibition. 

Geek that I am, that's my kind of fun day out.  

Anyway, I'll get back to posting metal and underclad women soon. 

I might even get some film reviews up. 

That's all folks. 

Portsmouth Naval Museum Pt 3

Evening all.

This is the very much delayed third part of my photo record of a trip to Portsmouth Naval Museum. 

In this part I get to visit another of the Dockyard's attractions I've been hankering after for a long, long time. 

HMS M.33, also known later as HMS Minerva, was built as a Monitor during WW1. This was a new class of warship designed to bombard enemy shore positions from the shallows while being cheap and much more expendable than the valuable battleships and cruisers which were needed elsewhere. While some monitors were built to house spare battleship guns that happened to be lying around  M33 and her sisters were much more modest, housing a brace of 6" guns. After service at Gallipolli and during the British intervention in North Russia in the Civil War she was refitted as a minelayer before being hulked at the start of WW2.

After several years of restoration M33 was finally given a  snazzy coat of paint and a new home in a drydock next to HMS Victory. 

Now we're up to speed, time for some photos. Starting with the RN's newest and coolest ship.

 I have to admit that the Queen Elizabeth looks very striking and has the sort of presence that's rare these days. Currently top of my list of things I want to visit one day.  

Interestingly I have a book from the 1970s which talks about the new carriers which the RN was hoping to get - sadly cancelled - and the design has that same two-island layout.


By contrast with the high tech marvel over the way, the little M33 is very much a no-frills kind of ship.

 

The only thing remotely electronic on this whole ship is the radio

The crew quarters are minimalist as well.

This is where the ordinary matelots lived and slept.

Note that there's stuff all in the way of ventilation.

Now imagine being in this metal box on a scorching hot Turkish night with water in short supply.

This is an officers cabin. 

These days it would be considered unsuitable for a ship's brig.

What you can't really see from these pics is how crudely the whole thing was put together.  

M33 is all bolted plates and sharp corners. A cheap ship, built quickly because it was needed in a hurry. 

Here's the ships galley.

A somewhat restricted diet was on offer, I suspect. 

No wonder the matelots looked forward to their rum tot so much. 

They were a a hardy lot back in them days, weren't they? 

The M33 is well worth a look if you get chance. 

Not only is it the only remaining example of a Monitor and Gallipolli veteran 

but it's a really great example of the sort of small, utilitarian ship that 

served the RN well in both World Wars. 

Stay tuned for part 4. 

Portsmouth Naval Museum Pt 2

Hello again. More pictures from my visit to various parts of Portsmouth Dockyard's Naval Museum.

This is the Jutland 1916 exhibition, which was definitely something I wanted to see after everything I've read about the battle. As seems to be common these days, the core of it is an audio-visual presentation  using witness testimony from the battle spread across a series of large screens. It's very well done and is supported by artefacts and models of key ships involved.

 The Jutland Battle Honour plaque. 

There was a really good collection of models, all handmade and nice & big.

I will happily admit to geeking out over them.  

The cruiser HMS Caroline, the only British ship from the battle still in existence. 

I find it a little sad that we couldn't find time, money and space to preserve at least one battleship. 

Back to HMS Caroline and she had one very unusual feature. 

Most of her guns were 4" but there were a brace of 6" guns.

And for some bizarre reason they were mounted on the back. 

Ships' bells from the battlecruisers HMS Tiger and HMS Inflexible.  

British battlecruisers took a beating at Jutland. 3 were lost with almost their entire crews, 

most of whom were dead before they knew what hit them. 

I was impressed by Jutland 1916.

It gives a good overview of the battle and fascinating bits and pieces to look at 

but at the same time, it's made clear that there was a heavy price to pay.   

Or to put it another way, you should always come out of an exhibition like this feeling a little sad.

And that I did.