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County Class Destroyers, options in 1/600


Courageous

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Wish I'd seen that German site before I did my GLAMORGAN conversion from the Airfix.  I was about half way through it before I realised that the superstructure was way too far aft and that in turn pushed everything else further aft. 

 

If you do go down the 1/600 route, Peter Hall's Seaslug and 965M are works of art in their own right

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17 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Wish I'd seen that German site before I did my GLAMORGAN conversion from the Airfix.  I was about half way through it before I realised that the superstructure was way too far aft and that in turn pushed everything else further aft. 

Is this an issue with the kit or your conversion process to Glamorgan?

I have decided to go down the 1/600 route and hopefully a kit and the PE will be a nice Crimbo pressie.

 

I had to have another look at Atlantics PE to see if it can do the double bedstead for batch II...and it does.

 

Stuart

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It's a problem with the kit Stuart.  Modellmarine.de shows a really good comparison of what the profile should look like and what the Airfix kit provides.  I think its on about page 5 but the site's not loading this morning so I can't check it.  In fairness, its not an especially difficult problem to overcome, provided you know about it at the start which I didn't!

 

Other significant changes I remember having to make over and above the double bedstead and Exocet were different superstructure profile (it was either the aft end of the fwd superstructure or fwd end of the aft superstructure needs to go up a deck), completely different foremast arrangement, addition of Scot aerials etc etc.

 

The other book I'd recommend if you're planning to build a County is the Neil McCart.  Good range of photos of all ships in the class at different points in their life

Edited by Chewbacca
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Stuart, as others have said, there was a surprising amount of variation between individual ships - especially in the position / number of boats.  I amin the research phase of a double DLG build (Norfolk & Glamorgan), and I had lazily assumed they were pretty much the same.  Wrong!

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I thought that you might turn up, especially when you're doing your own research but in 1/350. Looking forward to yours starting, will be very useful for when I get round to mine. Still waiting for my copy of 'County Class Guided Missile Destroyers' by Neil McCart.

 

Stuart

 

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I assume you have found these... [Edit - removed when I realsied that Chris Hewitt had already posted the same two sites!]

 

May I ask which one you have in mind to build?

 

 

 

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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27 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

May I ask which one you have in mind to build

At the moment it is a Batch I & a Batch II, beyond that I haven't given it much thought. I'm hoping that the County book will help focus the mind; poinuancy, quirkiness, etc. Any suggestions?

 

Stuart

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On 11/22/2018 at 9:35 PM, Courageous said:

I am currently looking at British Destroyers and Frigates by Norman Fried man at most,  trying to look at plan views of Batch I & II destroyers. I don't think the views are accurate but it''s all i've got. It looks like Batch II''s may also have Knebworth-Corvus rocket launches? A number of 20mm Oerlikons? Seacats?  God knows what else. 

 

Stuart

 

They all had Seacat; two launchers, either side of the hangar [except post-Falklands Glamorgan; her port launcher was blown over the side by the Exocet, and they refitted her with 40mm guns instead - putting them where the Seacat directors had been, and leaving the launcher space clear].  Also, the earliest hulls (Hampshire & Devonshire, certainly, and maybe others) had the early Seacat director (large dustbin) positioned inboard close to the aft funnel; later versions were on a gantry further outboard and of a much more modern type.

 

As someone has already said, Batch 1s had the single bedstead, Batch 2s twin.

 

There are wide variations in boat fit - some had 5, some 4, but even when numbers tallied, the davit layouts weren’t always the same.  

 

Glamorgan had STWS2 torpedo tubes by 1982 (in the middle boat position).  Not sure about the others; Norfolk definitely not, Antrim I don’t think so, Fife possibly.  

 

Fife (& I think only Fife) had a large Seaslug RAS rig starboard aft.  See @Kevin Aris‘s build a few months ago for details.

 

The quarterdecks varied in layout considerably.

 

The signal deck (behind the foremast) area changed a lot; if you look at the shots of Hampshire as she emerges from John Brown’s (lots on bith sites) the shape and configuration is totaly different later.

 

There are also differences in the aft superstructure, but I’m still researching those.

 

To the naked eye those MT Miniatures models need a lot of work, but to a man of your calibre...

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3 minutes ago, Courageous said:

At the moment it is a Batch I & a Batch II, beyond that I haven't given it much thought. I'm hoping that the County book will help focus the mind; poinuancy, quirkiness, etc. Any suggestions?

 

Stuart

Batch 1 relatively simple (tho see above) because you could build them as they started out, before many changes. Toss a coin.  London: final broadside ever fired in the RN.

 

Batch 2 the obvious candidates are Antrim or Glamorgan (though be aware; if you’ve been reading my tyread you will know some seem to think depicting a damaged Glamorgsn is disrespectful).  

 

If you want really quirky, do one of the Chilean conversions post-sale: see website already cited for details!

