Scale: 1:48. A half block model of the starboard side of HMS Opal (1875), a 12-gun composite steam corvette. The model is made in wood which has been carved out internally, with metal fittings and is constructed in bread and butter fashion. The hull is painted a copper colour to indicate sheathing below the waterline and is fitted with a bilge keel amidships. The upperworks and bulwarks are finished in black. The clipper shaped bow is fitted with a figurehead (missing) and upper and lower trailboards. There is a rudder with gudgeons and pintles fitted to the stern frame. The upper portion of the hull is pierced for nine gunports, only one of which is fitted with a gun. Other external features include three pairs of boat davits, portholes for accommodation below, an anchor chain and three sets of channels and chainplates. The main deck, forecastle and quarterdeck are finished in natural wood and varnished with individual planks marked in black ink. The hull is fitted with three stump masts in natural varnished wood, a single, telescopic and truncated funnel painted black with a pair of boats nested and mounted on chocks just behind. Other fittings include four skylights, ten ventilator cowlings, a capstan with bars, bollards, a ships boat rigged to davits overhanging the stern and the semi-circular lifting frame fitted with sheaths for raising and lowering the screw at the stern. The model is mounted on a wooden backboard painted cream. A plaque is inscribed 'HM Corvette "Opal" built by William Doxford & Sons Iron Composite Shipbuilders Sunderland'.