1/700 HMAS Australia at Savo (Aoshima HMS Kent conversion)

[Vladi]

This will actually be a WIP backlog starting over 4 years ago.

Already since I completed my HMAS Canberra in 2017 I�ve been contemplating to build her sister HMAS Australia, despite the fact she was not a direct participant in the Savo Island battle. I resisted the temptation to buy the respective Kombrig resin kit as I had other models planned with higher priority, but I started collecting photos and other material on her WW2 fit. Although the Kombrig Canberra was not that bad, it�s still quite basic so I�ve been hoping for something better.

Then Aoshima started releasing their Kent-class cruisers in 1/700 one after another and my heart started beating faster. The choice grew all the time: HMS Dorsetshire and Cornwall (both as sunk), two versions of Norfolk (1942 and 1943) and finally Kent (Benghazi attack in 1940). They were said not to be bad, Aoshima even released a more precise version of Dorsetshire after modellers discovered they messed up the scale in the first attempt. Then Flyhawk announced 1/700 HMS Dorsetshire for 2020! That would certainly be a killer when released but they usually take quite long to actually launch a kit after it is announced. More importantly the Dorsetshire (of a later London class) did not seem to be the best starting point for Australia in 1942, there were quite a lot of differences so it would take more effort to convert. On the other hand, Flyhawk�s quality is astounding, they are clearly the top of the market these days. And the next question is they may come up with some other ship of the class in the end after all those Aoshima�s releases.

I only resisted until the beginning of the first Covid lockdown in 2020 before ordering the Aoshima�s HMS Kent, the closest of sisters to Australia�s wartime fit. The main area that seemed in need of modification was the upper deck around the funnels as Australia had her AA guns one deck lower. Kent�s aft superstructure has not been modified as heavily as that of the others, so it�s closest to Australia, and they both had the armour belt installed (as opposed to Canberra).

To be continued

[Dan K]

Standing by...............

[MartinJQuinn]

Standing by...............

Same

[Quincy]

Ah! Me loves a good conversion!!


Bob P

[SG1]

Welcome back Vladi! Looking forward to it

[maxim]

I will take a seat here to watch that build!

Very interesting! I still have the Combrig kit of Australia, but the shape of its hull is very different to Aoshima's... Perhaps, the conversion of Kent is the better option.

[Vladi]

Thank you, gentlemen!

Lars, IMHO if you wish to have a reasonably accurrate model, forget about the Kombrig Australia (and Canberra). They�re not a good starting point, too inaccurate and too basic - and too expensive considering how many parts are really useful The only reason why to use the Kombrig hull in case of Canberra these days would be that missing torpedo belt.

I found it quite interesting that there are still no other Australia kits on the market than the old Kombrig. Why would she be so uninteresting? Perhaps because of her �boring� one-tone camouflage variants she wore most of her Pacific war career? But isn�t there that sexy �lady leg� two-tone camo she carried since fall 1940 in the Atlantic for some 20 months and then at Coral Sea? How I regret she didn�t retain it until Savo Island

Or are there no better kits because too much research would be needed?

It took several painful weeks until my Aoshima Kent was delivered due to all those Covid restrains. Besides working on the Chicago and Kinugasa I spent them by continuing to catalogue modifications that will be necessary for the Australia conversion. As often, many more turned up than first anticipated.

Then the kit finally arrived! It was contained in a rather small but tall box packed tight with heaps of plastic parts. Sorry to say that, but most of it was not as good as I would have expected, some parts appeared almost toy-like and apparently were not much usable for me Overall, compared to the recent 1/700 kits produced by e.g. Flyhawk or Fujimi - but also to 15 years old Hasegawa Aoba and Furutaka classes! � it�s below standard these days. The good news though was that the hull and deck were clearly the best of the kit, nicely and crisply molded. It�s really a pity Aoshima didn�t do a better job, and the 1/700 Kent by Trumpeter (that did not exist at that time) would have been a better starting point in many respects.

In short, I ended up using only the hull, the main deck, the forecastle deck and the aft superstructure parts from the kit in the end anyway

[Vladi]

Collaborations

I�m no big expert in RN/RAN ships so I turned again to Brett Morrow who already greatly contributed to my HMAS Canberra build back then. Brett is a top expert with a vast knowledge about the Royal Australian Navy and also owner of a great collection of photographs and other documents. I was very happy when he agreed to participate in my project and his contribution was indeed crucial.

Although we found no worthy plans of Australia in her wartime fit available, wartime photos were really abundant � we collected well over 200 of them after her 1938-39 refit. Some show excellent, rarely seen detail of life on a capital ship and others well document her overall fit, but there are still serious gaps if it comes to individual details in 1942.

Most importantly there are two awesome side view shots showing her port and starboard sides in August 1942:

The somewhat blurred starboard side view is complemented by slightly later view of the same side taken after her late 1942 refit and installation of an SG radar in 1943:

We agreed to use a plan based on NAA plans and NHSA early fit drawings so that we have a place to record all the necessary modifications � and this turned out to be really a good decision, although these modifications turned out much more extensive than anticipated, not much was left from the original plan in the end. We soon established a working routine with Brett: we collected photos of a specific part of the ship, I drew what I saw into the shared plan and Brett then sent his comments and suggestions for corrections that I then implemented. It worked really well, despite the time difference between Czechia and New South Wales, Australia.

Since I�ve also already had an excellent collaboration with Simon Percival (Micro Master) on the Canberra, I hesitated not for a minute to turn to him again for all the general RN accessories. Simon designs in large scales so the quality of his production is breathtaking. It turned out that he had not yet available some of those parts that were needed, but he planned to design many of those anyway and I was in no hurry, so I got my best hopes here.

