1/350 HMAS Canberra Update

[Kraken Hobbies]

Greetings all, hoping you all had a Spooktacular Halloween.
We have been busy here in the Kraken's lair on the 1/350(1/700 & 1/600 soon to follow) HMAS Canberra in her August 1942 fit. This 3D printed set is designed to turn your Trumpeter Kent or Cornwall into the famous Australian Cruiser when she participated in the Guadalcanal Landings and ultimately her demise at Savo island. Right now it's shaping up to be a 27 piece set with pretty much all superstructure from the deck up being replaced with the exception of the turrets. Design has been finalized and is just awaiting test prints which we are squeezing in between orders, once these check out it will be flank speed ahead to get it into the web shop.


What we call the 99% Render, more or less how the kit will look with exception of any tweaks done after test print.


The Australian Kent's Funnels were 3 feet taller than their RN cousins, so this kit includes three new funnels with correct piping and sirens


Details of the funnels, they are hollow and have subtle rivet detail



The Trumpeter kits do not include the Quad 21" torpedo tubes carried by the Canberra at this time. A set of 2 of these will be included


In May of 1942, the Canberra was fitted with a RN pattern Type 271 "Lantern" Radar behind the bridge. We have been able to capture this array in fine detail


Canberra also carried a different MBD than the one included with the Kent kit



Prior to her loss, she had a 20mm gun & tub mounted on her stern. Also seen removed from the print raft and fitted with a Red Devil Design 20mm* for feel


She also carried a pair of 20mm gun tubs atop her super firing turrets, two of these will be included and one of them is seen here with a pair of Red Devil 20mm's* for feel


*20mm's are not planned to be included at this time but are available separately in the Web Shop

Goal is to have the kit ready for order by the second week of November. As parts are clearing the test print we are developing a full set of instructions to accompany this set to aid the modeler in adding the most accurate 1/350 version of this ship to their collection.

Thanks for looking!

Matt

[Dan K]

Wow. Most impressive, and welcome, I'm sure.

[rotley]

This looks amazing!!!!!! Am sooo looking forward to getting hands on this upgrade/conversion set.

I have just found my Xmas present to me.

Are there any plans for a a similar set for HMAS Australia? After all she was in Guadalcanal as well. I know, I am being greedy.

[Quincy]

Excellent! Count me in for a 1/700 version for Canberra!





Bob Pink

[SovereignHobbies]

This looks great

[Kraken Hobbies]

Thank you all! Very excited to get this set available as well as the 1/600 and 1/700 versions.

This looks amazing!!!!!! Am sooo looking forward to getting hands on this upgrade/conversion set.

I have just found my Xmas present to me.

Are there any plans for a a similar set for HMAS Australia? After all she was in Guadalcanal as well. I know, I am being greedy.

Well I Ho-Ho-Hope you like it
As for the Australia 1942, there are no plans to do as another firm has mentioned that they have one in the works. Perhaps if one does not materialize down the road, I may add it to the queue. If there is a enough interest however, I may modify this set to reflect an Australia as she was in 1935.

Getting closer now, almost done with the instructions and have made some needed revisions to the test parts.
Here is the part's breakdown pending any last minute revisions-

and example of the Bridge area instructions-

Our set will not include one major component that is not included in Trumpeter kit, the Canberra at this time was still armed with four single 4-inch AA guns. The decision was made not to include these as there is already a amazing set available from Micro-Master of New Zealand. You can find them here and while you are there, you should also check out the high detail upgrades to the 8-inch guns including this one dedicated to the Canberra

Stay tuned!

Matt

[rotley]

G'day Matt

You can mark me down as a definite customer for your 1/350 HMAS Canberra update set.

Micro Master also produces a very detailed set of 8" turrets for Canberra along with the MK1 oerlikins.

And I am very, very interested in a similar set for HMAS Australia should it ever eventuate.

This is the first time in years that I am looking forward to Christmas.

[Kraken Hobbies]

Almost there! The test prints and adjustments have all yielded good results except for one part, being a tough balance between scale and frail. In the mean time, got a set of mast's drawn up since the base kit ones are very different. These in theory could be printed, however they would definitely not stand up to the rigors of rigging. So these dimensions and visualization will help you make your own from Brass.

