HMS Dreadnought was a revolutionary design, but not for the reasons most people assume. Her all big gun main armament was evolutionary, not revolutionary. Prior to Dreadnought, battleship secondary guns had been increasing in size with each
new design. This made it very difficult to distinguish the splash of a big gun shell from that of secondary armament, a crucial factor in an era of visual range-finding. Adding impetus to the all big gun trend was the Battle of Tsushima during the Russo-
Japanese War. Effective firing started far in excess of what was then thought to be effective battle range. And the effects of a single 12" shell hit were observed to be far more devastating than numerous secondary caliber strikes. These developments
focused attention on the importance of big gun armament. The Royal Navy was not the first navy to gain authorization of an all big gun battleship. The 1905-1906 Jane’s Fighting Ships states in the Progress of Construction section, "To the United
States belongs the credit of being the first nation to sanction that battleship with a uniform armament of big guns which ever since Colonel Cuniberti’s article on ‘The Ideal Battleship,’ in the 1903 ‘Fighting Ships’ has hovered on the horizon of
the building programmes of most naval powers." The trend to the all big gun battleship was already present and its appearance inevitable.

The real impact of HMS Dreadnought was her propulsion system. Until Dreadnought, major warships of all nations used the triple expansion reciprocating steam engine. It had a limited top end so that the maximum speed for a battleship was around
18 knots. At this speed the huge rods and pistons of the engine caused tremendous vibration throughout the ship. The vibration greatly interfered with accurate spotting from the optical range finders then in use. Additionally, reciprocating machinery
broke down with increased frequency when run near its limits. A high-speed run of any duration was likely to result in the ship sitting in harbor for days or making repairs to damaged parts. The Royal Navy, in an inspired leap of faith, adopted the
Parsons turbine for Dreadnought, used only in small ships prior to this time. The turbine was an overwhelming success. Its advantages over reciprocating machinery were enormous. The top speed at 21 knots was at least three knots higher than that
of previous first class battleships, maintenance time was greatly reduced, and the lack of the vibration allowed for accurate range finding at much greater ranges. Dreadnought burst on the world stage, seemingly out of nowhere. She was laid down on
October 2, 1905, launched February 10, 1906 and commissioned September 1, 1906. Eleven months from her keel laying to commissioning, a record never since broken by any other big ship. The speed of construction was a deliberate attempt by the
Royal Navy to demonstrate its construction and design capabilities to would-be naval powers. The building materials were pre-stocked at the building site, multiple work-shifts labored around the clock, and the First Lord of the Admiralty, the legendary
Jacky Fisher, saw to it that nothing interfered with Dreadnought’s construction.
In the meantime the Royal Navy did not wait for the Dreadnought’s trials to draft further designs. While Dreadnought was rushing through her construction the question of the design of the battleships for the 1906 Program came up. Originally there
were four battleships scheduled for this year but certain politicians were afraid that four battleships might upset the neighbors and give the citizens of other countries a negative view of Great Britain and chopped one of the battleships out of the
program. It was realized that other navies would follow the example but was hoped that by reducing construction from four to three, other countries would now copy the Dreadnought concept as quickly. Why other navies would wish to continue
building  inferior ships just because there was a reduction of one ship in the building program is logic which eludes me.         

The original intention was to greatly expand the Dreadnought design to greatly increase the armor scheme, increase speed, and yet keep the armament scheme. Others, more cautious, thought this is too great of a leap forward and a more cautious
approach was adopted. Instead of designing a new super- Dreadnought, let’s just improve on the original with an improved-Dreadnought.  The Dreadnought and the three Invincible Class battlecruisers were the four capital ships of the 1905-1906
programme. The goal was to build four capital ships were year. First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Cawdor stated, “…build few – build fast, each improving on the last.” In the fall of 1905 the 1906-1907 programme was being considered. Lord
Cawdor envisioned a fusion of the battleship and battlecruiser with the armor of a battleship and speed of a battlecruiser, in other words a fast battleship. There was a design X4 with battleship armor, 25-knot top speed but apparently going down to
four turrets with the wing turrets placed in echelon, allowing limited cross deck fire. Triple guns were considered for the wing turrets.  The Board also considered 13.5-Inch guns but the design for that gun was still unbuilt and therefore untested.  
