Calling all King George V-class (WWII) fans

[Guest]

I have NO idea what that is all supposed to mean. I want it to look like this one

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

[Anonymous]

KGV wore at least five camouflage schemes. You want the fourth scheme, called "Admiralty Standard Scheme Type B" better known as British Pacific Fleet Scheme, possibly overall gray G45 overall with a B20 medium blue rectangular hull panel that covered the armor belt above the boot topping and extended a bit fore and aft of the belt. Check with John at White Ensign Models to be sure as there is some disagreement about the actual colors used.

There is a KGV class book in publication now, entitled "King George V Class Battleships" by Roger Chesneau (published by Chatham in 2004 - ISBN 1 86176 211 9). Although not as detailed or technical as the superb Raven & Roberts book, it is nevertheless a useful book for modelers and is rather inexpensive.

The first two schemes worn by KGV (Chesneau, pg 51):
1) KGV was photographed at Rosyth in October 1940 about to join the fleet in an unofficial, dramatic yet different disruptive scheme entirely composed of Admiralty Dark Gray over Admiralty Light Gray.
2) KGV wore a very sedate, medium gray overall during the Bismarck fight in 1941

The third scheme (Chesneau, pg 51):
3) KGV wore Admiralty Intermediate Disruptive from about June 1942 through 1943. There may be some disagreement on the colors that composed Admiralty Intermediate Disruptive. Vlad reports that the colors are AP507A, B5, B6 and AP507C based upon Roberts' book. Chesneau identifies the colors as AP507C, MS2, B5 and MS1. You might want to check with John at White Ensign Models to be sure. Be advised that the Admiralty Intermediate Disruptive scheme is not historically correct for the Tamiya 1/350 scale KGV kit. The Tamiya KGV kit depicts KGV as she appeared after the major 1944-45 refit. In 1944-1945, KGV and her surviving sisters received a major refit that included the removal of the midships catapult and moved the boats to a new structure where the catapult once lay. They also received an increased AA fit. As I said, the Tamiya kit depicts KGV after the refit and after she wore Admiralty Intermediate Disruptive.

If you really like any one of the first three schemes, particularly the the dramatic Admiralty Intermediate Disruptive Scheme KGV wore in 1942-1943 as many do, you would be more historically accurate to use the Tamiya Prince of Wales kit with the catapult and Walrus amphibian then paint it as KGV.

The fourth and fifth schemes - the most historically accurate for the Tamiya 1/350 KGV kit (Chesneau, pg 51-52):
4) a great wartime camouflage choice for the Tamiya KGV kit is "Admiralty Standard Scheme Type B" better known as British Pacific Fleet Scheme, possibly gray G45 overall with a B20 medium blue rectangular hull panel that covered the armor belt above the boot topping and extended a bit fore and aft of the belt.
5) another good choice for the KGV kit is the scheme KGV received just before the end of the war and continued to wear until the end of her service life: hull painted in standard AP507B medium gray with AP507C light gray upperworks (Chesneau pg 52).

[kevinb120]

In the Brittish PCF scheme, were the barrels counter shaded white, and were any of the upper mastwork painted other colors? I can't believe there are no decent pictures online of this ship.

and isnt B55 a light green?

[ModelMonkey]

Good, online KGV class photos are tough to find. Robert Dumas has compiled some KGV class information on a slow-loading Russian server albeit the photos are not very large nor clear. Here's the link: http://abakus.narod.ru/cg5/kinggeorg5.htm

A yes, the blue panel is B20. Text above has been corrected.

[Dave Martin]

I have this one - KING GEORGE CLASS BATTLESHIPS by V.E.Tarrent - which has some good photos.

[ModelMonkey]

Now that things are settling down after my retirement from the Army, the family's move from New York to North Carolina and the start of a new career, photo-etch installation on DoY continues.

I'll have some photos up as soon as we find the camera that was somehow "lost in the sauce".

[Fil]

ah excellent! looking forward to some new pics!

My 1/350 POW kit arrived today! Iam planning to build her as she was in 1941 durig the bismarck chase!

Iam not sure ive seen any early builds of her on this site? anyone correct me!

[Laurence Batchelor]

The KGV class is probably the best covered WW2 battleship class in terms of published material.

