H.M.S Harvester Kit - 1:500 model kit

HMS Harvester Dunkirk 1:500 ship

HMS Harvester was an H-class destroyer originally commissioned by the Brazilian Navy under the name Jurua in the late 1930s, but purchased by the Royal Navy after the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. Almost immediately after commissioning , in May 1940, the ship began evacuating Allied troops from Dunkirk and elsewhere in France. She was then assigned to the Western Approach Command to perform escort duties. Harvester and another destroyer sank a German submarine in October. She was briefly assigned to Force H in May 1941, But her anti-aircraft armament was deemed too weak and she was transferred to Newfoundland escort duties in June 1941 to perform company duties in the North Atlantic. In October 1941, the ship returned to Western Approaches Command and in early 1942 she was converted to an escort destroyer . Harvester was torpedoed and sunk in March 1943 by a German submarine after ramming and sinking another submarine the previous day while escorting Convoy HX 228 .

Following the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. Harvester converted her rear torpedo launchers to a 12-pounder anti-aircraft gun, but it is not known exactly when this modification was made. During her 1942 conversion to an escort destroyer, the short-range anti-aircraft armament was augmented by two 20mm Oerlikon guns on the bridge wings . The mounting of .50 calibre machine guns was later replaced by a pair of Oerlikons. The ‘A’ gun was replaced by a Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar pivot . The ship's control tower and rangefinder above the bridge were removed in exchange for a Type 271 target-indicating radar . It is likely that the Type 286 short-range surface search radar was also fitted mid-war. The ship also received an HF / DF radio direction finder mounted on the masthead.

Kit contents:

• Ship model
• Assembly instructions 
• Ship HMS Hero
• Plastic model glue with brush