The Ship Model Forum

In looking at the photos mentioned above and looking at the Trumpeter and H-P kits, it looks like Calcutta had splinter shield protection added to the sides of the 4" HA twin mounts. These are not included in the Trumpeter or H-P kits since it appears these kits are of the ships as proposed in 1939. By the time Calcutta was in the eastern Med it looks like the splinter shields had been added. There is a nice overhead view of HMS Carlisle in late 1941 on page 180 of the Raven book "British Cruiser Warfare" that shows these splinter shields around the 4" twins as fitted on Carlisle. Calcutta's may be similar. These shields will need to be added to build the Calcutta at time of loss or in the Eastern Med.

Picked up the Trumpeter 350th Calcutta kit today and was looking over potential options for aftermarket improvements.
The Profile Morskie boot has drawings of the following:
32' Cutter x 1
32' Motorboat x 1
27' Whaler x 2
15' Dinghy x 2

Black Cat has a 14' and 16' dinghy, but no 15'. Any idea what should be used? They have the 27' whaler nut not either of the 32' craft. Any idea if anyone else is doing RN boats? I went looking for the Admiralty Modelworks boats but no luck so far.

Comment for clarification based on discussion Frank and Dick had over on Steel Navy:

Omit Pieces E17 & E18 on step 25 of the Calcutta kit as they depict equipment she did not have in the location depicted.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Tracy take a look at Micro Master down in New Zealand for replacement boats as well as some other items such as the MK III HACS.

I'll second the Micro master suggestion. I'm waiting on their 4in guns, 4in ready use lockers, 0.5in quads, all ships boats and the mkIII director for use on this build. I've used their stuff already on HMS Cornwall and the parts are simply amazing. The boats and 4in guns are works of art.

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NVNC EST BIBENDVM

Thanks everyone.

I'm still not 100% sure of the boats in that my sole source with enough data to form a list at this time is the Profile Morskie, and they reference a "15' Dinghy." Well, neither Black Cat or Micro Master have a 15' dinghy but there are several 14' and 16' craft of different purposes like "sailing dinghy" and "drifting dinghy" that are not part of the label on the PM plans. That said, the overhead drawing of the interior space more closely resembles the Micromaster 14' drifter dinghy so unless anyone has any more precise information I'll go with that.

Both have the 27'whaler and Micro Master has the 32' cutter, but neither has the 32' motorboat. I am leaning towards getting things from Micro Master just to "sole source it" and be done - sounds like a good experience either way I go.

Anyone know about a source for the 32' motorboat or if that is a typo and it should actually be something else?

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Is there any hard and fast rule to where Corticene would be used - i.e. was there any on Calcutta such as the bridge?

I've got two of the four boat types so far and a third on order - the fourth isn't offered yet. I am quite happy with what I've seen so far so thanks again for the earlier recommendations.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Tracy, did you id all your boats as HMS Curacoa has 16' dinghy, 27' whaler, 25' motorboat, 30' gib & 32' cutter?

David - not sure I understand the question. I have a list of boats provided in the Profile Morskie Calcutta book that I typed out earlier here that looks fairly similar, if that's what you mean. Here is the full list of items I'm planning on buying or have already, for those who may be wanting to do similar in the future:

Boats:
32' Cutter x 1 (Micromaster)
32' Motorboat x 1
27' Whaler x 2 (Micromaster)
15' Dinghy x 2 (Micromaster)

No one makes the 32' motorboat as far as I have been able to find at this point and the drawings reference a 15' dinghy and I've only been able to find 14' and 16' dinghies. The Micromaster 14' drifter dinghies look the closest to what I see in the Profile Morskie book, so barring a better reference coming around I've decided to go that route.

Arms
HACS Mk III - Micromaster, who also has a covered version, but since I'm using uncovered boats I figured I'd go with an uncovered fire control director as well
4" Mk XVI guns - Micromaster
Quad pom pom - Black Cat Models
Quad Vickers - Micromaster

I haven't looked into other details such as searchlights and rafts yet.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Get the 4in ready use lockers too. My order arrived at week and they are simply superb. Far superior to the plastic parts and any photoetch lockers I've used.

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NVNC EST BIBENDVM

Can anyone tell me the dimensions (and pics if possible) of the splinter shielding installed around the gun mounts.
Thanks to all
Tom

Good evening,
I am working on HMS Cairo in scale 1:350, as a basic I use the Trumpeter kit. I want to present HMS Cairo in her late 1941 configuration. She had splinter shields on all four 4" gun mount positions. According to the few photos I have found the I decide to made them from 0,2mm styrene 4mm high. IMHO that looks quite acceptable. I hope that helps.

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Cheers,
Christian
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AKA "Painter"
VMF'06 - German Gamblers
Veritable Modelling Friends 2006, Germany

It does indeed, thank you Christian.
Exactly what I was looking for and what I've done.
Tom
FYI: the max. elevation of the 4" guns was 80 degrees. The mounts in your pic look to be at max. elevation (barrels virtually touching the tops of the shield cut outs) but are no-where near 80 degrees.

They look like modified 3D printed mounts - whose are they if so?

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Checking my 'Black Cat' 3D mounts they're the same. Could be rectified by moving the trunnion point forward somehow I suppose, but I'll not elevate them too much to make it not as noticeable.
Tom

Hello Tom, glad I could help a bit

Yes I know and I was indeed not happy with the result. Meanwhile I set the elevation to a more or less horizontal level. I have 4" twin mounts from Micro Master on order and will look if they fit much better for a high angle elevation. The North Star Models are quite nice, but I think the Micro Master will be a big improvement in detail and correctness.

Feel free to have a look at my WIP here on MW.
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=315015

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Cheers,
Christian
_________________
AKA "Painter"
VMF'06 - German Gamblers
Veritable Modelling Friends 2006, Germany

Hi Tracy, these are after market 4" mounts from North Star Models. They are made of resin, brass and PE parts.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/north-s ... g--1102762

For a couple of years ago they were top notch and still are a big improvement of most kit parts. But as replied to Tom, I am looking forward to get my hands on Micro Master 4" mounts. Regarding the accessories I got from them so far they are most excellent in any aspect.

_________________
Cheers,
Christian
_________________
AKA "Painter"
VMF'06 - German Gamblers
Veritable Modelling Friends 2006, Germany

Ah ok, so I guess it is a scale problem because of downscalling the real one by factor 350. I did not found a photo of a the real one with 80° elevation. But anyhow, I will have a look at the Mirco Master parts and then I'll see see what to do.

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Cheers,
Christian
_________________
AKA "Painter"
VMF'06 - German Gamblers
Veritable Modelling Friends 2006, Germany

Greetings to all fans of C-class cruisers.
I was reading previous posts on the forum and there was a discussion about the tricolor camouflage of the HMS Calcutta from the period of deployment in the Mediterranean. Does anyone know what color was used during the fighting in Norway? It was a single color camouflage apparently - most likely 507A or a mix of 507A and 507C. Profile Morskie and Malcolm Wright state the color as 507B - so a mix (Malcom even claims there was a white wool on the bow) but these are very old sources. Does anyone have more up to date information?
Thanks in advance for any information.

Looks like well weathered Home Fleet grey to me ie 507A with a significant amount of white false bow wave, a further bit of side wave and maybe a bit of stern wave too!

Hello,
I would like to thank Dick for the information and for the great photo especially. It will help a lot during my ship construction.