1/350 HMS Punjabi, 1st May 1942

It’s been a while since I splashed around in the salty side of the hobby.

After my dalliance with HMS Dauntless decided to take a bit of a break from floaty things and stick to wing things for a while.

As always though, the sea calls to me and I end up drifting back sooner or later. (See what I did there :wink:)

Those of you who have followed my builds in the past, will also know that since restarting the hobby, they’re usually all linked somehow to the original HMS King George V build followed by DKM Prinz Eugen who are linked via the Bismarck episode. Dauntless shares common ground with KGV via being associated with Newcastle Upon Tyne where HMS KGV was built. HMS Punjabi is no different, and is forever linked to KGV by being sliced in two off the coast of Iceland after a lookout thought he saw a mine in the water and the captain took evasive action, initiating a turn to port, putting her directly in the path of KGV.

And so we get around to Trumpeter’s release of HMS Eskimo back in 2012/2013… When the kit first came out, I of course jumped aboard like many others (another bad pun, I know. Stick around, there’ll be plenty more average attempts at humour)…

As time has worn on, we’re all by now familiar with the many flaws of this kit, so I won’t go over them here. I have, over time collected a fair bit of after market kit in a vain attempt to turn this sow’s ear of a kit into something a little less offensive. Had I to do it over again, I would probably follow @RedDuster Si’s path and go the resin kit from Atlantic.

Such as it is, with such a substantially investment in the kit and AM, it means this is the version I will use to try to somewhat represent HMS Punjabi.

There’s not a lot of info about Punjabi on the net, but Wikipedia has a nice little blurb about her.

Onto the photos…

The kit


The hull, which, ahem, has copped a fair bit of flak for being well out of shape…

Some of the sprues…




The colour callouts by White Ensign Models. By now, we all are familiar with the fact that the anti fouling paint is not red, but grey. I’m sure @Jamie can confirm that…

White Ensign photo etch

and 4 barrelled pom poms and boats and props to correct the obvious errors in the kit

Now, of course since 2013 there’s Micro Master offering newer 3d printed options, but I’ve bought these and my wallet says I must use them…
Master model 4.7" brass barrels, tapered masts and yard arms

And some Northstar gear from before they went under (sorry, another one :laughing:)
MkXVI 4" guns for X turret that Trumpeter thinks was a 4.7", another set of 4 barrelled pom poms, not sure how that happened,

Quad 0.5" vickers machine guns for the bridge wings (as opposed to Tumpy’s 20mm) and lastly some bridge equipment…

This should get her close to how she was when sunk… If anything else surfaces along the way, I can always go back to Micro Master and source components as required. (Yeah, last bad-un for this post, I promise :sweat_smile:)

For reference, I have chosen “In the Builder’s Plans, HMS Cossack”

Well, Thanks for looking in. I hope that this build will be entertainment for you, with some bad dad jokes along the way, that hopefully aren’t too cringe worthy…
Russ :grinning:

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Hi Russ,

Good to see you back on the salty side. mate.

I will be along for the ride.

When I have commission Tartar, I will try and get a base done for my HMS Eskimo sans bow.

Cheers, Si :beer: :smile:

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Definitely along for the ride!

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I’ll also take a seat in the front row and look over your shoulder from time to time, Russ! :popcorn:
And thanks for the history lesson! Never heared of that ship nor of its fate. That’s a great side aspect in our wonderfull hobby. I often learn so much about the pilots of my planes.

Torsten
:beers:

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Happily joining the crew !!

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Hi Russ
I’ll be following along as well. I am sure this build will float on for some considerable time in your usual indomitable approach :grinning:

cheers
Michael

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:laughing: Lols! I see what you did there Michael…

However, it is my intention to hunt down this glacier in a rather more timely manner than what my usual standard ship building program allows… :wink:

A couple of pics of Punjabi in the second stage of her career as G21…

That second photo is taken whilst refueling from HMS Kent and gives us a good look at the aft superstructure…

And these pics for illustrative purposes show what happens when 35,000T of Battleship meet 1,500T of Destroyer at cruising speed…


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Since I am ignorant about most things naval, what is that platform between the two turrets? Is looks like it is there between both fore and aft turrets

The overhanging “platforms” are actually blast shields to protect the guns below… Specifically the gun crews who weren’t protected by fully enclosed turrets :astonished:

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Hi Russ,
Looking forward to following your build. I always seem to learn something new or gain inspiration. This time around its the grey anti-fouling paint. Thanks
John

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Folks, the first “steel has been cut” :slightly_smiling_face:




First things first, gluing the upper deck to the hull has revealed that Trumpeter haven’t followed the ship’s plans to the letter.


This should be rectified if we’re to see a better representation of Punjabi





Time to let the glue harden before hitting the passageways with the hairy stick. Airbrushing those areas won’t really be feasible owing to the shape…

Thanks for looking :slightly_smiling_face:

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Great research and nice fix !

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Very nice job Russ,

The open alleyways, very nice indeed, that will add depth.

Cheers, Si

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Great job on those passageways, Russ. It is small corrections like these that make a model stand out. I’ll be following with interest!

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