As my USS Arizona build winds down I find myself gearing up for my latest project. Tamiya’s 1/350 HMS Price of Wales. I have been really looking forward to this build and have slowly been building up the aftermarket.
I am looking forward to this because this kit was the first (and until several years ago) and only big capital ship I had ever built. Way back in 2006 and I will be the first to admit she came out looking exactly as you would expect from a novice ship builder.
Not bad for like 3 days work including paint (Humbrol enamels straight from the pot with a much too small paint brush)
Sadly, she ended up suffering the same fate as her namesake, wrecked at the bottom of our swimming pool!
Fast forward 18 years and I think I can do a little better. I have chosen to build her in her Battle for the Denmark Strait guise for a few reasons.
I also have a KGV which has the pom-poms on the turrets. By building POW with the UP launchers I think there will be a distinct visual difference.
I really don’t want to mess around with her Force Z camo scheme. Apart from the fact that there is still lots of debate over the exact colours, I find I am never satisfied when I try to hand brush camo on ships.
Some mods will need to be done, mainly removing the 20mm orlikons but I dont foresee any issues.
I am really looking forward to this build. one of my favorite ship classes. Those 3D parts are superb!
You might want to check the wooden deck dimensions before trying to install it, I found out that there might be some difference in width over some areas (got a couple of those myself).
Well it would seem to be too late as most of HMS PoW and Repulse are already striped for scrap, while HMS Exeter is now just a depression in the sea floor having been completely scraped as have the Dutch ships from the Java sea battles. These all being war graves it make my blood boil.
When this news and photos came out I was furious. Utter disgrace. Made me grateful that there are so many wrecks to deep to defile.
Not cheap, especially with postage from NZ but absolutely worth it. I wish I could buy a whole lot more. Already eyeing the funnels from ModelMonkey and after looking at the pics from gtdeath I know I need to get at least 1 single barrel bofors. More research required to see if I need more.
Drilled out the anchor holes, replaced the molded on anchor chain with a mix of real and PE chain and started glueing on all the various hatch covers. Unfortunately, Eduard does not supply enough of these so, as can be seen, there are a lot of barren plastic squares. I am going to go through my spares and source various bits of PE to cover them. Wont be 100% accurate but will add some texture.
There is a lovely PE breakwater in the Eduard set but I have opted not to use it. It is a different shape than the kit version and so will not work with my wooden deck.
I’ll be in, watching and following!
Very nice start. Must be about 11 to 12 years that I build mine, same kit, but mainly WEM PE and the Force Z outfit…fond memories…my first project with a wooden deck.
Those 3D printed extras you have there - wow! They will add to the model! Looking forward to your build!
This weekend I decided to work on my base. I did my usual quick and dirty base which I think looks pretty good and costs me like $8 total. Also only takes around 45 minutes to an hour total to make.
Generic wood plague from Hobby Lobby/Michaels/Home Depot. Bass wood strips from my local hobby store and some nails and screws.
Time to talk about paint colours, specifically the hull and the antifouling paint.
For years its always been a red colour but it would seem new research is showing that at least PoW and Hood both had Grey as the anti fouling colour. Now I am all for being accurate but I worry that with a grey bottom and then a grey superstructure that the whole ship is going to be drab and boring. At least with the red you get that contrast.
This rendering of HMS Hood from Sovereign Models shows what I mean. Drab and monotone-ish.
Thoughts? Should I go for historically accurate but visually boring or should I stick with the historically inaccurate but visually interesting? I keep swinging both ways if I am being honest.
Rory, that is an interesting question about the antifouling. What is the story behind this recent info about some RN antifouling being grey? I have heard this but I (and probably others) would love more details!
Most of my info is coming from 3 sources and focus primarily on HMS Hood but they do also mention Prince of Wales and other vessels of the RN during that time period.
PoW was drydocked in 1940 at Rosyth. Did they change the antifouling paint then to grey? If that is the case you can easily do a top grey bottom red model (provided she was painted with antifouling red originaly), since you are going for the top grey. Or did the Royal Navy start using red antifouling after the war?
