Tamiya HMS Prince of Wales, 1/700 scale, as configured during the Battle of the Denmark Straight, May 1941.
Introduction
This model is for the Patuxent River Museum’s Battle of the Atlantic display and will be part of the vignette representing the early phase of the campaign that involved Germany’s strategy of surface raiders against the UK merchant fleet. Germany wanted to avoid direct engagement with the Royal Navy unless a sinking could be made at little risk; their primary targets being Britain’s merchants. Generally speaking this period began with the war on September 1st, 1939 and lasted until just after the loss of the Bismarck in May 1941. From that point forward Germany’s surface fleet engaged less and less, threatening but never again venturing out for direct contact with the British Fleet because Hitler feared another capital ship loss; to him that meant a loss to his personal prestige.
Thankfully for the Allies his Naval Commanders followed this strategy, because a combination of sustained surface raiding and u-boat warfare in 1942-1944 could have had a far greater impact at sea. Instead it just tied up men and steel on ships that were sunk anyway, but in home waters and as little threat to allied shipping.
The Subject
The story of the Bismarck is generally well known, so I won’t repeat it. Prince of Wales was commissioned in April 1941, and while still undergoing builders trials, getting the kinks out so to speak, the Admiralty decided they needed her firepower in the hunt for Bismarck. She was teamed with HMS Hood, cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk, and a screen of 6 destroyers. This fleet awaited near the Denmark Strait for Bismarck and Prinz Eugen.
On 24 May Hood and Prince of Wales engaged, Hood was lost and Prince of Wales was damaged, but they had damaged Bismarck forward which ultimately led to her demise. This model is my attempt to portray Prince of Wales at that time, during the Battle of the Denmark Strait. A better summary is on Wikipedia, here.
Prince of Wales was completed nearly identical to her older sister, King George V. Her paint scheme represented RN thinking at the time, with all steel areas in a dark gray and wooden decks in a natural stain. Horizontal surfaces were a slightly darker shade of gray. These colors were referred to as 507A (horizontal) and 507B (vertical). 507B was a very dark gray with a slight greenish tinge to it. 507A was just a bit lighter, and with an ever so slightly bluish tinge. All to my eye of course, your mileage may vary as they say.
The main deck was covered in wood. The RN did not use teak, it was too expensive. So they used pine. Unlike teak, which weathers to an almost ash gray color, pine weathers to a golden yellow color.
Some steel deck areas were possibly covered in Semtex, but my references are not clear and the web was no help. Semtex is a synthetic coating, similar to an asphalt tile (my assessment). It was glued to the steel deck but maintenance was a bit time consuming and it tended to break up quickly, so the decks were painted anyway. I chose not to represent it. Semtex was not painted and was typically a very light color, sort of an off white.
Prince of Wales had a complement of at least two Walrus I amphibians, possibly three.
The Model
This was a long build, but quick in terms of my shipbuilding. I also have a half finished HMS King George V on the shelf of doom, waiting for my weathering skills to improve.
Same kit really, but the Prince of Wales kit has an additional sprue with a Walrus, Betty and Nell bombers on them, so one can display her as she was on December 11th, under attack by the Japanese. The instructions are of course different, because Prince of Wales and King George V were configured slightly different, mainly in AA fit, but as the war progressed the RN removed aircraft (Walrus amphibian) from ships that were not aircraft carriers. Their paint schemes were different at differing times as well. The King George V kit represents the class late in the war, the Prince of Wales kit represents mid-war when camouflage was used. Any of the Tamiya kits can basically make any KGV class battleship at any point in their careers with just a small bit of effort.
I did not follow the kit instructions, but instead built the model in sub assemblies, according to David Griffith in his “Ship Models from Kits”. He advocates this method because it affords an opportunity to paint each assembly before gluing it, and it makes it easier to weather. Having started the King George V a few years ago per the Tamiya instructions, I can tell you he is absolutely right! This build was much easier.
The only two changes to the kit needed to backdate it to the May 1941 configuration is 1) the paint scheme, and 2) add the aft UP mounting and tub. In May 1941 she still had her original UP mount in that location. It was not considered useful so was replaced in July 1941. I don’t have one of those so elected to just leave the tub off; I’ll put one on if I ever find a suitable one.
During this period, Prince of Wales was most probably painted in an overall medium grey, 507B. She may have actually been overall dark grey, 507A, but references differ. At any rate, her gun tops were definitely 507A and photos seem to show a contrast between the two, so I decided on 507B overall with 507A gun tops. Her wooden main deck was pine, which would have already been weathered (lightened) a bit.
For a scale effect I searched my paint shelves for a dark gray to represent 507A but one that was just a bit lighter than the color sample in my reference. Humbrol 125 was it, although Tamiya XF-53 is also close and I interchanged them for variation. I chose Humbrol 106 to represent 507B a dark grey, specifically because it was just a bit lighter than the paint sample, I also used Tamiay XF-54 for variation as it was close.
The wooden main deck is Tamiya XF-60. I applied the paints with both an airbrush and hairy sticks, always via thinned layers to ensure mistakes could easily be corrected.
Most parts were glued using Gator’s Grip, an acrylic glue that can be thinned with water and dries clear. Where strength was critical I used Tenax liquid glue, but it was rare. Gator Grip is great, just use a small dab/drop, let it get tacky (a few seconds) put the parts together then use a small brush dipped in water to clean the edges. I would let it cure overnight after a gluing session and only one secondary gun barrel came loose. I dipped a wet brush in Gator Grip and let it wick in while I held the barrel in place.
We agreed not to weather or super detail our ship kits for the display, simply because we had inconsistent skills building the ship models. Good thing as I think it would have doubled my build time! I will mist a bit of Acryl flat clear mixed 1-5 with Future to put a matte finish to the whole thing.
References:
- King George V Class Battleships, Roger Chesneau
- Warship Perspectives Camouflage Volume One: Royal Navy 1939-1941, Alan Raven
- Ship Models from Kits, David Griffith
Thanks for reading…