Unfortunately, Simon had no capacity to do Australia�s superstructures in 3D, so I decided to sort this out by designing another complete PE set like I did in case of e.g. Astoria. I found PE a very good choice to build convincing open bridge structures in 1/700, and much easier for me as I could do a lot in 2D but I�ve not been much good in 3D design.

So much for the introductory background info, let�s start with more practical issues in my next posts

[Rui Matos]

Hi Vladi

Following with interest (as usual)!
This is going to be fun to watch (not so fun for you, as with me in my latest projects!!!!)

Cheers,
Rui

[Vladi]

Hi Rui, thanks, I hope it will be interesting, just struggle to find time to write the posts.
What are you currently working at? Any WIP?

[Vladi]

I mentioned that the Aoshima Kent hull was quite nice and crisp, especially the porthole brims looked really good. I like how the hull was constructed with internal bracing, more like hulls in 1/350. Also the waterline plate fits inside the hull so no seams can be seen from sides, really wise! Still it has some problems to correct � most importantly the overscale and unrealistic hull plating. I checked some completed Aoshima Counties on the internet and found this hull plating really ugly, so I hesitated no more to remove those lines. I modified a Proedge blade to scrape them off, followed by sanding with 1000 and 2000 grade sandpaper. I wished to protect the upper row of porthole brims so I covered them with masking tape while sanding.

The next step � easier to correct � were the portholes. Australia had almost all of her lower row of portholes and some of the upper row plated over, altogether about 120 of them. I filled those with acrylic putty at first intending to plate them over with PE later.

Note: the vertical molds near the waterline should have been removed as well - I noticed that Australia did not have these covers over the water outlets only at a very late stage and it�s been very cumersome to correct at that time!

Then it was the main deck. It fitted nicely into the hull, very easy to install and with no seams. The deck planking is overscale as usual but I decided to leave it as in the kit to reduce the size of the PE set (I regreted this decision at a later stage but then it was too late). I also liked how the turrets were attached with separate barbettes so there�s no dilemma about how to postpone their installation while still being able to attach the deck and superstructure first. Very clever. So it�s only needed to remove all the representations of unneeded deck vents, reels, breakwater and anchor chains, all those to be replaced with PE or 3D parts later.

[SG1]

Great tip about the acrylic putty, Vladi. Results are impressive, I might give it a go. Thx for sharing Eager to see more in-progress pics soon

[Vladi]

Thank you, Stefano, glad you find it hepful!

I should add that all the above work on sealing the portholes was in vain in the end. I was not satisfied how the PE seals turned out so I asked Simon and he�s been so kind to provide me with a set of 3D printed seals that look much better. So I had to drill the putty out from around 120 portholes � glad that the acrylic putty was quite soft

[Dan K]

sealing the portholes was in vain in the end. I was not satisfied how the PE seals turned out

I know that moment all too well.

[Vladi]

PE parts

The PE for Australia ended up to be my most comprehensive design so far, even more than my parts for USS Astoria. It included the complete forward superstructure and spanned over 2 and a half large A6 format brass sheets in 1/700. I didn�t count them but I guess there were close to 1000 individual parts. As usual, my first prototype version had some errors so I produced an improved version with even additional parts that I used for my build.

I did not make a complete deck overlay which I now think I could have done, but Aoshima�s deck planking is not bad. So the largest PE part is the overlay for the forecastle deck that was covered with wood planks, not metal as shown in the Aoshima kit. Additional large parts provide for a full replacement of the main bridge that was also different from Kent � more different than it appears at the first sight.

The PE set was designed for 1/700 but with the possibility of upscaling to 1/350 in mind. Upscaling would not mean degradation of detail in this case as the 1/700 is done in 0.1mm brass while the 1/350 would need 0.2mm thickness which would also bring an increase in the minimum dimensional requirements like line width, detail size etc.

Samples of my first attempt:

[Vladi]

Sorry for the long interruption...

3D parts by Micro Master

Besides the enormous help by Brett Morrow the other main contributor to my project is Simon Percival of Micro Master. We�ve been in touch with Simon since the days of my HMAS Canberra project so it was only logical I asked him for help with the Australia.

All Simon�s 3D parts are being designed in very large scale with an enormous level of detail so they can be provided in any reasonable scale depending on the customer�s wish. The quality of Simon�s design and printing cannot be overstated, they are simply excellent, as can be seen on the attached photos. Remember this is all 1/700 so the details are really extremely tiny and stand out in the macrophotography. The print layers are OTOH actually invisible on those parts after painting and using appropriate weathering techniques.

[Vladi]

... continued

[Vladi]

... continued

[SG1]

Welcome back, Vladi! That's an incredible amount of details for such a small scale. Unbelievable what technology and fine design can do together. Is detachment of the pieces from the carrier complicated?

Looking forward to see the model assembled, am sure there will be some room for old fashioned scratchbuilding too.

[Vladi]

Hi Stefano, thank you!

As can be seen on some of the close-ups, Simon has the supports extremely thin where they attach to the actual model, so they snap off really easily using Exacto or tweezers. He suggests putting the prints into the fridge to make removing supports easier, but that was never necessary in my case. Perhaps with larger scales the supports mave to be more substantial, I don�t know.

Hope I won�t let you down about the scratchbuilding - I�m using my PE in place of that, except if I made a mistake in the design or small cylindrical parts that are easier to cut off plastic rods than do from PE. That was in fact behind me starting with designing PE cause I disliked me not being able to become a good scratchbuilder, especially when it came to repeating parts.