Casemate Publishers presents Seaforth's ShipCraft 23, Rodney and Nelson battleships by Les & Robert Brown. This book is an update of the original 2015 ShipCraft of Rodney and Nelson. Les Brown is a well-known and accomplished British warship aficionado and builder of beautiful models, with a long history of championing British warships, typically destroyers and smaller warships. He is also a luminary in the Small Warships Group of the IPMS. Canadian Robert Brown has also authored other craft books, including HMS Warspite and British Aircraft Carriers.

This heavily illustrated paperback is the ultimate single resource for building accurate models of both Rodney and Nelson, some of the oddest but successful battleships of the 20th century. The book has very little open space, crammed full of text, drawings and photos of models.

The first third of the book is mostly text with photographs of Rodney and Nelson, affectionately named Rodnol and Nelsol because they looked more like tankers than warships, or a pair of Boots. Eleven pages explain their origin as cut-back designs of the gigantic G3 battleships started after WWI. They were built to counter the 16-unch battleships from Japan and the USA. While they were cut back severely, the design incorporated a lot of space and tonnage-saving design and construction firsts, most noticeably the concentration of main armament all pointing forward, and importantly, the 'all-or-nothing' protection plan leaving forward, stern and topside sections with little or no armor, but essential armament, ammunition, and propulsion (and even 24-inch torpedo tubes) were well-protected. The compromises led to all kinds of problems throughout their careers (some amusing), but their resiliency to heavy damage and some luck from duds likely saved them from sinking several times during WWII. Their concentration of nine 16-inch gun firepower in a small pattern was unmatched (not considering the Yamato class).

Class history follows the design section, and these ships were quite busy and quite battered over time. With all their faults and tribulations (Rodney was on her way to the US for a serious refit when she turned back to fight Bismarck), they gave more than they got and were heavily involved until war's end. Both were ignominiously scrapped in the late 1940s.

Now for the salivating modeler's portion of the book. Seven pages of Model Products show the updated available model kits and accessories, with pros and cons. It is important to know the year of appearance of each kit — most appearances between 1920s to 1945 can be found or easily converted. Scales go from 1/1250 to 1/20.

Modeler's Showcase is next, showcasing 21 pages of mouthwatering finished models from 1/200 to 1/700 scale. Four pages of color profiles of camouflage schemes are excellent and accurate, just what modelers need. Seven pages of appearances follow, with many helpful photographs at different time points. Four pages of a list of alterations help pinpoint making accurate models. Finally, six pages of B&W line drawings are another superb reference for appearances.

As usual, Sea forth Publishing has produced a book chock-full of excellent quality photographs, color plates of first-class models of these ships, camouflage patterns and line drawings, as well as all the available kits and accessories of these ships that modelers will appreciate and benefit from.

Summary

This book is a must-have for building any version of both Rodney and Nelson from beginning to end of service. Super detailed and very highly recommended for WW2 naval aficionados, Royal Navy WW2 ship modelers and especially for builders of these two odd "Cherry Tree Class" of battleships.

Thanks to IPMSUSA for the privilege of reviewing this superb reference for WW2 warship modelers!

Thanks to Casemate Publishers USA & IPMS/USA for the review copy!