The Ship Model Forum

I have GOT to get my Studio back to working condition (hurricanes and floods, and then something that was discovered in my throat, kept interfering with the new Studio).

Because these builds are inspiring, and I just started to re-build USS SF when the first flood happened�

The Astoria Build is amazing, and I have been looking for a HMAS Australia for a while now.

I think I need to replace m Midship DDs with your (Matt�s) Kraken stuff�

DAMN! That is some EXCELLENT work!

MB

Hey MB, thanks for your kind words... and good to have you at the workbench again!
I hope something might happen even with the Australia if you were a bit patient

Vlad:

Just coming across this thread now. I will watch with eager anticipation what you do with the Aoshima HMS Kent kit. But so far, looks great!!!

A few years back, right after the Aoshima kit was released, I sat down and tried to figure out what it would take to convert a kit of HMS Kent to an HMAS Australia circa 1941-1943 using photos of HMAS Australia available on the internet and in various published reference works. Here is my list of modifications--which you might find of use:

1) reduce height of turret bases to match broadside photos of HMAS Australia
2) reduce height of catapult turntable to match height of turntable in broadside photos of HMAS Australia
3) create single latticework searchlight platform for placement aft of catapult
4) raise level of flag deck platform aft of bridge
5) raise height of funnels
6) reduce height of lowest level of bridge
7) remove weatherdeck amidships
alter foc's'l deck forward of breakwater to wooden planks (don't know why this smiley is showing up instead of the number eight)
9) produce new ADO platform (forward main gun director platform) atop bridge to a wedge-shaped or faceted front face (more research is required here--its appearance may have changed over time)
10) remove weather deck and add splinter shields for 4" HA guns
11) add long walkway/catwalk from flag deck to aft pom-pom platform
12) add searchlight platform athwart or wrapping around the forward funnel (configuration is not clear from photos)

I also found the following drawings online for planned alterations as part of her late war refit, though I cannot recall which website I found them on, and will remove them if there are restrictions on their use elsewhere. There might be details here that you might find useful:
Anyhow, hope this helps!

Best,

Mike E.

Hi Mike,

thanks for sharing your list, you�ve definitely nailed many of the differences. We�ve worked with Brett Morrow and spent many days aiming to address - hopefully - all the necessary modifications so our list was even longer than yours. We focused also on details not covered in the Kent kit like additional differences on the main bridge, shielded torpedo mounts, side chutes on the hull etc. etc. down to mast details and individual deck vents. There are 2 items in your list about which caught my attention:

1) reduce height of turret bases to match broadside photos of HMAS Australia
I�m not sure about this but I admit I haven�t noticed much difference. I cross-checked my model (which is in the meantime nearly ready) and I don�t see noticeable difference. Have you considered that the Aoshima kit bases partially "sink" into the recesses in the deck planking?

6) reduce height of lowest level of bridge
I haven�t used the Kent bridge at all, there are more differences there. I replaced the whole bridge with PE that I designed based on the few available plans (incl. the one you posted) and many photos, so I can�t comment on the kit�s bridge.

Once again, thanks for your willingness to help, I hope you�ll like the build

Wow , these prints are incredible !

For those interested, I just posted a separate review of 1/700 3D printed figures and Walrus from MRY-SFW STORE that I bought in relation to this build.

Another partial update on my build � and a teaser as I plan to reveal the completed Australia this August at the time of the forthcoming Savo Island battle anniversary

Aircraft cranes

The large cranes represented a very distinct feature of not only Kent class cruisers but of most major British pre-war warships. Originally, Kent class ships were equipped with a lighter version that was replaced later with a heavier crane along with introduction of heavier airplanes (Supermarine Seagull). Cranes deployed on different ships also differed in details. Out of the many depictions in 1/700 available on the market, none really appeared well-detailed and close enough to Australia�s cranes as can be seen on numerous photos.
Also the port and starboard cranes onboard Australia were not exactly the same. The main difference was the control platform that was placed outboard on each crane, plus there were other minor differences in the equipment (�boxes�) on each one. Catapult

Similarly to aircraft cranes, the original lighter version of the catapult had to be adjusted to the much heavier Supermarine Walrus airplane. The catapult represents the most complicated tiny sub-assembly of the model except of the main bridge. The catapult itself (without the base) consists of over 20 PE parts plus several pieces of plastic rods and sheets.
Please note that the "sunrays" seen on the catapult turntable are incorrect and have been removed later. Foremast

Another tricky part thanks to the numerous tiny details incl. crow�s nests, lights, weatherwanes and A290 radar. A result of � as usual - lenghty discussions with Brett Morrow I think we nailed it right.

