Hi,
I have always been a fan of these ships since buying the Ensign book back in 1973! And I have always preferred the modified Dido's.
I may now be in a position to build one and it will be HMS Bellona.
I am not at home right now so I have limited access to research, but Freidman's book on British cruisers claims that Bellona (alone among the modified's) as well as having the six twin 20mms had four single 20mm's as built. The Ensign book claims that Bellona did have single 20mm's added, but in early/mid 44. I have copies of Fairfield's drawings of Bellona as built and I cannot recall seeing the single 20mm's on them. However, the single 20mm's may have been last minute builders additions. The limited available pictures of Bellona as built make it hard to tell if, or where, the single 20mm's are positioned. Does anyone have any thoughts?
During convoy RA64 where there are onboard shots of Bellona extra single 20mm's can be seen, as well as missing fwd searchlight positions which were later filled with 20mms.
Also, regarding the modifieds, Raven has in his Vol 3 Camouflage book that all were painted in variations of the Admiralty scheme, in B30, B55 and G10 (or G15, my memory is slipping here). I recently bought B30 and B55 from Sovereign (ex-WEM) and on test sheets they are almost exactly the same colour. One is a slightly bluer blue-green and the other is a slight greener blue-green.
The photos of all the modifieds seem to imply that while the dark grey is obvious, there is also quite a differentiation between the B30 and B55. My impression is that B55 is a light grey that hints to green and B30 is a much darker green. However, if you look at drawings in the Shipcraft Flower class book where several late war corvettes were painted white with B55 (instead of WA green or blue) panels, the B55 does look like a light WA green.
Royal Navy WW2 camouflage is a nightmare!
As the model will be 85inches long I would like to get close to correct
I must say that the centrefold of the Ensign book makes Black Prince look splendid.
Best regards
Sandy