See my list for several books that exist on them, I conceed the best are out-of-print though:-

http://www.shipmodels.info/mwphpBB2/vie ... php?t=6890

One of the reasons why their isn't many early war photos of the class as a whole is the Royal Navy were a bit concerned for security reasons for their latest battleships to appear on film and photo's.

Still if you buy the last 3 NVTC videos there's some good footage of them in the BPF.

There is also a war film made on Howe or KGV I forget which it is. It is about 20minutes long and appears on one of the early NVTC videos which details most of the areas of the ship, its kind of a 'day in the live of a KGV class' and is housed at the IWM now I believe.

I'm sorry to say the best book for modellers Ensign 1 Alan tells me will never likely be reprinted

[Hugh Williams]

The KGV class is probably the best covered WW2 battleship class in terms of published material.

See my list for several books that exist on them, I conceed the best are out-of-print though:-

http://www.shipmodels.info/mwphpBB2/vie ... php?t=6890

One of the reasons why their isn't many early war photos of the class as a whole is the Royal Navy were a bit concerned for security reasons for their latest battleships to appear on film and photo's.

Still if you buy the last 3 NVTC videos there's some good footage of them in the BPF.

There is also a war film made on Howe or KGV I forget which it is. It is about 20minutes long and appears on one of the early NVTC videos which details most of the areas of the ship, its kind of a 'day in the live of a KGV class' and is housed at the IWM now I believe.

I'm sorry to say the best book for modellers Ensign 1 Alan tells me will never likely be reprinted

By some coincidence I am just watching 'The Royal Navy At War' which does look at the commissioning of HMS Howe, with some fairly decent shots. Originated from IWM, sourced from MOI. There are four DVD's in this collection, the item is taken DVD titled The Royal Navy at War, 1940-1943. My copies came from a firm called DDHE, cat. DD21481. I was tempted to capture some of the frames, but copyright might be infringed?

[Laurence Batchelor]

Well Hugh,

I can't see a problem with copyright as long as their for personal use only.

I have the DVD's also I get DDHE catalogue in the post like you.

[Tracy White]

Copyright: Your mileage may vary.
Screenshots for personal use or review purposes are legal in the US, but as you're in the UK I'm not sure how material useage would differ.

[Laurence Batchelor]

In the UK your allowed legally to also make 1 copy for backup purposes

[mvius]

Hello everyone,

I'm a new member and a big KGV (both ship and class) fan. I'm currently working on a 1/700 PoW diorama featuring the final moments before torpedo impact, and I've just begun work on a 1/350 KGV.

I've been modelling ships for a while, but have just recently jumped into photo-etch and some of the more advanced modelling techniques.

One of the questions I have is about the seaplane on the KGV. I've seen KGV models with the catapult (ala PoW) and with an elevated boat rack deck. Examples are here (catapult) and here (boat deck)

First, was the boat deck a result of a refit, or are some of the models I'm seeing wrong?

Second, if the boat deck is right, which I believe to be the case, given the positioning of the boat racks in front of the hangar doors, how plane accessed when the boats were on the rack?

Third (Unrelated to the plane), when were the gun emplacements installed on the deck, because if I recall correctly, I've seen photo's during the Bismarck chase don't show them, yet later war shots do.

I'm trying to decide how I want to model the 1/350 ship, and this would help me determine whether to bother building the plane. Any suggestions as to how to include it, as it's a pretty nice feature?

Thanks,

Mike

[Laurence Batchelor]

Hello everyone,

I'm a new member and a big KGV (both ship and class) fan. I'm currently working on a 1/700 PoW diorama featuring the final moments before torpedo impact, and I've just begun work on a 1/350 KGV.

I've been modelling ships for a while, but have just recently jumped into photo-etch and some of the more advanced modelling techniques.

One of the questions I have is about the seaplane on the KGV. I've seen KGV models with the catapult (ala PoW) and with an elevated boat rack deck. Examples are here (catapult) and here (boat deck)

First, was the boat deck a result of a refit, or are some of the models I'm seeing wrong?

Second, if the boat deck is right, which I believe to be the case, given the positioning of the boat racks in front of the hangar doors, how plane accessed when the boats were on the rack?

