“I was the Dumaresq worker in the foretop of the Temeraire throughout the action, so I had a grand circle view of everything that took place, and I do not remember seeing the battle-cruisers between the enemy ships and the Grand Fleet at any
time during the action. They were certainly not there when the Defence blew up practically on our starboard beam, nor were they there there while we were firing at a three-funnelled enemy ship of the Weisbaden type, nor when we fired salvos of
12-inch into the enemy destroyer flotilla.” Lieutenant Reginald Foort of HMS Temeraire at Jutland. (Jutland, The Unfinished Battle by Nicholas Jellicoe, Seaforth Publishing 2016, at page 80)

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 every year. Tory 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. Admiral Fisher 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. At first the Bellerophon Class was to incorporate Design X4 Fusion, which incorporated the armor of battleships with the speed of battlecruisers (25-knots), merging the two types of capital ships into a
fast battleship. The design called for a length of 580-feet and horsepower of 45,000, compared to the 23,000 horsepower of Dreadnought. The 13.5-inch gun was considered for the main armament with four turrets instead of five on the
Dreadnought. The waist turrets would be in echelon and have triple guns so the ship would retain a ten gun battery. Fisher was certain he could sell building four Design X4 Fusion battleships for the 1906-1907 Programme. The Tory Party was in
control of Parliament and Lord Cawdor was the First Lord of the Admiralty.  Cawdor’s stated policy was to build four capital ships each year. Even though three Design X4 Fusion battleships would cost more than four improved Dreadnoughts,
Fisher had good reason to anticipate four Design X4 Fusion fast battleships from the Tory government.
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.  For an improved Dreadnought design. 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. Fisher still wanted the Design X4 Fusion, however, it was not to be. In November the Tories unwisely called
for elections and on November 30 the Liberal Party won, ousting the Tories. Lord Tweedmouth replaced Lord Cawdor. Although Tweedmouth did not replace Fisher as First Sea Lord he did demand a cut in naval expenditure in order to fund social
programs. In early 1906 the government changed the 1906-1907 Programme from four to three capital ships. Fisher realized he couldn’t sell the expensive Design X4 Fusion to a penny-pinching government, so he campaigned for repeats of the
Dreadnought. In May 1906 the Design Board approved Watt's slightly improved Dreadnought design for the Bellerophon Class but added a heavier secondary gun battery. On Jul 11, 1906 the Director of Naval Construction finished the design for the
improved Dreadnoughts. 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. Another big change was that the Bellerophon Class received a main mast with observation top.

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 fore top, 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.        

HMS Temeraire was laid down at the Devonport Dok Yard on January 1, 1907, launched on August 24, 1907. HMS Temeraire was commissioned on May 15, 1909 at Devonport and replaced HMS Implacable in the 1st Division of the Home Fleet.
She was 526-feet in overall length, 522-feet long at waterline, and 490-feet between the perpendicular bulkheads. Her beam was 82-feet 6-inches with a draught of 31-feet 2-inches. Displacement was 18,596-tons load and 22,359-tons deep load.
Armament was ten 12-inch/45 Mk X guns in Mk VIII mountings, sixteen 4-inch/45 Mk III secondary guns, four 3pdr QF guns, two machine guns three 18-inch torpedo tubes with two submerged beam tubes and a stern tube. Temeraire’s armor
scheme had a belt ranging from 10-inches amdiships tapering to 5-inches at the ends.  Turrets had a frontal face of 11-inches, a rear face of 12-inches, and 3-inch crowns. Barbette armor ranged from 10-inches to 5-inches. The fore conning tower
armor was 11-inches with 3-inches on the crown. The aft conning tower had 8-inches of armor with a 3-inch crown. Armored bulkheads ranged from 8-inches to 4-inches. Deck armor had a main armored deck of 3-inches. Four sets of Parsons Direct
Drive turbines were supplied steam by 18 Yarrow boilers, each equipped with oil sprayers for emergency power. The power plant developed 23,000 horsepower for a top speed of 21-knots. Her range on coal only was 2,930nm at 18-knots or 3,970nm
at 10-knots. If oil was sprayed into the boilers the range increased to 4,230nm at 18-knots or 5,720nm at 10 knots. The complement was 681 in 1909 and 729 in 1911.