There was no wish to gamble on an untested design. Only three Design X4 ships could be built on the funds that would build four repeats of the Dreadnought. The Tory Party lost the November 1905 elections and the incoming Liberal Party wanted to
cut military spending to increase spending on social programs. Jacky Fisher knew that the Liberals would never buy three X4s, much less four of them. He told the government that four repeats of Dreadnought were needed to keep ahead of the
Germans. The government reduced the number of battleships to three repeats. Thus, the early promise of a true fast battleship was stillborn to reappear years later in the form of the Queen Elizabeth Class.
As 1905 turned into 1906 the design was being finalized. It was anticipated that there would be modifications made to the design based upon the trials of Dreadnought.  Phillip Watts, the DNC, worked in another 700-tons of displacement over that of
Dreadnought. With this the armor scheme could be much improved. The machinery plant remained the same and with improvements in the turbines there was very little fall off in speed in spite of the additional 700-tons. One big difference between
the ships of the 1906 program, named the Bellerophon Class, and the Dreadnought was with the secondary guns. Admiral Fisher didn’t want to waste displacement on secondary guns so Dreadnought had only light QF guns to fend off torpedo
attacks. Extensive RN tests revealed that the light QF guns installed on Dreadnought were completely ineffectual against even medium displacement torpedo boats, much less a destroyer. In spite of a much higher rate of fire the QF guns lacked
penetrating power and explosive force. The 4-inch gun on the other hand could stop a destroyer dead in its tracks. Accordingly, over Jacky Fisher’s objections, the design board designated that sixteen 4-Inch/45 Mk III guns be carried as secondary
armament. Since the greatest threat of torpedo attack was at night, the Bellerophon Class design incorporated a rudimentary control system that tied in the 4-Inch guns, searchlights and directors into an integrated system.

Armor improvements also focused on the torpedo threat. Evaluating combat results from the Russo-Japanese War the Bellerophon Class added continuous armored longitudinal bulkheads for the first time on a British battleship.  The purpose was to
provide an inner security zone by localizing damage from a torpedo to the spaces on the exterior of the ship, outboard from the longitudinal bulkhead. With heavier secondary armament, the addition of a mainmast and the inclusion of the internal armor
bulkheads, even with another 700 displacement, something had to give, which a slight thinning of the external armor. With a maximum thickness of ten-inches, the main armor belt was actually thinner than the eleven-inch belt of Dreadnought. The
dimensions of the Bellerophon Class were almost identical with Dreadnought, as was the turret layout. The ship was 490-feet long, 82-feet 6-inches in width (6-inches more than Dreadnought) and had a draught of 27-feet (6-inches more than
Dreadnought). The greatest change in appearance over Dreadnought was the addition of a full mainmast forward of the second funnel. By moving the fore mast ahead of the first funnel a major problem of the Dreadnought was corrected. The fore
mast on Dreadnought was aft of the funnel and as a consequence the foretop, which was the battle station of the gunnery officer, was virtually inhabitable due to the high temperature exhaust fumes and gases.