Measurements in inches for 1/350

Measurements in inches for 1/350

More to come soon!

Matt

[rotley]

Waiting (almost) patiently to place my order for a 1/350 scale set.

[Littorio]

Oh cool, just checked your website and seen you do a 'Nasty Asty' conversion also so once this Canberra conversion is ready for sale looks like I'll be ordering two conversions from you.

[Kraken Hobbies]

Ok everyone, now for the moment you have been waiting for, the Canberra set is now available in the shop. The set has grown to 29 parts and basically is everything from the Main Deck up except guns and turrets. I have also made the Funnels and Torpedo Tubes available as accessories you can buy if you are already underway on this conversion yourself. Very exciting and rewarding kit to design, but it has been a blast from research, to design and now actually building it. More pictures of that follow very soon. Needing to take a break from 3D work to catch up on orders and machine maintenance, but after that I will get hard to work on the 1/600 and 1/700 Canberra's as well as our 1,500 Ton USN DD upgrades. Be on the lookout for some new designs from our partner at Red Devil Designs as well. Hope everyone in the states had a safe and pleasant holiday this week, and that everyone else has had safe, healthy and happy time to build.

1/350 HMAS Canberra Conversion

Waiting (almost) patiently to place my order for a 1/350 scale set.

I thank you for your almost patience But now it will be rewarded! The kit is ready to go and available Here

Oh cool, just checked your website and seen you do a 'Nasty Asty' conversion also so once this Canberra conversion is ready for sale looks like I'll be ordering two conversions from you.

Looking forward to your order!

Matt

[rotley]

Have placed my order for this set as well as ordered some of Micro Master 8" and 4" guns.

Looking forward getting started on this build. The decks are cleared and ready to go.

[steviecee]

Looks real nice. I'm now waiting for the 1/700 version and i have an extra Kent for it to go on

[Kraken Hobbies]

Well in between prints and packing, managed to get a rough build of the Canberra set put together. I find my skills have spent too much time at the digital workbench and not enough at the real one. But very happy the set came together and melded with the Trumpeter Kent kit. Everything in this build came from the Trumpeter kit or our 3D printed parts with exception of-
Micro Master 4in single AA Guns
Red Devil Designs 20mm guns
Infini RN ladders
Scale Colors, Tamiya and Vallejo acrylic paints were used
The masts are just 3D printed versions, and as predicted they are very frail and couldn�t stand up to rigging of any sort. I do plan on eventually replacing with brass masts to properly rig her.

This set although predicted to be popular, has far exceeded any of our expectations on sales and we are non stop printing to get orders filled. We hope to have all of the initial orders in the mail by mid December. Thank you all for the support and look forward to you receiving yours.

Matt

[rotley]

Hmmmm. The USN 'Chicago Blue' paint scheme looks a bit dull as ditch water aka bland.

Thinking of painting Canberra as she appeared in her May 1942 camouflage scheme. It may not be historically accurate but she will be distinct from USN ships.

[robjay42]

Hmmmm. The USN 'Chicago Blue' paint scheme looks a bit dull as ditch water aka bland.

Thinking of painting Canberra as she appeared in her May 1942 camouflage scheme. It may not be historically accurate but she will be distinct from USN ships.

There is a photo of HMAS CANBERRA leaving Wellington NZ in July 1942 for Guadalcanal at https://www.world-war.co.uk/Kent/canberra.php. This photo. although B&W, appears to be a much lighter shade than Chicago Blue

[Dingo]

Hmmmm. The USN 'Chicago Blue' paint scheme looks a bit dull as ditch water aka bland.

Thinking of painting Canberra as she appeared in her May 1942 camouflage scheme. It may not be historically accurate but she will be distinct from USN ships.

There is a photo of HMAS CANBERRA leaving Wellington NZ in July 1942 for Guadalcanal at https://www.world-war.co.uk/Kent/canberra.php. This photo. although B&W, appears to be a much lighter shade than Chicago Blue

The Chicago Blue scheme can look OK with a bit of work.