Calling all RN County-class fans

[Roman1]

Working on county class model right now and this forum and links provided here were a great inspiration. The model was based on plans from the new RN cruisers book and pictures from Scottish Museum archives - great stuff! Some questions still remain of course - what was the color scheme of the first Walruses aboard, what was the equipment of the bridge, what was the color scheme that the ship presented here could have? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Guest]

Excellent model!!

Have you seen this site... http://www.world-war.co.uk/index.php3

There are some good profile drawings of Kent class cruisers at various stages of thier career, including the aircraft carried.

[Roman1]

Yes, I know the site. Very good drawings of number of ships. However, some things are confusing there, at least for me. For example HMAS Australia as commissioned is shown with a lot of things missing, particularly all the fire control equipment on aft superstructure. But the yard pictures showing the ship as commissioned show that some of the instruments were there. But I may be wrong.

One more "moody" render from my latest session.

[Cadman]

Very nice work

[ARH]

Very nice work

I concur,

[Andrew F]

Does anyone have access to the builders plans of the Kent class? I am writing an article about HMAS Canberra and need the plans of the machinery spaces.

Any help much appreciated!

Andrew

[Hugh Williams]

Just arrived through the post box - Ship Craft County Class Cruisers by Les Brown.

[Andrew F]

Hi Hugh,

Does that include the internal arrangements and plans?

Andrew

[peppe]

to andrew f
in the book "british warships of the ww2" it is a profile of the kent with a inboard view from original plans, is not big but if you want i can send a copy offlines
ciao peppe

[Hugh Williams]

Hi Hugh,

Does that include the internal arrangements and plans?

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

The layout of the book is as follows:
Contents:
1. Design
2. Careers, Refits and Modifications.
3. Model Products.
4. Modelmakers Showcase.
5. Schemes - Eric Leon drawings.
6. Plans - AD Baker III
7. Selected References.

I've got John Roberts' British Warships of the Second World War, but it would be a work of art scanning them with my scanner. A brief outline of the internal arrangements can be got from the AWM, but they are rather sketchy. These drawings are rather similar to John Roberts' work, but relate to HMAS Australia.

Regards,

Hugh

[Andrew F]

Hi Hugh,

I have Roberts and Fiedman's books. The problem with them is that they don't show the deep water line point and they don't have the details of the machinery like the builder's plans do. I have builders plans of Exeter but she is sufficiently different to not help.
The next question is:
Does anyone have access to the trial data on Kent class cruisers? In particular the angle of heel at different turn / speed combinations?

The reason for this? Looking into Canberra's loss and the fall of shot at the time she was hit.

Thanks

Andrew

[Unicorn]

Just a heads up guys, Southern Cross Models in Australia is now producing a 1:72 scale hull of the Kent class.

The hull is plated and looks very nice. It's also a big bugger in 72 scale.

As soon as I have images and a URL I will post details.

Mike

[Andrew F]

Hi Again! Got the original builders plans from a friend in Canberra (!) so all good there.
The next question relates to performance.
Would anyone have a copy of the trials data on the Kent class? I pulled the file in the Australian achieves but it was empty.... just a memo that the trial had been done.
i.e. Speed /revolutions, heel at speed / rate of turn etc. inclination data?


thanks

Andrew

[Andrew F]

Hi David,

thanks.... is there any chance you could scan the appropriate pages for me?

Andrew

[DavidK]

I am looking to build HMAS Australia as of the Battle of the Coral Sea
I found one useful post here in this forum:
Post by Peppe
"for canberre you can find a beautiful profile at
http://www.world-war.co.uk/index.php3
in canberra page.
for australia it is a foto in camouflage late 1941 in the book county class cruiser, man'o,war 1 of roberts & raven
ciao peppe" (from 2009)
I have found this same photo of the starboard side of HMAS Australia in County Class Cruisers (late 1941) that is in Peppe's post. A photo of the port side of HMAS Australia in this same camo scheme can be found around page 83 of "Australian and New Zealand Warships, 1914-1945" (dated to 1941). The two together ought to be sufficient for painting a 1/700 model once the two colors are picked.
Conversely, I have a picture (perhaps from naval archive photos) #80-G-12107 that shows HMAS Australia on Aug. 31, 1942 in what appears to be a single color on vertical surfaces.
Can anyone confirm that there was a new camo scheme applied to HMAS Australia in 1942, and if it was before or after the Battle of the Coral Sea?

[rtwpsom2]

The National Archives of Scotland have 59 high quality High Res images of HMAS Australia in her as built fit if that helps. I think I paid 50p apiece for them in digital format.

[EJFoeth]

Same here (other ship) but the quality is low. For that price you do not get a high quality scan. Perhaps they can send better ones if you pay more?

[DavidK]

The August 1942 image of HMAS Australia in my post from yesterday is available at wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Australia_(D84)
for anyone interested in her look after the Guadalcanal invasion.
There is a picture of HMAS Australia being attacked by a G4M during the Battle of the Coral Sea at this site as well, but the posted image is too small for me to tell if she is still in 1941 camoflage or has now been changed over to that of the August 1942 image (the primary question from yesterday). (This photo appears to have been taken from one of the other ships in Crace's squadron at some distance away.)
This site also mentions that HMAS Australia was docked for a week in late April 1942 for maintenance, but it does not mention a new paint job. No 1941 dockings are mentioned.
Unfortunately, I do not have access to all of the references supporting the wiki article.

[DavidK]

Frank Norton did this painting of HMAS Australia at Coral Sea clearly showing the 1941 camoflage, but I have not been able to confirm the color scheme goes with the date.
(Hopefully the thumbnail sized image attached. If not, I need help on how to attach a small image.)

[baltimoreredskin]

Can anyone tell me what the frame spacing was on Norfolk? I have some drawings from the archives that show 595'-1" between perpendiculars but that doesn't divide equally into anything. Most frames appear to be on something near 24 inches but the AP frame, 276, appears to be at about 42 inches. I am not sure if 24 inches is standard and it is just the one frame that is off or if there is a different standard. Does anyone have access to that info?