However, the positioning of the mainmast created its own problems on the Bellerophon Class. The two masts were very closely spaced with the main mast being located almost amidships. The exhaust fumes of the first funnel interfered with
operational effectiveness of the main top position.  The same 12-inch/45 gun model was used, as it also was with the Invincible battle cruiser class, but of course the secondary armament was much improved with sixteen 4-inch QF compared to
Dreadnought’s twenty four 12pdr QF. While the Dreadnought had five submerged 18-inch torpedo tubes (1 bow and four beam), the Bellerophon Class dropped two of the beam tubes. Bellerophon was laid down at Portsmouth Dock Yard
December 3, 1906 two months after Dreadnought was completed. Temeraire followed at Devonport Dock Yard January 1, 1907 and Superb at the Armstrong yard at Elswick on February 6.  With all three the yards were very quick in getting the
ships ready for launch with launchings in 1907, Bellerophon July 27, Temeraire August 24 and Superb November 7. However, completion took longer than the record breaking construction time of Dreadnought. Bellerophon was completed in
February 1909 with other two being finished in May 1909. When completed the ships were fitted with experimental director controlled gunnery equipment and range indicators. However, this experiment fit was removed in 1911-1912, which was
unfortunate as director controlled gunnery proved more accurate than the previous spotting system. It wasn’t until 1914-1915 that director control was again mounted in the main top and on a platform below the fore top.

Trials on HMS Superb began of March 1909 but completion of the battleship was delayed due to labor disputes. On May 29, 1909 the ship was commissioned at Portsmouth to serve with the 1st Division Home Fleet. In June and July, 1909, she was
at two reviews, with the July review in honor of the Tsar of Russia. 1910 was spent mostly in exercises with a short refit in the last of the year. In 1911 the searchlight on the platform under the foremast control top was removed and a curved screen
added to the front face followed by more exercises. In 1912 the fore control top was rebuilt with a narrow face, as was done to Temeraire in 1911, with more fleet exercises and a Parliamentary Review at Spithead on July 9, 1912. . Also, a blast
screen was added behind the 4-inch guns on A turret on Superb.  In 1913 Superb again modified her forward control top, giving it a curved face and also removed the blast screen from the crown of A turret. The Superb was placed in the 1st Battle
Squadron on May 6, 1913. Superb was part of the test mobilization July 1914, right before the Declaration of War with Germany and on July 29 steamed with the rest of the Fleet to Scapa Flow. However, she was based at Lough Swilly on October
22, pending the completion of the defenses at Scapa Flow. The 4-inch guns on A turret were removed in 1914 and had them remounted above the forward pair of guns in the forward superstructure. And searchlights were redistributed.  Funnel lines
were painted over. Superb developed turbine problems and on January 18, 1915 she left for Portsmouth for repairs. When these were finished, she rejoined the Grand Fleet on March 11, 1915. On November 10, 1915 Superb was transferred to the 4th
Battle Squadron. In 1915 the fore control top was enlarged and director control fitted on a platform below the fore top. The beam turret 4-inch guns were removed and placed over the rear of the forward superstructure 4-inch guns, concentrating the
secondary guns in the forward superstructure, except for the two guns mounted on the crown of Y turret. A 3-inch gun was mounted in a searchlight platform above the aft superstructure, replacing the searchlight. The topgallant masts were removed
and two secondary guns were removed from the forward superstructure and the remaining guns plated over to provide protection for the crews.  In 1916, before Jutland, the anti-torpedo nets and booms were removed but the shelves remained. The
bridge was enlarged and modified. At the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916 Superb was the flagship of the 3rd Division of the 4th Battle Squadron in company with Iron Duke, the Grand Fleet flagship, Royal Oak and Canada. She was 11th in the line
of British battleships. At 1926 the Superb opened fire at the light cruiser, Wiesbaden and reported hitting the cruiser. By 2020 Superb had shifted to the Derfflinger, which was 10,000m (6 miles) distant. She received no damage during the battle.
