HMS Colombo - C Class Cruiser, Trumpeter 1/350

[robgizlu]

So after HMS Calcutta - Trummpeter have kindly presented us with Colombo.  I wonder whether further versions will be along?

I really enjoyed the Calcutta build and felt the base kit was excellent.  The various super-detailed 3D printed items from Micromast and Black Cat models allow you to take these basic plastic kits to a very pleasing level

 

 

 

HMS Colombo shared a similar heritage to Calcutta.  She underwent conversion to an Anti-Aircraft Cruiser between June 1942 and March 1943.

We are fortunate in having some high quality IWM collection images that feature her in herAA configuration with period Camouflage that I'll shortly discuss.

 

 

Such a beautiful photo

 

I'm going to attempt to replicate this scene.

 

Here are some more views that establish the camouflage blocks and pattern

 

 

 

 

 

Kudos as ever to the Imperial War Museum collection.

 

Raven interprets the colours as MS4a, MS2 and B5.  Profile Morskie run with this but depict MS2 as a "Dark Green Grey".

Trumpeter provide a colour chart tht appears accurate in pattern and follows Raven's direction

 

 

I'm happy with MS2 given the time line though MS1or 507a could also be contenders.

The B5 I'm happy with.  Logical and synchronous with other contemporary schemes

 

The problem for me lies with MS4a which was a very light grey.  The alternatives would be MS4 or 507c.

My guess is this is MS4 rather than MS4a.

 

I'm conscious a lot of calls have gone out recently to @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies and @dickrd and I'm mindful we should not abuse their good will but with such a wealth of knowledge on their part it equally seems plain daft not to seek their expertise.  Gentlemen, happy with MS2 and B5 and I'd appreciate your thoughts on MS4 versus MS4a?  Many thanks as ever in anticipation.

 

Colombo was equipped with Type 279b air warning radar and had a distinctly up-gunned weapons fit compared to Calcutta.  Single Oerlikons were replaced with Mk V twin mountings and 2 Bofors twin Mk IV (Hazemeyer) pieces added.  The Quad 2 pdr was replaced by a 4in Twin mounting on B position.  Here's a scheme view

 

 

The kit comes well packaged with protecive foam around pieces

 

 

 

 

 

Colombo's hull has far fewer scuttle and they are much better defined than those on Calcutta.  I don't think I'll be needing the etch scuttles which is a big time-saver

 

And here's a comparison with the relatively diminutive LCI (nearly completed)

 

 

And finally - I still bemoan the dearth of Royal Naval figures available.  Simon at Micromaster has indicated that he has no plans to produce any and we await Ben at Black Cat Models.  In desperation I ordered some US Navy figures from Ben and I can report that they will double up as RN figures in working (non-unuiform dress) with a little bit of filing to head caps.  They are a very similar size to the North star figures (unlike the overly underscale ION figures).  It would still be nice to have figures with life jackests - steel helmets and North Atlantic garb etc.  PLEASE somebody............

 

 

 

Thanks for looking 

More soon

Rob

[socjo1]

3 hours ago, robgizlu said:

 

Such a beautiful photo

 

I'm going to attempt to replicate this scene.

 

 

The birds, the birds, my kingdom for the birds!!

What about them??

😆

 

[robgizlu]

Ohhhh Yes - I shall consult with my learned friend and Seagull expert @longshanks!!

[beefy66]

Looking forward to this one coming together note book at the ready when you are.  

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[JohnWS]

Looking forward to another entertaining build from the master, as well.

 

John

[Courageous]

Another interesting build on the chocks.

 

Stuart

[S-boat 55]

I shall follow with interest 

[Faraway]

This looks interesting. But hang on, you appear to be stepping up the build rate,  a certain young fella @beefy66 is always moaning at me for producing too quick. 😂😂😂😂😂

[dickrd]

On 12/8/2021 at 3:16 PM, robgizlu said:

 

Raven interprets the colours as MS4a, MS2 and B5.  Profile Morskie run with this but depict MS2 as a "Dark Green Grey".

Trumpeter provide a colour chart tht appears accurate in pattern and follows Raven's direction

I'm happy with MS2 given the time line though MS1or 507a could also be contenders.

The B5 I'm happy with.  Logical and synchronous with other contemporary schemes

 

The problem for me lies with MS4a which was a very light grey.  The alternatives would be MS4 or 507c.

My guess is this is MS4 rather than MS4a.

