Doug, Glad you can remember that sort of pond yacht, I stayed faithfull to mine for years. Fine Sunday mornings and I'd be over to Cold Knap. She was a bit bigger than normal and sailed really well. I bought one in an antique shop a little while ago, mast is broken, but I'll get it repaired when my current lethargy departs.

Cheers, Nerys

"The Scots do have a way with the nectar of the gods. I do believe there are other countries that make the same GOLD."
Yes Rick👍
And one of them is Ireland where Bushmills comes from!!
Several others make something that they call whisky or whiskey!
😁😎

"Karen Rose"
My God! That's brilliant Jonathan😮
And you were worrying about your building expertise not being up to the challenge of HMS Hermes!!!! NO WAY JOSE!
BTW: Hermes was originally a Centaur class carrier.
The final incarnation of the 1942 Light Fleet Carrier design, which resulted initially as the Colossus class. Designed as 'throw away carriers' not expected to last beyond WW2!
But I managed to work on the last active Colossus😊, Minas Gerais (ex HMS Vengeance) of the Brazilian Navy, in the nineties. She was finally scrapped in 2004 😭😭
The Brazilians even tried to auction her on Ebay!
What you are doing there with your mammoth Hermes will be, I hope, akin to my dream of building a large scale Colossus carrier. I had thought of 1:72 to match my HMS Hotspur destroyer. 1:96 would match my HMS Manxman though😉
1:128 would match my HMS Belfast.
At the moment all I have is two ancient Heller kits of Colossus / Arromanches (loan to the French navy) at 1:400.
Your Hermes is a sort of 'stretched Colossus, about 10m longer.
I note that your hull is already fitted with the Ski Ramp. So it's in the 'Falklands configuration'.
Means no giant 'searchlight' type 984 radar I'm afraid!😭
By then she had the tower radar with an antenna which reminds me of a bathroom electric radiator heater. In fact the whole tower / antenna arrangement reminds me of a BIC throwaway razor, stuck in the top of the bridge! See attached pics! 😁
Hermes on her way to the Falklands in '82 and as INS Vikrant R22 leaving Devonport to commence service in the Indian navy in '83, with the same 'BIC' radar tower.
Oh well! Other RN radars got funny nicknames like ''Bedstead' or 'Mattress'😉
Bon chance with rearrangements and building. I'd still like very much to know where you pick up these huge hulls, and fittings kits to boot! That reeks of someone who once manufactured such things!?
Do they do a County Class Missile Destroyer in that scale by any chance?
I worked on a couple of those for the Chilean Navy in Valparaiso in the 80s and 90s before they were replaced by Type 23s and Dutch Karel Doorman M frigates in the early 2000s.
Not quite so much fun as Rio 😉 during the Minas refit, but very interesting nevertheless😉
One of my most enduring memories of those times is watching the pelicans chilling out on the roofs of the sheds in the harbour just across from the restaurant where I was enjoying the best and freshest tuna steaks I have ever eaten!
Was intriguing to see how the Chileans had converted one of the Counties into a Heli Carrier!
Trotted out of the radio equipment room one day for a 'fag break' and found meself on a half football field size flight deck!😮
Later that afternoon I was snooping around on the stern of a County and nearly banged me nut on a huge Sea Slug mount! Up the sharp end (where the Quartermaster actually saluted me as I came aboard 😊) they still had the twin Vickers 4.5s.
That ship still LOOKED like a warship!
Reminiscence over, I'll retreat back into the den now!😉
Cheers, Doug 😎

Just remembered there is more in the LOFT !! 🤣 😜 😄

And Avery nice fleet indeed! 👍👍👍

"Avery nice fleet indeed!"
I see you've got the situation all weighed up Sy👍
Very good Commodore. Carry on!
😎