After Jutland, Superb had her top masts shortened. As a result of Jutland extra armor was added, with ¾ to one-inch armor plates over the magazines on the middle and main decks. April 1917 saw the removal of the aft torpedo tube and replacement
of the 3-inch AA gun with a 4-inch one. Range finder baffles were added to both masts, but these were removed by the end of the year. A range clock was added to the front face of the forward control top and deflection scales added to the bases of
A and Y turrets. The starboard lower 4-inch guns were removed from the aft group of guns. Control positions were added to the searchlight platform on the forward tripod legs. Later in 1917 coffee box searchlight towers were added around the aft
funnel with each carrying one 36-inch searchlight. As part of the new plan for searchlight locations, the searchlights on the foremast platform, mainmast platform and bridge of Superb were removed. A cap on the forward funnel was added. On
December 7, 1917 battleships of the US Navy entered Scapa Flow. Originally, the plan was to replace Superb, Bellerophon and Temeraire with an American Battle Squadron. However, when Admiral Beatty saw the gunnery of the new American
arrivals, he vetoed losing the British trio. Modifications in 1918 included moving the 4-inch AA gun from the aft platform to the right aft quarterdeck. High angle range finders were added to the forward control top. After the war the deflection scales
were painted over and the AA guns removed. Superb was still with the Grand Fleet when it transferred from Scapa Flow to Rosyth on April 12, 1918. In October she was detached from the Grand Fleet, along with Temeraire, to the Eastern
Mediterranean Fleet at Mudros, off the coast of Turkey. She reached Mudros on October 31, 1918 and became the fleet flagship for Vice Admiral Sir Somerset Calthorpe. After signing of the Armistice with Turkey, on November 12, 1918 Superb led
the fleet as the Dardanelles to Constantinople, which was reached on the 13th. From November 1918 until April 1919 Superb served as flagship for the Royal Navy in the Black Sea and Turkish waters. In April Superb was relieved by Iron Duke and
she returned to Great Britain. She reached the Nore Reserve at Sheerness on April 26 and placed in the 3rd Fleet. In September 1919 Superb replaced Bellerophon as turret drill ship. She kept this duty only for a short period because in December 1919
Erin replaced her. On March 26, 1920 Superb was paid off and placed on the disposal list. She was detailed for gunnery experiments in December. In May 1922 she became a target ship at Portsmouth for anti-flash protection and then in the fall for a
target for air attacks. Finally, Superb’s time had come and in December 1922 she was sold to Stanlee Shipbreaking Co. of Dover. On April 7, 1923, HMS Superb left Portsmouth for her final voyage. Under tow she was taken to Dover for break-up.

Combrig 1:700 Scale HMS Superb – Last spring in an e-mail to Dmitri Nedoganov of Combrig, I mentioned that Combrig had produced almost all of the British battleships through World War One. Their latest kits had been Neptune, Colossus and
Hercules. I asked when Combrig would produce the Bellerophon and St Vincent Classes. Dmitri replied “just wait”. He also mentioned that a Queen Elizabeth Class model would not be released because the Trumpeter plastic kit would greatly
hamper sales. Well, it I didn’t have to wait long because all three ships of the Bellerophon Class and St Vincent Class showed up very quickly. Now, where is the R Class? I picked up a few of these kits from the Free Time Hobbies booth at the
2019 US IPMS National Convention in August 2019 but not all. I picked up more during the last Open House at Free Time Hobbies in December 2019. They will be moving to a new location at the end of January or early February 2020. To get ready
for the move, they set sales prices on most of their current stock. One of the four Combrig kits that I purchased from Free Time during my December visit was the Combrig 1:700 scale HMS Superb, the last of the three Bellerophon Class
battleships. The Superb is almost identical to the Combrig HMS Bellerophon kit. There was only one difference between the two kits. With the Bellerophon kit there is a searchlight platform just below the foremast control top. With the Superb the
platform is still there but the searchlight is gone and a front face bulkhead added to the front of the platform. That bulkhead is in the photo-etch fret and has portholes at the top. This reflects the fit of Superb in 1911.The following review is identical to
that found in the review of the Combrig Bellerophon. (Combrig 1:700 scale Bellerophon review.) There was a significant warp to the shelter deck part, which you can easily see in the photographs of the dry-fitted Superb. However, since this part
will sit flush with the lower deck it can be easily remedied during assembly.
