Horst Mürell Passat Verlag Minesweeper Laboe

Passat Verlag
Fast Minesweeper 343-Class "Laboe"
Scale 1:250
Horst Mürell

Original:
"Laboe" is part of the Hameln-class of fast minesweepers, which were developed by the German navy in the late eighties. This basic ship design was also used for the minehunters of the Frankenthal-class. The hull is of non-magnetisable steel. The fast minesweepers are able to meet all minewarfare roles, including surveillance, minelaying, minehunting and minesweeping. The AA-Armament consists of two 40mm Bofors guns in fibre-glass turrets and two four cell Stinger missile launchers.
Specifications: length 54,4m, width 9,2m, draught 2,5m, tonnage 600t, speed 18kn, engine 2x2040kw, complement 37.

Model:
The kit no. 3 from the Passat-Verlag contains two models, besides the one shown here you can also build a minehunter of the Frankenthal-class, because both ships have the same basic design. The fit of the parts is very good. The model is very detailed, there are more than 600 parts on 22cm length. The kit includes 16 pages of ship history and instructions in German and two pages with diagrams.

Click on the pictures for a larger version.

Railings and ladders on the model are of fly-screen.

Beneath the gun there is a detailed steel-wire winch, unfortunately it can hardly be seen on the finished model.

Model	Fast Minesweeper "Laboe" of the Hameln-Class
Kit/Availability	Passat-Verlag, Michael Kirchgaessner, Norderstr. 62, 24340 Eckernförde, Germany mkirchgaessner@t-online.de
Designer	Dr. Henning Budelmann
Scale	1:250
Difficulty	high
Number of Parts	660
Instructions	10 pages German text, 2 pages diagrams
Fit	very good
Coloring and Artwork	very good
Printing	-
Resources	http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/hameln/index.html Hendrik Killi "Die Minensucher der deutschen Marine", Köhler-Mittler Verlag
Comments and Questions	horst.muerell@gmx.de

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