In light of the recent discoveries by Sovereign Hobbies and their ambition to correct what were mistakes in the colour coat range of paints and combined with the rather long thread that is almost at its conclusion about the HMS Prince of Wales and its scheme, I have decided to start a thread about the correct camouflage pattern and paints used on the HMS Belfast during WWII.
I am aware that there were changes to the ship from 1942 to D-Day in 1944.
According to Warship Perspectives Volume 2 Belfast as in December 1942 after refit.
Quote:
This design was in place with only small changes until August 1944, when the ship was taken in hand for refit. The colours are 507A, B5, B6 and 507C. Wood decks 507A, Turret roos 507A. Areas of the deck overhung by the 6" turrets when the turrets are trained fore and aft, to be painted white.
Since I can find no suitable illustrations of Belfast to use as an example, I have taken the liberty over 2 days of my days off work to painstakingly draw a rendering of HMS Belfast using Microsoft Paint. I have then taken the liberty of colour picking the colours from Sovereign Hobbies to use as an example on the ship to try and recreate what the ship looked like in its camouflage scheme.
I am anticipating some mistakes and am hoping we can have a thread like the Prince of Wales thread to work out the correct scheme and times the scheme was in place.
The drawings I have made I have done based on 1942 photos, references and information. I will be creating an additional picture for what the ship looked like in 1944 during the D-Day invasion.
I am aware only one colour video of Belfast exists for the entire war.
Here is the drawings I have created. Please excuse and inaccuracies or mistakes. It is not perfect but I have tried to get it as close to scale as possible and to depict the ship as closely as I could.
I have attached three photos. The first two are the port and starboard design in 1942 and the last one is the port side pattern during the D-Day invasion. It is clear from the black and white photos that the pattern changed slightly and some parts were painted in opposite colours.