The Combrig Superb is a very fine kit. The casting quality is excellent, except for the warp of the shelter deck.. The hull is loaded with fine detail. One of the first things that struck me were the torpedo net shelves, which had been present on British
battleship designs well before World War One. Even though the torpedo nets and booms were removed after the war started and well before the Battle of Jutland, the shelves remained on the ship. I found that the net shelves on the Superb kit were
extraordinary. They were thin and readily apparent with very apparent ends. There is a nice overhang of the shelves over the hull sides. The armored belt runs the length of the hull with a drop down on either side of Y turret. There are five vertical
strakes on each side of the hull and they have different locations from the starboard side to the port side. These strakes don’t appear on the R.A. Burt profile of Bellerophon in his British Battleships of World War One. However, they are in all of the
photographs. Instead of solid strakes, they appear to be waste water discharge chutes. Most photographs show heavier weathering at the end of the chutes. The armored plate over the wing turret bases is very crisp with bottom shelves. The hull
anchor hawse are well done with an oval shape, one on the starboard bow and two on the port. A series of square window shutters are set along the bottom of the forecastle and main deck. The sides of the forecastle also have doors with portholes
and hinge detail. The none armored sides of the hull have two rows of porthole detail. Also, along the hull Combrig provides locater holes for the net booms.

There is enough deck detail for anyone. As found with other Combrig kits there is fine wood planking lines but with no butt ends. In front of the breakwater, the forecastle deck has three prominent oval anchor hawse fittings with open chocks at deck
edge in front of the hawse. Behind the hawse on centerline is the base plate for a windlass with single bollards on each corner of the plate. Two more single bollards are between the hawse and windlass plate and a third offset to port. The detailed
fittings for the chain locker are behind the plate and behind them are three raised plates. The centerline plate is oval in shape and has two locater holes, the forward one for a windlass and the aft one for a medium sized dome ventilator. On each side of
this fitting are horseshoe shaped plates, each of which has a locater hole for a windlass. A large six hatch deck access fitting is to the rear with hinge detail for the hatches. Other detail in front of the breakwater is a centerline fitting with what appears
to be ventilator doors and a twin bollard fitting to starboard. The breakwater has gusset detail on its rear face. Between the breakwater and A turret barbette is another large deck access fitting, this time with eight hatches, Also found here are two small
dome ventilators and locater holes for a medium and a small mushroom ventilators. The aft end of the forecastle is the locater drop for the forward superstructure with a single deck access fitting to starboard and ready ammunition lockers at deck edge.
The main deck and quarterdeck are at the same level and runs from on either side of the anchor hawse plates to the stern tip. One either side of the forecastle are an open chock and twin bollard fitting and the start of the numerous circular coal
scuttle plates. On the net shelve on each side are locater holes for deck edge boat davits. I suggest attaching these davits before attaching what you wish to use as the rolled net itself. Combrig does not provide a rolled net. Near the end of the
forecastle and running diagonally to the net shelves just in front of the wing turret barbettes are locater lines for brass breakwaters. Aft of these breakwater lines the amidships portion of the deck is relatively free of equipment and fittings. You do
have three barbettes, P, Q and X. The deck has a multitude of coal scuttles and along the centerline are location lines for the forecastle for superstructure and stacks. Deck fittings pick up clustered around X barbette with three different patterns of
deck access hatches, lockers and locater holes for mushroom ventilators. Between X and Y barbettes there is another cluster of details. The largest is a sixteen hatch machinery space ventilation fitting. The locater outline for the short aft
superstructure, more deck access fittings and locater holes for large mushroom ventilators lead to Y barbette. At deck edge are open chocks, twin bollards and locater holes on the net shelf for aft boat positions. The quarterdeck from Y barbette to
the stern concludes with the last coal scuttle, more deck access fittings, lockers around the barbette, deck edge open chocks and twin bollards, and locater holes for mushroom ventilators, aft windlass, and flagstaff. There are also locater lines for
cable reels.