 

 

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To expand on some of Ex-FAAWAFU's remarks:

  • Seacat – the Batch 1 ships were built with GWS21, with the round directors close to the after funnel.  The Batch 2 ships had GWS22, with the directors on sponsons further outboard; KENT and LONDON were refitted with this system later.
  • STWS – FIFE and GLAMORGAN were the only ones to carry STWS, later in their careers.
  • Mainmast – as stated, Batch 1s had "single bedstead", Batch 2s had "double bedstead"; the latter batch had a differently shaped lower mainmast, the bottom section up to the platform for Type 278 being as long as that platform in a fore'n'aft direction; KENT and LONDON were later fitted with this type of mainmast.  Jammer fits on the mainmast sides varied between ships
  • Fittings abreast the forefunnel – initially the first six ships had no weapons there; the last two carried a single 20mm Oerlikon and a 3" chaff rocket launcher each side and the remainder were later fitted with these.
  • Foremast: - the first six ships were completed with a low foremast, with Type 992 or 992Q on the upper platform, on which the topmast was stepped.  The last two ships had a tall foremast topped by Type 992Q; FIFE and GLAMORGAN were later fitted with the same type of mast.  KENT and LONDON were later fitted with Type 669 jammers at the foretopmasthead.
  • SCOT – LONDON and the Batch 2 ships were later fitted to carry SCOT satellite comms equipment abreast the mainmast; the actual radomes and equipment cabin could be moved from ship to ship, so were not always carried, and, in some photos, just the platforms can be seen.
Edited by Our Ned
Correcting radar type on foremast of Batch 2 ships
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8 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

They all had Seacat; two launchers,

I thought you'd come to my rescue seeing that you're already doing the research, noted. Thanks.

8 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Batch 1 relatively simple (tho see above) because you could build them as they started out, before many changes. Toss a coin.  London: final broadside ever fired in the RN.

 

Batch 2 the obvious candidates are Antrim or Glamorgan (though be aware; if you’ve been reading my tyread you will know some seem to think depicting a damaged Glamorgsn is disrespectful).  

 

If you want really quirky, do one of the Chilean conversions post-sale: see website already cited for details!

London for the Batch I sounds good to me, I'll look into that.

Your Glamorgan thread I am following and I, like you, see no disrespect in what you intend to build, fully behind you 100%. Antrim could be the Batch II.

A for the Chilean conversion, maybe, I want to get the RN Dsetroyers done first and then we'll see.

 

35 minutes ago, Our Ned said:

To expand on some of Ex-FAAWAFU's remarks:

Thanks for the expansion details Ned, all filed away.

 

And...

20181201-194440.jpg

Christmas has come early for me :thumbsup:.

 

Stuart

 

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Some great information coming out on this thread Stuart, well done for getting it off the blocks! The book looks very interesting, might have to get myself a copy. I'm lining up my christmas list to include a 1/350 Atlantic Models County amongst a few others which may well also include some "boats" 😁

 

Terry

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I reckon @Ex-FAAWAFU must be a psychic 'cos after a brief look through the recent acquisition (as above) I've made a tentative decision to model HMS London (Batch 1) and HMS Antrim (Batch 2).

 

19 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Some great information coming out on this thread Stuart, well done for getting it off the blocks! The book looks very interesting, might have to get myself a copy. I'm lining up my christmas list to include a 1/350 Atlantic Models County amongst a few others which may well also include some "boats" 😁

The book is very informative from this layman's point of view; lots of data and lots of pics, just what us modelers want.

A Christmas list, you should have had that list BEFORE SMW like me... I came away a poor man but I was happy.

I like the 'some' boats, meaning plural, you know you want to. :wicked:

 

Stuart

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  • Courageous changed the title to County Class Destroyers, options in 1/600

Well, I've spent the evening going through the links in this thread and it seems to me that a set plans might be a good idea but I don't fancy spending that amount of money for them.

Can anybody help or point me somewhere?

 

Stuart

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As a matter of interest guys, Seacats. I have read somewhere that the Seacat launcher were only loaded prior to launch? I can fully understand this and plan to show the Batch 1 with unloaded launches. But the Batch 2 HMS Antrim I would like to do this as a Falklands subject and with this in mind, would the launches be loaded in readiness?

 

Stuart

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Missiles on my ship, Ambuscade, were loaded on to the launcher shortly prior to entering the high threat area with a protective rubberized protective covering over each missile and stayed that way throughout although there were presumably periodic checks on there continued readiness.  I should think all Seacat fitted ships there did the same. 

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Assuming you mean you plan to portray Antrim as though cleared for action in the Falklands, then yes, she would definitely have 4 Seacats loaded on each launcher.  [White ones; not the blue drill missiles you see in every Navy Days photo].  

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Cheers guys.

8 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Assuming you mean you plan to portray Antrim as though cleared for action in the Falklands, then yes, she would definitely have 4 Seacats loaded on each launcher.  [White ones; not the blue drill missiles you see in every Navy Days photo].

The question is, can I make a convincing looking Seacat (x8)? Not having the kit yest doesn't help so I don't know what the Seacats look like there, a mess I should imagine. Shapeways upgrade set doesn't have them I believe and the PE upgrade set has them but they're PE so they need a little 'body'.

 

Stuart

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looks like Christmas has come early for me...

20181215-111555.jpg

...a set of County Class plans from Jecobin. I did ask about reducing the plans to 1/600 hoping that their would be a price reduction but the price for a set of 1/600 plans were the same as 1/192, so I went with the 1/192. Although these plans are for HMS Glamorgan, they can be modified to reflect HMS London & HMS Antrim. Well chuffed :yahoo:

 

Stuart

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