Calling all RN County-class fans

[EJFoeth]

Looks like 5 shells?

[Vladi]

You mean 4in shells in case of Australia... Would they be removed from the ready locker and placed there for faster reloading? Was this usual practice in RN or RAN?
Edit: Sorry EJFoeth, I read your message and replied on the phone and thought you meant 5" shells - but you referred to the number not the size. You were right, I was wrong

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

My guess, I go along with EJ Foeth: five 4" shells taken from the locker, and prepared having their timer fuses set?

[Vladi]

Thanks to both of you, I think you are right!

[Admiral John Byng]

It looks like there are two 4in. ready use lockers. One behind and to the right and one to the left of the gun mount. Would one shell be taken from each by the loaders or would one locker be emptied and then they would start on the next?

As both lockers are open I would guess the former, but does anyone know if that is correct?

[Vladi]

Good question. I think there are perhaps even three 4in ready ammo lockers - the third one is the object on which the 5 shells are seen. It is oriented perpendicularly to the other two, parallel to the ship�s axis with doors on the forward facing side.

[Vladi]

Hi mates,

another question for you: can you please post some photos showing details of the compass bridge arrangement and floor planking of the Kent class, similar to this famous photo featuring Captain E.F.V. Dechaineux DSC on the bridge of HMAS Australia on September 4th, 1944?

Also any other details like usual dimensions of the corticene planks etc. would be apreciated.

Thanks!

[Mike E.]

Vlad:

For panoramic bridge details, see the 16:00-16:21 minute mark in this film:

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item ... 1060009592

You might also want to visit this build log for additional useful info:

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/ind ... iser-1941/

HTH

Mike E.

[Vladi]

Hello Mike, thanks a lot for both links, they are very helpful, especially the film! There apparently were differences between bridges of Kent and Australia, e.g. the latter had it all planked level with Kent�s compass platform. Many thanks!

[Rambousek]

Greetings to all County-class cruiser fans,

I'm getting ready to start building HMS Cornwall in 1/700. While searching for available resources, I came across this page at NAVAL-HISTORY.NET: https://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chron ... rnwall.htm which contains information that during repairs in the Simonstown port (February 1941) Cornwall�s anti-aircraft armament was strengthened by adding several 20mm guns. Does anyone have any more information about this? If this information is true, she had this additional armament both during the fight with the German corsair Pinguin and during her sinking in 1942. However, I haven�t noticed any 20mm guns on the few available photos from that period in question.

I believe that, thanks to kits now available from Trumpeter and Aoshima, I am not the only one who would be interested in this information.

Thank you in advance for any feedback.

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

nothing showing up on the 20mm guns in this link https://world-war.co.uk/Kent/kent_class.php3

Funny, "20mm" on that page shows 18 hits, whilst "20 mm" doesn't. Be careful about the space between 20 and mm!

[modelmanuk]

i'm looking for a website that shows the camo of county class cruisers of WW2 cornwall and kent

[taskforce48]

I like this site-

Cornwall

Kent

Hope this helps,

Matt

[Mike E.]

You should also refer to these sites/blogs for up-to-date research on the camouflage scheme of HMS Kent (our understanding of the colors involved have been changing in recent years thanks to dogged research by several individuals including Jamie Duff who runs the Sovereign Hobbies site):

https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/page ... ur-schemes

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/ind ... /#comments

Good luck!

Mike E.

[SovereignHobbies]

You should also refer to these sites/blogs for up-to-date research on the camouflage scheme of HMS Kent (our understanding of the colors involved have been changing in recent years thanks to dogged research by several individuals including Jamie Duff who runs the Sovereign Hobbies site):

https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/page ... ur-schemes

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/ind ... /#comments

Good luck!

Mike E.

Thanks Mike. It should be noted that much of the credit is due to this forum's "dick" for the HMS Kent profile we drew, as well as the paints research itself along with "cag", "elcejay" and Michael who's username here has momentarily escaped me!



On Eric Leon's drawings on that site generally, he's clearly a very capable gentleman in the drawings department and he says right there on the drawings that the colour information has come from others, which is a pity as he's been poorly informed.

China Stations was white and 507B, not white and buff as shown - that was an American scheme.

Generally, they unfortunately fall foul of the old 507A=/=507B chestnut, and/or feature 507B long after enamel use was ordered stopped.

The 1944-45 one is a bit of a train crash mostly because certain individuals were of the understanding that G45 was a different colour to 507C, and the particular horror is B30 shown as a dark olive rather than a 30% light reflectance value Blue-grey as its name implies and indeed it's pigmentation mandates.

This isn't Eric Leon's fault as he's used this information in good faith, but one does need to be wary about following those illustrations for model painting purposes none the less.

[maxim]

Are there photos to confirm the camouflage of HMS Berwick in November 1940 (Battle of Cape Spartivento)?

Drawings can be found here:
https://www.world-war.co.uk/Kent/berwick.php
Warship Perspectives, Camouflage Vol 1 RN 1939-41 by Raven
British & Commonwealth Warship Camouflage Volume 3 by Wright

I found only some very distant, blurry views in the IWM photo archive.

[maxim]

Today, 80 years ago, HMS Kent was torpedoed by an Italian SM.79 bomber.

Here my interpretation of her fit before she was torpedoed:




HMS Kent (1/700)

I used the Aoshima kit, barrels by NNT and Master, PE parts by Tom's Modelworks, and AA guns by FineMolds and 3DModel Parts.

[maxim]

Today 80 years ago, on the 27th of November 1940, HMS Berwick fought in the Battle of Cape Teulada/Spartivento.

I built her using the Cornwall kit by Aoshima. The main differences are the forward 4" twins, which were further aft in case of Berwick, and that Berwick had not a shortened main mast. Unfortunately, many details of her November 1940 fit are unclear. There are drawings (e.g. County Class Cruisers, Shipcraft 19, British and Commonwealth Warship Camouflage of WWII, Volume 3 and Warship Perspectives Camouflage Volume 1), but they do not agree in many details. I have not found suitable photos to confirm them and decided to use Raven's drawings plus some photos or earlier and later fits.

More about the model:
http://www.modellmarine.de/index.php/modelle/112-lars/6067-britischer-schwerer-kreuzer-hms-berwick-1-700-aoshima-von-lars-scharff






with ships of two other County classes, the armoured cruiser HMS Monmouth (1901) and the missile destroyer HMS Glamorgan (1966).

[Jack G]

Wonderful dioramas and ships Maxim

Given the new information that has come to light regarding the painting of Hood's underwater area, do we have any information on which of the Counties received paint treatment and antifouling from manufacturers such as Peacock and Buchans, and which colours were used?

The NMM builders model of Cumberland appears to be in black and white? Or maybe it's grey below the bootstrip?

https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collectio ... 66003.html

[dick]

Wonderful dioramas and ships Maxim

The NMM builders model of Cumberland appears to be in black and white? Or maybe it's grey below the bootstrip?

https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collectio ... 66003.html

If you scroll down the NMM/RMG page to the "Description" it tells you the colour below the boot-topping