With the Superb, Combrig has only the turrets cast separately on short casting plugs. The bottom of the plugs need to be sanded so the turrets fit flush with the barbettes. Three nice cupolas are at the front of the crown on each turret. The turrets
have the correct form but are not perfect. The Burt plan and profile, as well as photographs show a small cupola on the aft crown of the turret that is missing from the Combrig turrets. There are shallow depressions that run lengthwise at the
junction of the armor plates on the crown and serve as the attachment point for brass gun platforms.. The turret mounted 4-Inch guns are at the forward end of these depressions. The front face has nicely done U-shaped gun openings, sufficiently
deep as to provide secure attachment of the gun barrels. All five turret castings are identical. The castings are crisp and clean without any casting blemishes.
There are two sheets of parts with this kit. The larger of the two concentrates on superstructure parts. There are only five parts on the larger sheet but two of the parts are rather large. One is the continuation of the forecastle level from the end of the
forecastle on the hull casting to end just forward of X barbette and fits inside the locater lines on the hull deck. Since the bottom attaches to the hull and another level attaches to the top of this part, detail is only on the bulkheads. This detail are doors,
lockers and port holes. Both the doors and lockers have nice hinge detail. The other part is the largest on the sheet and has the 01 level and 02-03 levels if you include the conning tower. This is a very fine part with three superstructure 4-Inch gun
positions on each side. You’ll have to remove the thin film covering the gun openings but this is easily done with a hobby knife. The two forward positions on each side have clean inset lines to allow the guns to fire slightly forward or slightly aft.
Another nice feature are the three gun shutters on two sides of the forward face. These are enclosed 4-Inch positions with a barrel locater hole in each forward shutter for the barrel. Side detail also has port hole detail on the 02 level. The forward part
has the closed base of the bridge with an inclined ladder leading from the 01 deck to the forecastle deck aft. The two level conning tower is on the forward face and there are locater holes for the legs of the forward tripod. Lockers are found on the aft
face of this base. On the aft portion of this part is the stack house for the aft stack with locater depression for the stack itself and locater holes for the side aft tripod legs. Forward of this is a deck house on centerline and a deck house integral to the
bulkhead on each side. An ammunition locker is on port side deck house. Two square ventilator fittings are in front of the centerline deck house. There are also centerline locater depressions for the forward stack base and two deck winches aft of the
stack base position. The other three parts on the sheet are two levels of forward stack base and the aft superstructure. This small aft superstructure is about two and a half levels and has ventilation hatches on the deck, the locater hole for a stump mast,
as well as locater lines for two more deck winches. The second sheet has mostly platforms. This sheet has 13 parts, three of which are for the bridge structure. These include the bridge, which will have a photo-etch open window forward face and
locater holes for navigation equipment. There is also a locater depression for the chart house and a locater hole for the center leg of the forward tripod. The other two decks for the bridge are different navigation decks. The correct deck for Superb is
the one with the curved forward face. The other with an angular face is apparently used on the Temeraire kit as Bellerophon uses the same rounded face platform. The navigation deck has a locater hole for a binnacle forward and a hole for the center
tripod leg. On the port quarter is an inclined ladder platform that overhangs the deck below. Other parts on this sheet include the tripod control positions with separate overheads, the aft navigation platform, and three tripod platforms. There is a fourth
tripod platform but is apparently used on Temeraire.