 

I'm conscious a lot of calls have gone out recently to @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies and @dickrd and I'm mindful we should not abuse their good will but with such a wealth of knowledge on their part it equally seems plain daft not to seek their expertise.  Gentlemen, happy with MS2 and B5 and I'd appreciate your thoughts on MS4 versus MS4a?  Many thanks as ever in anticipation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rob,

 

Sorry for the delay but I am a tad busy on various other matters at the moment. Here are my thoughts for what they are worth as there is only a little more to go on than the handful of photos.

 

Re the darkest tone: there is quite a bit of contrast with the (black) boot topping, so I would suggest MS1 is unlikely; but it looks a bit darker than 507A often does in photos so if it were my model I think I would use MS2.

 

("Dark green grey": we all know where an accurate version of MS2's colour can be bought!)

 

Not much to go on for the middle tone, but B5 is entirely plausible for all the good reasons you give (although we should not rule out MS3 from a theoretical standpoint).

 

The lightest tone is indeed the most troublesome. I don't think it was MS4. It appears too light for that in the better images. It does look very (unnaturally?) light in the photos taken in Plymouth Sound as she came out of conversion, but more normal in the various in-service images, the sort of tone I would associate with 507C in photos.

 

Re MS4A: A note survives on a 1941 file which looks like it was taken by one of the designers at a team meeting at Leamington. It is dated 10 December 1941. It notes that the lightest main colour in camouflage designs for cruisers and upwards should be 507C. Although not actually painted onto Colombo until she completed her conversion in early 1943, a camouflage design for Colombo was Leamington Job number 101. This number was allocated on 16th October 1941 so that plans and a model of the ship could be prepared. There was no requirement/urgency to produce a camouflage design at that stage. The immediate priority for Leamington for the next couple of months was producing all the designs for small ships that were ultimately promulgated in CAFO 679 of April 1942. Significantly Job 101 is not mentioned in any of the 'to do' lists exchanged between Leamington and DTSD at the Admiralty in London during the remainder of 1941. My guess is therefore that Colombo's design was on the back burner and was slowly worked on early 1942 and so would have been influenced by the guidance issued at the December 1941 team meeting. (Sadly a file giving a similar insight into Leamington's work schedules for 1942 does not survive.)            

 

Here is another (not terribly good) photo for your collection (during HUSKY July 1943).

 

Best wishes,

 

Richard

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by dickrd

[robgizlu]

Thanks Dick - hugely valuable insight as ever.  I ponder as to where Alan Raven drew his references from.  It's curious that he allotts MS4a to Colombo alone amongst the C class cruisers in "Warships Persepctives".  However I'd gone back to compare tones with other vessels such as Kent etc and the conclusion I draw is that Colombo is just not "White" enough, as would befit MS4a.

So 507c it will be.

Thanks again.

More soon

Rob

[robgizlu]

So with a colour palatte in my mind firmly decided of MS2, B5 and 507c, it's time to get started.  Poole awaits figure painting and final detailing, son on with some "assembling".

 

 

She'll be presented in a base so the stabliziers are whittled off.

Scuttles drilled out for hull and superstucture

The ammunition locker fitting lugs are all filled, so as to accept Micromaster replacements

Hull and super structure ladders are whittled off 

Doors are whitled off to accept resin Micromaster offerings

Reel sinks are filled to accept free standing Black Cat offerings

Paravane "holes" are plugged, once again to accept Black Cat offerings

 

 

Trumpter very clearly take their plans from "Profile Morskie" who portray the bollards on their plans without their "hats".   Which is why none are moulded on the kit.

They are added.

And just looking at the pic above, I see that I've missed more moulded on ladders (The power of close-up photography......benign for once)

 

 

I think that like Calcutta this is basically a good kit.  Provided that if you are seeking reasonable accuracy you replace an awful lot.............. Guns, Boats, Ammo lockers, Paravanes, Radar, Depth charges etc etc.

The ammo lockers for the 4in guns are half acceptable, but those supplied for the 20mm Oerlikons of which there are many are decidely odd and featureless.  Fortunately that very nice friend to modellers, Simon Percival at Micromaster  has help at hand in the form of 20mm Ammunition lockers that exactly match those we are used to seeing in John Lambert plans etc.

They are smaller than the kit suppled ones which explains the need to fill the locating lugs.  If they weren't filled holes would be seen in the decks 

Micromaster have also released a set of deck lockers so the moulded ones will be coming off too.

 

 

Oh what fun we have 

More soon

Rob

[Modelholic]

It's about time you put that ice cream tub in the RFI section.

Tom

[beefy66]

Looking good Rob interesting and informative about the lockers will have to get my order in to Simon this weekend with Resolution near the finish line.

Need to get another shelf queen out of the way after some re-arranging of the man cave.