When completed the ships of the class 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. Also, as completed the three ships of the class were distinguished by white bands
painted on the funnels. Temeraire had two white bands on each funnel while Superb had the two bands only on the fore funnel and Bellerophon had none. In June and July 1909 Temeraire took part in the annual maneuvers in the Atlantic and on July
31 she participated in a review at Cowes for King Edward VIII and the Russian Tsar. Early in 1911 she underwent a refit and on May 16, 1911 was recommissioned at Devonport for the Home Fleet. She was at the Coronation Review for King George V
on June 24, 1911 with fleet exercises into July. The year 1912 was filled with reviews with tactical exercises in October. In 1912 the fore top on Temeraire was changed giving it a narrower face. In July 1913 as part of the 1st Battle Squadron,
Temeraire visited Cherbourg, France. In 1913 the 4-inch gun positions on the crowns of A, Q and P turrets were given blast shields behind the guns on Temeraire and the 24-inch searchlights were removed. In 1914 the 4-inch guns on the crown of A
turret were removed and mounted in the superstructure. Right before the start of World War One the Admiralty had scheduled a test mobilization and fleet maneuvers in July. On July 15, 1914 Temeraire was transferred to the 4th Battle Squadron and
left Portland for the maneuvers. The test mobilization and maneuvers lasted from July 17 to July 25 after which, the Temeraire returned to Portland. Four days later she departed to Scapa Flow. War was declared on August 8 and Home Fleet became
the Grand Fleet.
Temeraire and the rest of the fleet operated out of Lough Silly from October 22 until November 3 waiting for Scapa Flow to receive anti-submarine facilities. With the start of World War One the funnel bands were painted out. After the start of the
war the main gun director was fitted to the platform under the fore top, which was enlarged. The turret crown 4-inch guns on the wing turrets were relocated to positions in the forward and aft superstructure above the positions on the 01 level. A 3-
inch antiaircraft gun was added to the searchlight platform between X and Y turrets. The searchlights on Temeraire were redistributed. On March 18, 1915 Temeraire tried to ram an U-boat but missed. The submarine had tried to torpedo HMS
Neptune and Temeraire almost collied with HMS Dreadnought, which was also going after the submarine. Dreadnought was successful in ramming U-29, which sank taking with her U-boat ace, Otto Weddigen. The Temeraire received a refit at
Devonport in the summer of 1915 and rejoined the 4th Battle Squadron at Cromarty.

In 1915 the top gallant masts were removed and the forward pair of 4-inch guns were landed. All of the other 4-inch guns received armored shields for crew protection. In 1916 before Jutland the Temeraire had her anti-torpedo nets and booms
removed. Also before Jutland the top masts of Temeraire were shortened. At the battle of Jutland the Temeraire was part of the 4th Battle Squadron. This Squadron had two Divisions, each of four battleships. The 3rd Division included the Grand Fleet
flagship, HMS Iron Duke, while the 4th Division had the Temeraire, 3rd in line behind the Orion and Monarch, but ahead of the Thunderer. At 19:15 to help the High Sea Fleet extricate itself from the embrace of the Grand Fleet, Admiral Scheer
initiated a mass torpedo attack from the torpedo boats/destroyers of the 3rd, 6th and 9th Torpedo Boat Flotillas. Royal Oak was the first battleship to take on the torpedo boats at the initial time of their attack at 19:15. Temeraire, along with Agincourt,
Marlborough and Vanguard joined in on four boats at 19:17. At 19:34 Temeraire shifted targets to the cruiser Weisbaden and fired five salvos in which she rendered some hits on the cruiser.The Temeraire was in the thick of the battle against Scheer’
s battleships when Scheer called for another 180 degree turn away masked by the “Death Ride” of the German battlecruisers. After that contact was broken and the Grand Fleet continued steaming to the southeast. After night fell Scheer broke to the
east trying to get home. He encountered light forces north of the Grand Fleet. Temeraire and eight other British battleships reported hearing gunfire to the north but the Grand Fleet didn’t change course.
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. In 1917 a 4-inch AA gun was mounted on the crown of the aft turret and Temeraire received additional armor in the form of .75 to 1-inch armor plates on the middle and main decks over the magazines.        
Also baffles to confuse range finding of enemy warships was added to both masts. These baffles were removed by early 1918. Also at the end of 1917 Temeraire had a range clock added to the face of the bridge and deflection scales were painted on
the forward and aft turrets. A cap was added to the forward funnel, searchlights were placed in coffee box positions clustered around the aft funnel and the stern torpedo tube was removed. In 1918 the 4-inch AA gun on the aft turret was moved to
the quarterdeck and high angle range finders were added to the forward control top. On April 12, 1918 Temeraire left to reinforce the British Eastern Mediterranean Squadron. The war ended while Temeraire was at Mudros. On November 12, 1918,
after signing the Armistice with Turkey, she and other ships of the Squadron passed through the Dardanelles and steamed to Constantinople as the second ship in the column. For the rest of 1918 and early 1919 Temeraire remained in the eastern
Mediterranean and paid visits to Ismid, Turkey, Sevastopol, Russia and Haifa, Palestine. On April 3, 1919 Temeraire was relieved by HMS Marlborough and returned to Devonport to pay off.  On April 23 she paid off and was placed in Reserve. On
September 23, 1919 she was recommissioned to serve as a training ship for cadets. The deflection scales were painted over and four 4-inch gun positions were removed to provide extra crew quarters in the superstructure, while Temeraire served as a
training ship.