There are 24 runners of parts. The largest parts are found on one runner and includes both stacks, chart house and an aft conning tower. Both stacks have nice top aprons and the shorter forward stack also has a base apron. The aft conning tower,
which fits on the aft end of a brass flying boat deck, has all-around vision slits. The chart house has incised square window detail. Three of the runners have barrels. The main gun barrels are on one of these and have hollow muzzles. The open 4-Inch
guns are on a runner and each gun has two parts, the cradle mount and breech block/barrel. There was a slight warp to a few of these barrels and one had a broken barrel. These, however, can be easily fixed. The third runner has the barrels for the two
enclosed 4-inch gun positions and fit inside the locater holes for the forward gun shutter of the superstructure. The other parts on this runner are cable reels, navigation equipment and two dinghies. Searchlights occupy one runner. Another runner has
two smaller searchlights, a signal lamp, small deck houses, large mushroom ventilators, a windlass and the tops of the center tripods. Another runner has four smaller windlasses. The center of the starfish platforms are on a runner shared with two
small winches, a small cable reel rectangular ventilators and some platforms. Two large deck winches are on a runner. Mushroom ventilators in four different sizes have their own long runner. One runner the base fittings for the net booms and a well
detailed boat boom is on its own runner. The other non-boat runners have the detailed anchors and boat davits. The last ten runners have only ship’s boats and launches. Nine of the runners have only one boat. You get two steam launches with very
good cabin and deck detail and separate stacks. For the open boats there is one large whaler, seven medium size boats in four patterns and another dinghy. The open boats feature bottom planking and thwart detail and two have oars.
The kit comes with a comprehensive mid-sized brass photo-etch fret. By far the largest brass part is the flying boat deck, which attaches to the top of the resin superstructure. There are holes for aft stack, side tripod legs, inclined ladder openings and
searchlight locater depressions. The rows of boat cradles and support girders are separate parts. There are two levels for a very nice short lattice tower for the aft navigation position that rests atop the aft superstructure. Other parts for the aft
superstructure are a searchlight platform, stream anchors, and a vertical ladder running from the searchlight platform to the aft navigation position.  The bridge gets the bridge face, ship’s wheel, map table for the navigation platform, navigation platform
braces, bridge deck supports, and inclined ladders. The tripods get brass starfish arms, pulleys and fittings, boat boom fitting with boom pulleys, and control top bases. Four of the turrets get 4-inch gun platforms and a vertical ladder for the front face
between the gun barrels. X turret doesn’t get the 4-inch guns or platforms but does get the vertical ladder. Other brass parts are the main deck breakwaters, anchor chain, stern platform, stack grates/clinker screens, signal arms, accommodation rails,
small platforms and various vertical and inclined ladders. There are eight long runs of two bar railing and one run of one bar rails. Both types have a bottom scupper for attachment to the decks.

The instructions are eleven pages long and identify each resin and brass part attachment location with a number for the part. Page one is the standard scale profile and plan with ship’s history and specifications in English. This helps in assembly and
supplies a guide on rigging. Page two is the resin parts laydown. Page three has the brass parts laydown and a template for cutting masts, topmasts, yardarms, steam pipes and torpedo net booms from plastic or brass rods supplied by the modeler.
Page four starts the actual assembly with hull deck fittings. The four resin runners used on this step are shown and each part is numbered on the runner drawings to correspond with the same number shown for attachment of that part. This is NEW with
Combrig instructions. This numbering was not present on the HMS Neptune or Novorossiisk instructions that were released earlier in 2019. This adds greatly in identifying the correct part and should speed up and ease assembly. THANK YOU
COMBRIG! Page five has more deck fittings and equipment attachment with four numbered drawings of the runners used. Page six has superstructure base, boat booms and ladder attachment. Page seven covers turret and mast assembly. Page eight
covers upper superstructure assembly. Page eight finishes with the superstructure, stacks, and tripod attachment, as well as assembling the bridge and aft superstructure. Page ten has final assembly of attachment of major subassemblies and a handful of
other parts as well as insets on accommodation ladder assembly. The last page shows a drawing of the fully assembled model.
The contents of the  Combrig 1:700 scale HMS Superb kit are identical to the kit of the Combrig Bellerophon but there is a difference between the two in the parts used.  This is the platform under the fore control top. With this kit Combrig also
significantly improved their instructions.
Steve Backer
Huntsville, Alabama

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