All:
Going through the IWM website last night, I came across a film of HMS Kent taken in Far Eastern waters in July and August 1939. It shows some really interesting details regarding Kent which I will discuss momentarily. I sent the link to our Japanese friend Mitsuaki Kubota who added the link and screen grabs to his review thread on Twitter of the 1/700 Aoshima HMS Kent kit. A few points:
Here is a screen grab of one of the 4" HA guns amidships, which shows that the steel deck around it had a grid pattern on it (similar to the grid pattern often used on the non-slip surfaces on the forecastle decks of British cruisers). Would anyone know whether non-slip grid patterns were applied to steel decks elsewhere than on the forecastle deck on other British ships? Note also the slightly raised wooden deck at the top of the screen which is probably the platform for the aft 4" HA gun:
https://twitter.com/fake_johnbull/statu ... 13792?s=20And here on the left is a screen grab of the forecastle deck which shows the non-slip grid pattern on the steel deck forward of the breakwater (the Aoshima kit erroneously depicts the forecastle deck forward of the breakwater as covered by wooden planks--as it was on other ships of the class). The screen grab on the right shows the bridge deck, and just beyond the wind deflector fence, you can see a few wooden planks on the deck atop the forward deckhouse and around B turret. It shows that this deck was planked, whereas the kit shows it as a smooth steel deck.
https://twitter.com/EnjakuHaruzono/stat ... 03041?s=20I should add that I guess it is always possible that semtex was applied over the steel deck amidships as well as over the forward deckhouse deck around B turret during her early war repairs, so it is possible that the kit is not incorrect in that respect. Thoughts?
If you would like to review the entire film, it can be found here:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item ... 1060009592Most noteworthy for me were the segments showing the forecastle deck and anchor tackle gear at 10:05-11:00 and 15:27-15:42, and a panoramic view of the bridge at 16:00-16:21.
Finally, you can find Mitsuaki Kubota's wonderful Twitter review of the Aoshima HMS Kent kit here:
https://twitter.com/fake_johnbull/statu ... 90240?s=20In short, a great kit, but with some unnecessary errors which will be a pain to correct (the wood-planked forecastle deck which should be steel with a grid pattern, and the deck atop the forward deckhouse which should be planked--but is smooth).
Enjoy!
Best,
Mike E.