Now that is some mighty fine PE work Vladi!

marijn van gils wrote:Now that is some mighty fine PE work Vladi!

I second that, super-super cool

Wow.

Brilliant PE work, Vladi.

Thank you so much, guys, I value your feedback very much!

Adding some photos from works on the deck and the hull. One of the obvious differences between Kent and Australia was the AA deck, which was one level above the main deck in case of Kent, while Australia had her secondary armament placed on the main deck. So some surgery was needed to separate the funnel bases from the AA deck. Note the holes drilled into the forecastle deck as an aid for installing PE overlay so that CA glue could be added from the bottom in the process. Usually I�d wait with installing PE railings until most of the work on the deck and superstructure was done to keep it safe from accidental damage. In this case I had to test it at a sooner stage so that I could amend it for the final PE sheet. The bow detail shows the breasthook work in progress, still before the bottom part sculpted using acrylic putty was sanded to its correct shape. As mentioned earlier, the hull was originally prepared for portholes to be sealed with PE parts, but these did not turn out looking nicely to me. So I had to drill out all of the acrylic putty again in order to fit the plugs Simon printed for me. These were fixed with PVA glue to be able to realign them later if needed but they looked like very much in line at the first attempt. The carpet monster only got less then 10 of them thanks to using a masking tape to hold them - after the first two of them flew into oblivion while being removed from the sprue . Hull plating was done by spraying primer (Mr. Base White 1000). I did not dare to use masking tape over the very thin railings so I had to protect it using a piece of paper mostly held by hand while spraying so that not much was added to it�s thickness. The last photo shows the hull with hull plates in place as well as the PE overlay on the forecastle deck to add planking to the deck. Other details were added to the hull like chutes, booms, Byers anchors etc. BTW the vertical exhaust covers just above the waterline turned out incorrect later for Australia, so they had to be removed. A bit tricky at that late stage, but if came out not too bad in the end.

Here are some work-in-progress notes and photos before I get to show the completed build in less than 24 hours . These do not cover every aspect and detail as there were too many, but I hope I�ve covered some interesting ones.

Main bridge

Photos show that Australia�s refitted bridge was different in multiple aspects from other class members after their pre-war refit and early-war modifications. That�s why I decided to design a completely new bridge from PE instead of modifying the Kent parts. This also allowed the bulwarks to be much thinner than Aoshima parts. The next time her bridge was more substantially modified was in early 1944. I decided not to cover parts for this late war fit as it was out of my scope of interest and it would take up additional space on the PE frets. Note that what you see on the WIP photos in this thread is not the final setup of the bridge on my model. It turned out at a later stage that there was a new gangway added to the port side of the compass bridge level which escaped my attention and had to be added. Also, there were tubs for Pom Pom directors at the ADO platform (the top level). Aft superstructure

This part turned out even trickier than the main bridge as it was not photographed as often, so we had to reconstruct the setup from fragments again. It was apparently quite different from Kent�s in the searchlight tower area, so a PE replacement came out as a useful method for me. And again, the detail of the 20mm platform aft of the searchlight tower proved inaccurate and had to be addressed later. Same about the catapult turntable which should have been flush.

Fan flats

An interesting little detail, fan flats (air blowers located between funnels) have been puzzling us for quite some time on side view photos until we realized how these were constructed to open when engaged. Not surprisingly, Kent-class model manufacturers choose to depict them in the simple disengaged (closed) shape.

These fan flats (16 parts each) for sure must be the sh*ttiest PE parts I assembled - forever and ever! No wonder noone modelled them open in PE yet in this scale AFAIK Catwalk

Other of Australia�s special features, the long catwalk running from the forward starboard searchlight platform all along her funnels, around the catapult turntable and as far as the Pom Pom platform on the aft superstructure. It can�t be seen clearly from above in its full length on any of the photos available to us so we had to make a bit of guessing and also to adapt it to miss the middle funnel which is bulkier than the other two. As usual in this build, it turned out later that this part had to be redone as the catwalk was also connected to a small platform and a �box� of an unknown purpose on top of the aft fan flat. It was quite tricky to redo it because the catwalk "sits" on iron bars attached to the fragile fan flats. There was also some piece of equipment on the fwd fan flat we had to skip as there was no clear photo showing it.

