The Ship Model Forum

Of possible greater significance, is that the book addresses a few long-standing errors involving certain structural details. The most persistent of these errors involves the area abaft the catapult break and the aft island structure. The new Morskie replaces the old PM#4 which was based on bad information. To its credit, the new volume does not depict 20mm guns just abaft the catapult, nor on the quarterdeck.

It has also addressed the aft deckhouse issues, i.e., depicting the larger, longer starboard deckhouse and the smaller portside one, asymmetrically; however, the shape of each seems to be off--especially that of the portside deckhouse. It also appears that the large ordnance lockers at the aft end of each deckhouse (to serve the 4"single AA weapons mounted to their roofs) are missing. Despite these and other minor detailing issues, the result is a much better outcome than was achieved by its predecessor.

There remains a lack of precise information on the ship's final configuration and appearance as of 10 December, 1941. For example, the exact number and placement of 20mm weapons on the ship when she went down in the South China Sea may not be certain, but at least six are photographically validated, and two to four more additional mountings seem at least a possibility. The conservative figure (six) is supported by this book, and I tend to agree with that approach.

Even the ship's as-sunk paint colors are not 100% agreed upon, and small variances between certain published sources and a number of common photographs still leave this aspect of the ship's appearance open to speculation. As I have pointed out here and at other venues, MUCH more complete information seems available on HMS Repulse during earlier periods of her long career, than during the WW2 years.

There seems to be a fixation among kitmakers and publishers to focus on the ship's final battle configuration-- It is a matter of a modeler's personal opinion as to whether or not the ship is more visually appealing and accurately "modelable" in her final configuration than in its earlier days, but the commercial market is (and has been) so over-focused on her final appearance--something I find odd, given the comparative dearth of good, late-1941 photographic coverage -- that there is little else available on the market.

FWIW...

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Danny DON'T "waterline"...!