The Ship Model Forum

Hi all,

My great grandfather served on a Suffolk (1930-'33) and London ('37-'38).

Which of the 1/700 kits is going to give me the best starting point? Suffolk would almost be in her commissioned state and London pre reconstruction. Finding it hard to work out which kit would be the best based.

Thanks

Suffolk: the best kit would be probably Kent by Aoshima or Trumpeter. But a lot of conversion would be needed, e.g. the bridge, anti-aircraft armament, removing the the armor belt...

London: there was a kit of Sussex by WEM and there is one by Snake (likely a copy of WEM), which probably has to be modified in regard of the anti-aircraft armament and some other details

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For London, would Aoshima's Dorsetshire or Norfolk be a feasible option? At least these have the straight-walled hull in common already.

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"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

I do not know how similar the London and Dorsetshire class were. At least the bridges were very different and there were other difference in regard of the superstructure - and also the 8" turrets were of a different model. The hull could be very similar.

The Sussex kit is already a London class kit, featuring e.g. the old bridge structure.

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The hulls were similar between the London and Norfolk sub-classes. Both had the armour inside, as opposed to the Kent sub-class.

About the difference in the 8inch armamant you are correct: the visible difference is that later Mk.2 turrets were 2 feet longer than the original ones. That's a little under 1mm on 1:700 scale to be removed. Also their sighting ports (periscopes) were differently arranged.

Another difference I spotted in the drawings that in the Norfolk/Dorsetshire the funnels were moved slightly together, just one frame less spacing between the funnels than the Kent class. So that's another one to be checked, whether the Londons had the Kent arrangement maintained or followed already the closer arrrangement of the Dorsetshire/Norfolk. I have to break out my Sussex plans to do that check.

And for the superstructure: these varied widely amongst the entire County class, and individual modifications were many. So for a project of building HMS London pre-restructuring you could go by any kit and work out all the required modifications. Finding the kit that requires the least mods is already a search in itself.

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"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

Hi guys,

I recently acquired the SS-model 1/700 London kit. It's in late war fit and beautifully printed - crisp and clean.

However - for those who are sticklers for absolute accuracy - it is off scale, the hull is approximately 1/2 cm or more longer than the Trumpeter and corrected Aoshima kits. Also, the freeboard is noticeably lower (though London had overweight issues after reconstruction, so maybe that's not too bad?) and the deck forward of the breakwater is printed as wood planking rather than steel.

In any case, It will build into a great-looking model.

But question: Does anyone have any ideas as to what colours she wore in her post-1943 refit camo scheme as per the photos below?





MS1 is there almost for sure, plus B5, MS4 and MS4A maybe?? (Pure guesswork on my part).

I know 1945 Eastern Fleet is G45 with the B20 hull panel. Easier to do certainly, but I'd like to use the disruptive camo if feasible.

Any help would be much appreciated!

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Hard a starboard.......Shoot!

full hull or waterline?

The one I got is waterline, but they do have a full hull version.

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Hard a starboard.......Shoot!

& there is issues with the full hull as most files to do the 3d printed full hulls come from war games not naval drawings.

Yup I know....World of Warships models.

I actually got the kit by mistake. I had ordered a Bretagne to build as Provence, but the seller joined the reciprocal club and mixed up the last 2 digits of the kit number - Bretagne ends in 26, while London is 62. When I got the package, suprise! London it was. I decided to keep it and the seller agreed. (Who knows when Flyhawk will get around to theirs?!)

I'll have to live with what I can't fix! LoL!

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Hard a starboard.......Shoot!

what time period does the model represent?

The model is 1945. And I just realized it represents her after a 1945 refit in which she got 4 single Bofors 4 mm in addition to a few other AA changes which are depicted in the kit.

That means the 1943-45 disruptive camo scheme is out of the question. Straight G45 with the B20 hull panel is the only one applicable.

But FYI, I understand (from a Britmodeller thread) that it was actually documented that her scheme post-1943 refit was actually G10 (507A 10%) and B55 - two tones only, though photos tend to look like 3, probably due to lighting effects. But there's no documentation of a third.

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/ind ... don-~1943/

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Hard a starboard.......Shoot!

What type of radar(s) did DORSETSHIRE have when sunk in April 1942?

My radar book lists: WC290 by May 1941 (X-frame like the type 286), type 284 listed by June 1944 and 2 x type 285 by November 1941. Now, the type 284 year sounds suspect but I have no images of her to confirm it was fitted when sunk...

The image of Dorsetshire at Trincomalee and this poor scan (likely not seen before) suggest that the forward DCT was fitted with 284 antenna ASF at the time of her sinking.

The official record lists Dorsetshire without Type 286P 27/7/41 but with it 1/8/41 and without Types 284 & 285 on 1/8/41 but with them 8/8/41. The official record often lagged slightly behind the actual fitting dates.

Thanx, guys; good to know.

I am building the SS Model London kit. However, I cannot find any photo reference for the ship in 1945. Is there any photo for 1945?



Photos in 1946 show a much lower freeboard than the 1943 photos such as this one, which is similar to the model


On the deck forward of the breakwater beingsteel, is there any photo reference?

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Hong Kong Naval Model Association
https://www.facebook.com/groups/659559407492511/

There is the film footage from the Eastern Fleet in 1945.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g74ma4vxYDA&t=314s

London can be seen at about 3:13 minutes. Here's a combined screenshot. Of course it's from a video so is not too crisp.



There is film footage that shows this. Here's a screen shot from the Youtube video linked below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJIp7kQ8D0o&t=101s


In the Eastern Fleet video, at 2:02 you can see Suffolk. I don't think the freeboard looks any different. London's bulkier superstructure may make it look lower at first, but I don't think it was. I improved that somewhat on my model by adding a waterline plate. What I did wrong though was to do the wood deck as unpainted, whereas apparently it was painted dark grey! Too late!

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Hard a starboard.......Shoot!

Greetings to all and best wishes for the coming New Year!!!!

This is my first post here, although I am following the forum for a long time. I recently obtained an interest for the Counties, and have built already six of them (Kent, Berwick, Suffolk Norfolk, Dorsetshire and Australia).

Now I am trying to convert Aoshima's Norfolk to Sussex, as I do have WEM's instructions (but not the kit). As the conversion of the gun deck is rather difficult, my intention is to make resin copies of the (scratch) gun deck and the bridge, in order to make in the future a Shropshire and a Devonshire.

The few photos and profiles I found online, suggest that the three ships were almost identical, with minor differences in their aft superstructure.

So my question is: Were there any differences between the three ships (other than their A/A suite) that worth to be dealt with in 1/700, and if any what were these???
Thank you in advance!!!!

DK