4in mounts

Australia had splinter shield extensions � let�s call them "flaps" - added to the sides of the standard RN 4in mounts. Another example of minor details we paid attention to: while looking up the photos we noticed some of these flaps had also a small �cup� on one side. No idea about their purpose, but our conclusion was that these cups were for certain on the aft mounts (outboard only when facing forward) and for certain they were NOT on the fwd mounts outboard when facing forward. We found no clear evidence for cups on fwd guns so I decided to omit them there unless something pops up. I added the "cups" simply using a tiny drop of CA glue. Boats

The following boat configuration was determined to be present in summer 1942:

Stbd (bow to stern)

• 32` Life cutter (outboard)
• 35` Admirals motor boat (inboard, under dark-coloured tarp)
• 35` Fast motor boat (outboard, light-coloured tarp over it, hull either black or very dark grey, undersides white)
• 16` Fast motor boat (skimming dish) (inboard)
• 27` Whaler on davits

Port (bow to stern)

• 32` Life cutter (outboard)
• 35` Admiral`s motor boat (inboard, , under dark-coloured tarp)
• 36` Harbour launch (white deck outline)
• ?Maybe? 16` Fast motor boat (skimming dish) (inboard, medium-coloured tarp over it)
• 27` Whaler on davits

As can be seen above, tarps were in use over boats that had white roofs, likely to conceal them when viewed from above. I�m using Micro Master boats and they are such little gems that I decided to omit the tarps so that the details of boats can be admired. Links to all Micro Master parts used will be provided in some later post.

Anchor chains

I tried both the cruiser and the destroyer versions of the fantastic 1/700 IJN anchor chains from Shelf Oddity (they also have a battleship version). The cruiser version is fully workable and chain links include the inner stems! Although my measurement showed they�re slightly overscale (about 20%) they are an immense improvement over anything else I�ve seen. The DD version measures just right for a cruiser, but they�re a bit harder to move and less the stems. After a lot of hesitating I decided to use the cruiser version which could even be wrapped around the capstan. The last photo shows them with the awesome Micro Master�s Byers anchors. Hint in case you get these awesome chains: do not remove them completely from the sprue before airbrushing! The best is to spray the first layer while still completely attached to the sprue. Then leave two links attached on both ends and remove the rest gently with a scalpel or Exacto. Then spray again from all directions.

Paravanes & paravane towing equipment

As I got no nice Royal Navy paravanes and Simon did not have them I decided to use IJN Paravanes from Shelf Oddity for my build. Paravanes used by the IJN for sure originated (just like many other pieces of IJN equipment) from the RN, they definitely look very similar on available photos and they are so small in 1/700 that differences, if any, would be hardly noticeable anyway.

The paravane towing equipment is another example of Brett�s sheer knowledge I�ve been able to exploit � I haven�t seen any models even in large scales that would have this detail covered. It�s also interesting that photos show paravane towing cables attached to Australia�s railings instead of hanging from the gunwales. These 3-stranded 2,5in diameter cables were 35 fathoms long and attached to the respective paravane chain via a swivel (swivel not shown on my model ). Paravane chains were operated by cables called messengers that wrapped 3 1/2 turns around the capstan and were lead through two leading blocks fwd of the breakwater. Photos of the completed build will show all these details.

Bridge equipment

I found out that there was almost nothing available on the market of the smaller pieces of equipment found on the compass bridge and the air defence officers platform (top level of main bridge), so I resorted to designing the following pieces myself using Fusion 3D software:

• Air Defence Officers Sight
• Searchlight Control Sight
• Pelorus
• Main compass
• Enemy Bearing Indicator
• Lookout Sight

I found lots of information at the On The Slipway website Bridge equipment Part I and Part II by EFoeth. Thanks! I also designed a few other parts like the 4in ready ammo lockers and parts for the anchor deck. I tried to find a company that would be able to print them locally where I live but I failed. After several attempts it was Simon who was so kind again to offer to print them for me, together with several types of deck vents and 4in ready ammunition lockers that I also designed. The final outstanding piece on the ADO platform was the Pom Pom director. Australia carried two MkII or MkIII units in 1942 but there was not enough info on them, so I used the MkIV (radarless) version available from Simon/Micro Master.

To be continued very soon

That's a lot of intense work, beautifully executed.

Yes, very impressive

Dan K wrote:That's a lot of intense work, beautifully executed.

Yes, what Dan said.