1/350 HMS Duke of York (1945) - modified Tamiya KGV

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:33 pm

Converting Tamiya's 1/350 HMS King George V, 1945 to HMS Duke of York, 1945.

Base kit: 1/350 Tamiya HMS King George V, 78010, initially released in 1985.
Resin quad and octuple PomPoms: L'Arsenal
Photoetch: White Ensign Models
Deck: Evergreen V-groove sheet styrene

Thanks to the following modelers for some specific British warship inspiration:
EJ Foeth's 1/350 HMS Hood: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=104121
Chris Flodberg's 1/350 HMS Howe (1944): http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... /index.htm
Kostas Kotseas' 1/350 HMS Warspite: http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html
Dino Carancini's 1/350 HMS Warspite: http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... /index.htm

The ships of the UK's World War II-era King George V class are handsome ships with terrific service records. Like many warships, each is slightly different in appearance. HMS Duke of York is best remembered for her part in the sinking of the German battleship DKM Scharnhorst.

Inspired by Kjetil Lindahl's superb 1/350 scale late-war King George V, I had nearly completed Tamiya's excellent 1/350 scale HMS King George V kit but then decided it would make a great conversion project to create HMS Duke of York as she appeared in late 1945.

The most significant differences between DoY and KGV include an enlarged signal deck on the bridge superstructure, different directors for her secondary armament, an enlarged aft stack platform, six additional quadruple PomPom mounts, and a different 20mm Oerlikon fit. [edit: this structure has since been replaced with one of more accurate "pointy" shape.]

Armed with good photos and plans, many of which were provided by modelers on this website (thanks, gentlemen!), I created a master for the new signal deck, directors and PomPoms from Evergreen styrene. I then cast copies from resin.

I felt that the Tamiya kit's deck fittings were simplified and detracted from the appearance of the model. Duke of York's deck was a menagerie of fittings, elevated vents and intakes that really would be fun to try to replicate. I also wanted to lay down scribed V-groove styrene deck for a good planked effect and to rid the kit from the ugly seams between the three kit deck sections.

Reid · Post by **Reid** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 10:53 pm

wow that was a quicky!!! Good job i like it alot.

P.S. how that fletcher doing.

Dino Carancini · Post by **Dino Carancini** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:21 am

Awesome work I never get tired to see British battleships

are you planning to apply a heavy weathering to reach this aspect?

It seems that all the British capital ships were a bit dirty at the end of the war.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:40 am

Thanks, Reid and Dino!

Gentlemen, your builds are truly inspirational! Please keep posting pictures.

Dino Carancini wrote:Are you planning to apply a heavy weathering to reach this aspect? It seems that all the British capital ships were a bit dirty at the end of the war.

I will probably weather DoY only a very, very little. There is a great photo of DoY returning to the UK after her service with the British Pacific Fleet. Much of the hull's paint has been weathered away and the superstructure appears very dirty. I like the photo a lot but will leave the model with its paint intact.

Another inspiration is EJ Foeth's mostly scratch-built, super-detailed 1/350 HMS Hood.

September, 2005.
Here are some pictures with the deck fittings such as vents and intakes at about 80% complete. Also, major superstructure components are laid out including quad PomPoms (minus barrels and ammo racks), Mk V Directors, extended aft funnel platform, fore-most breakwater, winch breakwaters, deck hatch openings and relocated turret-top ammunition lockers as they appeared on DoY.

By joining the V-groove sheet polystyrene deck at points hidden by structures such as the breakwater at Turret B, I was able to avoid the very noticeable, nasty seams between the kit's three main deck parts.

[edit: all of the cast resin parts see in the photos below have since been replaced with more accurate and better detailed 3D-printed parts.]

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:30 pm

November, 2005.

Here are a couple pics showing the painted main deck. Once weathered it will look lighter and more gray. I am not sure what color the anchor chain skid plates should be or the chains themselves so any help here would be appreciated.

Some of the features unique to Duke of York are visible. Besides the new signal deck and nearly complete quad PomPoms, notice the twin, powered 20mm Oerlikons on the forward stack. These are kit parts relocated from the discarded KGV signal deck that were no longer needed there. The single 20mm fit generally is different as well although exact locations for 1944-45 are difficult to confirm.

The model is almost ready for photo-etch. There are still many deck details yet to be installed such as another pair of breakwaters, cylinder vents, winches, breakwater fillets, anchors and chains, bollards and chocks, etc. But I'm getting there.

The red hull is red automotive primer purchased from an auto parts store sprayed from a can. I like the way automotive red primer replicates real anti-fouling red. Boot stripe: black automotive primer sprayed from a can. Gray hull: gray automotive primer sprayed from a can. I used automotive primer on the hull because it looks great and gives the hull a
tough finish that handles well.

The hull was painted before the decks were installed. Red primer was sprayed first. The boot stripe was painted rather unconventionally. I think most modelers paint the red bottom and gray upper hull then finally mask off and apply the boot stripe last. Rather than that method, I tried painting in this order, red, black, then gray upper works last. I taped off the red with Tamiya masking tape along the bottom of the boot stripe then sprayed black primer all above. After the black hardened, I taped off the boot stripe top and everything below and sprayed gray all above that.

