HMS Exeter colours - Battle of the River Plate

[Marco1965]

Thank you, Jamie, yeap, I think that is planking, color is evidently lighter and a clear contrast to other dark gray antiskid areas.  And the limit between the rear planked deck and the dark gray area around the rearmost funnel, for the boats, is right where the upper deck narrows, behind the crane base.  I think we´ve got new work to do on Trumpeters kit, rear deck will look nice in Teak color!   Thank you!

 

Marco

[Marco1965]

Another doubt... location of the paravenes while stored.  Trumpeter shows them attached to the deck (which I think is not correct), Eduard's PE instructions show them, together with a note in red "check references",  attached to the front-lateral wall of the bridge superstructure, quite possible,.  In the picture below I think the paravene is attached to the front-lateral wall, but it is strange how most of the front part including the "wings" extend much forward from the wall, or is it an ilusion derived from the picture's perspective seeing 1/3 of the body "hanging" ahead of the wall?   

 

And another question, there seems to be equipment on the deck that looks much brighter in color than the Light Gray ship, like below the shade in the rear of both turrets, boxes around the barbettes, and even the paravene and associated equipment, rope cleats,etc.  Were those white?    I will be grateful for any information or pictures.

Marco

 

 

Edited April 27, 2021 by Marco1965

[Paws4thot]

Well, no-one has made the point, but whilst all the Allied ships involved are the actual historic vessels (or at least of the same classes), the film was made some 15 to 17 years after the actual action, so I'd not advise using it as a colour reference.

[Graham Boak]

Entirely in agreement about the colours, but I don't think Exeter could possibly have been represented by another vessel of the same class...

[EwenS]

In the movie Cumberland and Achilles (as INS Delhi as she was by then) played themselves albeit much modified from their 1939 standard. Exeter was played by the Town class Sheffield and Ajax by the Colony class Jamaica. Graf Spee was played by USS Salem.  

 

And just to confuse matters the movie used colour footage of HMS Birmingham ploughing through heavy seas taken in 1945.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

The RN changed back to 507C after the war. BS381-697 Light Admiralty Grey was in use through the 1950s however it changed colour from being equal to 507C to the greenish shade we know now in the 1964 edition.

[Marco1965]

I am restarting my HMS Exeter and immediately encountered an issue with the area between the bridge and front funnel, this area seems to be quite intricate but there is no picture showing specific details.  To make things worse, Trumpeter completely forgot the two pipes that depart the funnel and run forward somewhere into the upper front deck.  Any picture or information of a) Where the pipes should go, and  b) What was in that area between funnel and front superstructure?

 

On the picture, the pipes can be clearly seen departing the funnel, but then is becomes confusing.  Seems like they turn horizontal on a level that would lead to ending somewhere on the upper deck.  And what are those objects that look like airplane pontoons?  In some scale models, I have seen that area like covered with either a square section of wood or could be canvas, but evidently this is not the case.  Of course, the structure was updated more than once, so maybe it changed.  I want to assemble the HMS Exeter as it was right before the Battle of the River Plate.

 

 

The two pipes clearly seen at the bottom of the picture, quite noticeable but completely forgotten by Trumpeter.

 

 

Marco

[Dave Swindell]

10 hours ago, Marco1965 said:

To make things worse, Trumpeter completely forgot the two pipes that depart the funnel and run forward somewhere into the upper front deck.  Any picture or information of a) Where the pipes should go, and  b) What was in that area between funnel and front superstructure?

 

On the picture, the pipes can be clearly seen departing the funnel, but then is becomes confusing.  Seems like they turn horizontal on a level that would lead to ending somewhere on the upper deck.  And what are those objects that look like airplane pontoons?

Easy one first, the objects that look like airplane pontoons - they're exactly that, spare floats for the 2 floatplanes (Fairey IIIF's on the catapults in the larger picture)

The deckhouse immediately forward of the forward funnel in York is split down the centreline with blacksmith/coppersmith workshop to port and shipwrights workshop to stbd, unless you find evidence to the contrary you could assume they would be the same in Exeter.

The two pipes running forward from the funnel are both lagged and go into the funnel uptake, I'd suggest both are exhaust pipes, and two likely suspects are galley stoves and emergency diesel generator. After running forward both pipes appear to turn down through 90 degrees and disappear through deck penetrations immediately below the flag lockers. In York, the galleys were directly below the workshops.

[Marco1965]

😀 well what does look like a spare float, measures like a spare float… well is a spare float, I like that!  I will check for York references to get a better idea, thank you, Dave!

 

Marco

[Our Ned]

Note that the spare floats were for the Fairey IIIF floatplanes she carried until 1936, when they were replaced by Walrus amphibians (which had much smaller floats).  Thereafter she had rectangular "boxes" in the same location above the funnel trunking - possibly containers for spare Walrus wings?  These were present during the Battle of the River Plate.

[Marco1965]

On 2/20/2022 at 7:15 AM, Our Ned said:

Note that the spare floats were for the Fairey IIIF floatplanes she carried until 1936, when they were replaced by Walrus amphibians (which had much smaller floats).  Thereafter she had rectangular "boxes" in the same location above the funnel trunking - possibly containers for spare Walrus wings?  These were present during the Battle of the River Plate.

Thank you, Ned, yeap, managed to confirm that there was sort of storage box at the time of the Battle of the River Plate in that place.  Solid metal walls, some sort of hard cover.  This picture below shows the rectangular shape of it.  I can work with the parts provided by Trumpeter and Eduard to issue the boxy structure, no issues!

 

And the pictures shows another detail to an advantage, the pipes I was asking about are not aligned to the axis of the ship ,but rather at an angle.  All interesting details!

 

Marco

[Marco1965]

And yet another question... The HMS Exeter carried several row boats and a couple motorboats at the moment of the Battle of the River Plate.  The Trumpeter kit provides 2 very small row boats, 4 small ones, 3 large and 2 very large row boards, plus a motorboat with enclosed cabin (seen in both pictures below).  Missing is a motorboat seen in pictures after the battle, that has a light color (white?) cabin cover (seen in both pictures below, to the left in the pictures).  But anyway, my question is, any clue of the colors?  From what I see, the row boats might have been light gray on the outside, same color as the ship, and on the inside, well my best guess would be light gray or wooden floor and wooden color benches.

   Regarding the covered boat (left in the pictures) I guess it would be Light Gray hull, and what seems to be a light colored canvas cover, I suppose that it could be a lighter gray, almost white.  The motorboat to the right, that one is quite interesting, as the color seems to be natural wood, with a dull-colored hull below the waterline.

 

Clearer on this picture, the motorboat to the left, showing the light-colored cover, notice the shape of the hull, nothing is provided in the kit to simulate that one, a pity.  Was this the original color or was it retouched to cover damage after the battle, who knows.  And the motorboat to the right, that is a good start to issue an all-natural wood boat, sort of admiral´s pinnace, with dark gray hull under waterline?  Very interesting subject.  Any idea of what kind of boats were these?  Any color reference pictures, restored antiques? (btw, notice the much lighter color of the torpedo tubes, not only after the battle, they show that lighter shade in most pictures).

Marco