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[MRMRL]

This is looking good. I have this kit in my stash, so I'm very interested in watching your progress and picking up some tips 😉

[Courageous]

Looking rather slick already.

How come that @beefy66 bloke hasn't carried out his 'Freudian transference' on you Rob like he did me about my two builds...

 

Stuart

[beefy66]

8 hours ago, Courageous said:

Looking rather slick already.

How come that @beefy66 bloke hasn't carried out his 'Freudian transference' on you Rob like he did me about my two builds...

 

Stuart

 

Did that on his other builds about November time where you in hibernation then Stuart.  🤔

 

Stay Safe 

beefy 

[Terry1954]

Late to the party as usual Rob, but just had a pleasant catch up over morning coffee!

 

Nice choice of subject, and nice to see the little deck additions to enhance the detail.

 

Will follow along and maybe my "maritime mojo" will return again soon, although a few aviation projects are taking up my time at present.

 

Terry

[Courageous]

6 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

"maritime mojo" will return again soon,

[Terry1954]

58 minutes ago, Courageous said:

 

Ye of little faith.............

[robgizlu]

Got out to do a Garage session of cutting and filing Tuesday.

Work on Wednesday, Temp overnight on Thursday AM and an LFT +ve test.  Can't complain after actively seeing covid patients face to face over a period of 2 years but sdaly there'll be no skiing next week so expect some more modelling.

Mild to medium flu symptoms which laid me up for 48 hours which is the commonest experience currently.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I paid special attnetion to "undercutting " the profile so as to get the snuggest intial fit possible.  The harder Styrofoam material lends itself to filing.  It's pretty Snug.

 

In many ways this is a rerun of the Calcutta build.  The Excellent Micromaster doors are added and the wall "clutter" adds a lot to otherwise featureless superstructure side walls.  It's all random and faux as I can find no photos that detail the superstructure.  I think it makes a difference so please indulge me.

 

 

 

 

 

Likewise the bridge though the central raised section is as per the original photos which is not represented properly by Trumpeter

 

 

 

Once again the funnels are pimped, again all made up

 

 

One glaring error that profile Morskie made in their plans was to get the porthole numbers wrong.  Trumpeter model their kits, it would seem almost entirely on Morskie plans, so this error was transcribed.  I appreciate I'm not the first to reflect on this.  The converse is that without any plans we wouldn't have these kits!  I'll settle for having to make some basic modelling corrections.

 

This photo shows 3 portholes close to the waterline and portholes that extend beyond the wave breakwater

 

 

But on the kit..............

 

 

As per the plans

 

 

 

the solution is to fill the 2 lower portholes that are incorrectly placed.  Add 10 new portholes on the top level and 3 new "waterline" portholes, bilaterally

 

 

 

I used portholes from an Infini set 

 

 

And using superglue gel and a cocktail stick to correctly "centre", after a few happy hours you should get to this

 

 

 

And here's a shout out.  One of the pleasures of modelling for me is to idle the hours listening to Radio 4.  However in recent weeks I've been monopolized by "The Rest is History" podcast with the excellent Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook.  History based and just addictive.

And there's more........Tom Holland's brother James (you may recognise as a WW2 historian) and Al Murray (A dedicated AFV Scale modeller amongst his other endeavours) run a similar-ish Podcast "We have ways of making you talk" which is far more WW2 based.  iIspent a happy morning listening to their Podcast on Landing Craft https://play.acast.com/s/wehaveways/357.landingcraft.   Both Podcasts are available on Acast and elsewhere.  You know you should 

 

Stay Safe and keep dodging the virions!

Thanks for looking

Rob

[Faraway]

Now, that is coming on really nicely. 

Hope you feel ok soon, and as for skiing.....perhaps going to Europe at the moment is not such a good idea. 

Jon

[longshanks]

My you have been a busy boy  ...  I hope not to the detriment of the trawler and you  are waiting for parts for the trawler 

I'm also slightly concerned as to how easily you turn your hand to pimping 

 

Sorry to hear about the holiday and I hope the family manages to escape

 

Stay safe and avoid the numpties

 

Kev

[Terry1954]

Hope the virus visit passes quickly Rob and you don't feel too unwell. 

 

Another great update. Those superstructure sidewalls look superb and I agree those micromaster doors are pretty neat. I also like your "hallmark" additions to the bridge area!

 

Terry

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

The busying up of the upper deck bulkheads works really well, and I share your pain about correcting inaccurate drawings / placement of scuttles.  Coming along very nicely.

 

And I echo your plea from late last year for someone to do some RN figures in this scale!

[Micha_Pol]

Your builds have been awe-inspiring so far, and I will follow with great interest.