She left Devonport on October 8, 1919 on her first training cruise and reached Palma, Majorca on November 13. Temeraire continued her training duties through 1920 until April 11, 1921 when she reached Portsmouth on her last training cruise. Four
days later she departed for Rosyth and was placed on the disposal list. At the end of 1921 HMS Temeraire was sold to Stanlee Shipbreaking Co and in February 1922 was towed to Dover and broken up for scrap. (Bulk of history from: British
Battleships of World War One by R.A. Burt, Naval Institute Press 1986; Castles of Steel by Robert K. Massie, Random House 2003; Jutland, The Unfinished Battle by Nicholas Jellicoe, Seaforth Publishing 2016; Skagerrak, The Battle of
Jutland Through German Eyes by Gary Staff,Pen & Sword Maritime 2016; The British Battleship 1906-1946 by Norman Friedman, Naval Institute Press 2015)
Combrig 1:700 Scale HMS Temeraire – In the spring of 2019 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 Temeraire, the second of the three Bellerophon Class
battleships. The Temeraire is almost identical to the Combrig HMS Bellerophon and HMS Superb kits. 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 reviews of the Combrig Bellerophon and the Combrig Superb. (Combrig 1:700 scale Bellerophon review.) (Combrig 1:700 scale Superb review.) The Combrig Temeraire is a very fine kit. The
casting quality is excellent. 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 Temeraire 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 Temeraire, 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 upper bridge deck for Temeraire is the one with the angular forward face. The other with an curved face is used on the Superb and Bellerophon. 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 four tripod platforms. Superb used three of the platforms but Temeraire uses all four. The main mast differs between the two. Superb has a platform with splinter shield right below the main top. Temeraire has the same
platform but it lacks the splinter shield. Temeraire has a second of these platforms near the base of the main mast not found on Superb. The fore mast also varies between the two. Superb has a platform with splinter shield and brass photo-etch wind
screen on the forward face. Temeraire has the same platform but it is open with no splinter shield or windscreen. The Temeraire fore mast top has an extension of the spotting top on the front face, which does not appear on the Superb top. In
contrast the Bellerophon has the same main mast as Temeraire and the same fore mast as Superb but without the wind screen on the platform with splinter shield below the fore top. Since the Bellerophon and Superb use the same upper navigation
deck with a curved face, Temeraire is the only one of the three sister to have the angular face in that position.

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 early 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. These instructions are better than the previous Combrig format but not as good as the current Combrig format that uses
color coded drawings.
The Combrig 1:700 scale HMS Temeraire is very close to the models that Combrig produced for sisterships, Bellerophon and Superb. However, it does have some differences from the other two. The most noticeable difference is the angular face for
the navigation deck, as opposed from the curved faces on the other two. Tripod platforms are different as well.

Steve Backer
Huntsville, Alabama
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