The decks and superstructure are all airbrushed with ModelMaster Acryl using a Badger 200 I have had since I was 13 (that's 31 years ago). Trusty old Badger!

I have four small, curious kids so I use non-toxic acrylic almost exclusively now when indoors.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:31 pm

January, 2006.

For Christmas, my wife Cathy bought me two PE sets including WEM's Ultimate King George V set. What Loren Perry did for Tamiya's Missouri, WEM did for all the ships of the KGV class. Unique parts are included for each ship of the class. Although the photographs do not do WEM's set justice, here are some of those parts installed on Duke of York.

nick · Post by **nick** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:48 pm

Cool conversion!!

Sean Hert · Post by **Sean Hert** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:57 pm

Ain't it grand having a wife who understands you!

Solomo · Post by **Solomo** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:20 pm

Hi Steve:
I have a 1/700 Tamiya PoW that I'd like to convert to DoY in her Dec. '43 configuration (you can guess why).
Do you happen to know of a good source for a drawing illustrating the changes needed? I believe DoY still had the midships catapult arrangement and the extra secondary aa bridge wings at the time, but not the full '45 Pacific aa fit.
Thanks !
PTH

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:38 pm

Solomo wrote:Hi Steve:
I have a 1/700 Tamiya PoW that I'd like to convert to DoY in her Dec. '43 configuration (you can guess why).
Do you happen to know of a good source for a drawing illustrating the changes needed? I believe DoY still had the midships catapult arrangement and the extra secondary aa bridge wings at the time, but not the full '45 Pacific aa fit.
Thanks !
PTH

DoY did carry the midships aircraft catapult in 1943. Peter Beisheim built a fantastic DoY in 1/200 scale in her December 1943 fit. Photos of the model found in the link below may prove better than a drawing:

http://www.bismarck-class.dk/shipmodels ... sheim.html

Here are a few pics of DoY in 1943. When compared to KGV or PoW, you can see there are many detail differences. And, of course, she does not yet have the enlarged signal deck and increased AA fit.

Solomo · Post by **Solomo** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:21 pm

Good idea!
Thanks, Steve
P

Toff · Post by **Toff** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:58 pm

Hello! What colours (Humbrol, Revell, etc. - what numbers?) did you use for painting the model? It seems that the painting scheme looks the same as in 1943 which I'm looking for.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sun Oct 05, 2014 6:29 pm

Hello, Toff!

The color scheme will represent British Pacific Fleet (BPF) service although the blue band has yet to be painted on. I rather like the wood deck (a dark gray main deck would be accurate for BPF wartime service). I may leave it natural wood and go for very late 1945 early 1946 appearance.

The model is more detailed now (2014).

Ship Model Gallery · Post by **MartinJQuinn** » Sun Oct 05, 2014 7:13 pm

You are a master, Steve. Excellent work.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 3:48 pm

Thanks, Martin!

Broken links to previous photos have been repaired.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 8:44 pm

Some more work done.

1. Detailing of the octuple and quad PomPoms is underway. The WEM resin barrels are very fragile, as were the plastic kit parts, and I have broken off some accidentally. Broken barrels are difficult for me to repair. Doh. Now if I could just persuade EJ Foeth to send some of his PomPoms...

2. The port boat handling crane is now about 50% complete. It's not yet mounted, just placed into position for photo purposes. The WEM PE crane parts are very good (nicely rendered, not too fragile) and it was not difficult to give the cables a realistic under-tension-but-with-subtle-sag appearance. Photos of actual cranes indicate that even with the cranes elevated with their associated cables under considerable tension, as is depicted here, there is a bit of sag noticeable.

3. The funnel grills, each also known as a "Grande Arche", have been adjusted for a better shape. They still need some tweaking but look much better than they had. Thanks to EJ Foeth and his HMS Hood for some inspiration with funnel and PomPom detailing. To see some world-class scratchbuilding, see EJ's Hood here: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=104121

With the model in partial shadow, the raised effect of the deck vents is more visible making the effort to build them worth it and definitely an improvement over the kit's vents molded as very flat squares on the three deck parts.

Ship Model Gallery · Post by **MartinJQuinn** » Sun Dec 28, 2014 8:22 pm

Great work, as always, Steve.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sat Jul 25, 2015 6:52 pm

Thanks so much!

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Thu Aug 06, 2015 3:17 pm

A set of four 3D-printed Mk. V HACS Directors are available for HMS Duke of York and HMS Howe, too, as well as Mk.IV directors for HMS King George V and HMS Prince of Wales, and Mk.VI directors for a late HMS Anson:

Thanks for all the kind compliments!

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 10:24 am

Here is a 3D-printed signal deck for HMS Duke of York for those who would like one to convert their Tamiya or Academy KGV kit. Anson's signal deck is also available. Anson's signal deck's shape is noticeably different than Duke of York's signal deck. This 3D-printed signal deck will replace the inaccurately shaped scratch-built signal deck installed on the model.