Firstly, this is my first venture into model ship building (other than a planked timber sloop that is still in the works) and you have all been very helpful sharing information about your projects, so a really big “Thank you” from me.
My father-in-law served on the HMAS Shropshire and (very briefly) on the HMAS Vendetta and (as I have been researching the family history and archiving photographs) I thought that it would be instructive to build models of the two. I decided to build a model of the HMAS Vendetta first* and I want to build it as he would have seen it in late 1945, while serving in New Guinea and just before its decommissioning. As has been said before in this forum, there aren’t many good photos of the ship then, and this problem is compounded by many mis-labelled photos. The lockdown means that I have had to postpone my visits to the Australian War Memorial, National Archives, and so on, but from what I have read and seen, I am fairly confident of the following changes to the kit:
Remove.....................................Replace with
Torpedo tubes...........................2 x 2 pounder aa guns (single, double, quad?)
4” A position gun......................Hedgehog mortar
4” B position gun.......................4” Mark V gun on high angle Mark III mount
4” Y position gun.......................4” Mark V gun on high angle Mark III mount
12 pounder abaft of the funnel ..20 mm Oerlikon AA gun
..................................................Single Oerlikon gun port bridge wing
..................................................Single Oerlikon gun starboard bridge wing
..................................................Depth charge throwers near after superstructure
..................................................Depth charges on stands, not in cages
Searchlight.................................Type 272 radar (single gun on platform?)
Pennant Number ........................I69 in smaller white (later?)
...................................................I69 in black (earlier?)
Fortunately, all of these are available from other sources since making them is well beyond my capabilities.
As my father-in-law was a radar operator, I want to pay particular attention to getting that right but, other than the Type 272 radar, these are features that are hard to see. There are a few grainy, out-of-focus (usually distant) photos that show the Vendetta at the end of her career, some of which have been posted on this forum. I have attached one here that shows some of the features list above and two others are the RAN Vendetta site
https://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-vendetta-i. The attached photo also shows some other features that I can't work out.
If anyone can offer any other insights or information (remembering that I am a newbie to this), I would be most appreciative.
Geoff
* Researching the configuration of the Shropshire and building it is a whole other story and well beyond me at the moment.