Third (Unrelated to the plane), when were the gun emplacements installed on the deck, because if I recall correctly, I've seen photo's during the Bismarck chase don't show them, yet later war shots do.

I'm trying to decide how I want to model the 1/350 ship, and this would help me determine whether to bother building the plane. Any suggestions as to how to include it, as it's a pretty nice feature?

Thanks,

Mike

Hi Mike,

The catapult was removed from all 4 remaining KGV class ships by 1943.
A new superstructure area was built were the catapult had been, the ships boats were relocated onto its roof and this allowed for more AA and space on the aft superstructure. The Walrus hangar was then used for recreational purposes for the crew including often as a cinema.

It would take me too long to go into all the refits done on the KGV class, but generally speaking every winter they underwent a major refit. Each year progressively new AA wepaons/increased, things were moved, different paint schemes and lots of small detail changes.

If you go and buy either Roger's Chesneau's or Alan Raven's book on the KGV these will tell you most of what you need to know.

[Sten Ekedahl]

The best source I have found so far on the progressive development of the battleships of the KGV class is a four part article that I found in the magazine Warship ##9-12 from the early 80's. It documents all five ships and every change both in appearance and camouflage, with lots of photos and drawings. Unfortunately due to the physical size of the magazine the drawings are very small (1/1250?).

Despite all this I am anxiously waiting for a reprint of the ATOS on HMS POW. I ordered a copy of this book from Amazon UK early this summer since they advertized it on their website. But after almost three months they cancelled the order since they hadn't been able to locate a copy of the book.

[Laurence Batchelor]

The best source I have found so far on the progressive development of the battleships of the KGV class is a four part article that I found in the magazine Warship ##9-12 from the early 80's. It documents all five ships and every change both in appearance and camouflage, with lots of photos and drawings. Unfortunately due to the physical size of the magazine the drawings are very small (1/1250?).

Despite all this I am anxiously waiting for a reprint of the ATOS on HMS POW. I ordered a copy of this book from Amazon UK early this summer since they advertized it on their website. But after almost three months they cancelled the order since they hadn't been able to locate a copy of the book.

Yes thats right the article was written by Robert Dumas, I have all four parts in my H/B warship annuals its very good, but as you say photo-quality isn't the best and the drawings are small.

There doesn't not exist a AOTS of POW or any of the KGV class to my knowledge unless someone new is writing one at present
Please tell me the author and I'll make some enquiries, are you not meaning another KGV class book?

Please see the extensive British Battleships/Battlecruiser of WW2 reference list I compiled months ago for everything I have, there is one PoW book I dont have and its the 1 year of her life wartime book:-


http://www.shipmodels.info/mwphpBB2/vie ... php?t=6890

[Joseph R]

Iam not sure ive seen any early builds of her on this site? anyone correct me!

I am building her as per May 1941, Denmark Straits - or just prior to - with Hood to go with her of course. Hull is fully finished, and straked with proper hawsers added. The decks are in place, and all is one solid unit now. I just have to get washing those BRIGHT teak decks!!

Mike McCabe is also doing one as per just after the Bismarck action, so he tells me.

[Rob]

ah excellent! looking forward to some new pics!

My 1/350 POW kit arrived today! Iam planning to build her as she was in 1941 durig the bismarck chase!

Iam not sure ive seen any early builds of her on this site? anyone correct me!

I did one in 1/700 scale, finished it about a week back. Still umming and aahing about bringing it to Telford.

Cheers,

Rob

[mvius]

Thanks a lot guys!

Looks like I'll have to do some more digging in terms of the KGV kit. I'd like to build her as an early war model but I'll have to check what's included in the kit. I'm not yet at the scratch building stage.

As for the PoW build, It's a Tamiya kit and I built it up to 80% oob about 4 years ago. I dusted her off and decided to do what I can with it. I painted it in the camo scheme she had when she went down, but I built her with the catapult... is that historically innacurate, or did the Prince never get the modification? I'm going to add what PE I can, and she should be done soon. I hope to post it on the site so you can see how poor my skills are! :O)

[Antonio Bonomi]

Ciao all,

I only have made a 1/700 of HMS PoW so far,...

.. but sooner or later I want o make it on 1/350,..KG V, DoY and again my favourite that beleive it or not it is the HMS Prince of Wales.

Ciao Antonio