Minitrix Warship Benbow model?

[Wombling]

Newbie to Forum so hopefully posting in the right place!
Please can anyone confirm if Minitrix ever produced a Warship Benbow model? One version I've read says yes there was one produced. Another source denies one was ever made-so I'm a bit confused by this conflicting information!

If the answer is yes does anyone have an opinion on the likelihood of me ever being able to buy  one of these models from somewhere ?

Thanks very much.

[Bob G]

Yes
Was my first Minitrix Warship bought in 1971. Green with full yellow ends.
You will probably only ever find them on EBay.
Benbow was one of the versions which used the original Mk 1 chassis and were only produced for one year. Also using this chassis were Eclipse (green, blue, maroon), Druid (green, blue), Zebra (green, maroon, blue)
This has the buffers mounted on the bogies, and an all metal chassis and baseplate.
The Mk 2 chassis was similar with a plastic insert beneath the chassis. Usually only early Hermes (blue) have this chassis.
The Mk 3 was a redesign with fixed buffers and was only used on later versions of Hermes (blue) and Intrepid (green) under the Hornby Minitrix label.
They do not get high prices like the Mk 1 maroon Zebra which seem to suffer cracked bodyshells.
There are more maroon forgeries than any other version.
You can tell if it is an original Benbow as the numbers, nameplates and BR crests are transfers with thick visible borders around them.
Good luck.
Bob