1/700 HMS Howe

[The Naval Guy]

Good day everyone! 

 

I recently purchased a 1/700 Tamiya HMS King George V model which I intend to convert into the HMS Howe in her 1944 scheme. However, I need a little help regarding resources and photographs. Clear and detailed pictures of the HMS Howe's 1944 disruptive camouflage scheme are rather hard to come by, so if anyone could send some or give some suggestions as the weeks come by, it would be greatly appreciated! 

To add, I will also be posting logs on this topic. Thank you!

 

Kind regards,

Naval

 

[Vlad]

If you plan on doing KGV as Howe, it's not a simple matter of repainting. Depends how far down the rabbit hole you want to go, but Howe had different AA directors (HACS Mk.V not Mk.IV), a different enclosed platform on the rear funnel, and different locations for many of the 20mm guns around the deck (and a ton of other detail differences too most likely).

 

Your best bet for camouflage references are the profiles by Sovereign Hobbies. Having said that, they only show Howe in 1942, whereas the pattern itself and the colours used would have evolved by 1944. The colours should be the same as KGV in 1943.

 

 

 

There are some pictures, will include port side ones as you showed a starboard:

 

 

 

 

There's also the excellent model by Chris Flodberg, which IIRC was well researched and should serve as a solid reference:

 

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/bb/hms/Howe-350-cf/index.htm

 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Hmm. Wonder why I never published the 1944 drawings for HMS Anson and Howe. I drew them...

 

Anyway, in 1944, HMS Howe was similar to HMS King George V (as was HMS Anson) except that HMS King George V was the odd one out in using G10 (dark grey) as the darkest shade whereas both HMS Anson and HMS Howe used G5 (virtually black) as the darkest shade. The other 3 colours were the same on all 3 ships though.

[The Naval Guy]

19 hours ago, Vlad said:

If you plan on doing KGV as Howe, it's not a simple matter of repainting. Depends how far down the rabbit hole you want to go, but Howe had different AA directors (HACS Mk.V not Mk.IV), a different enclosed platform on the rear funnel, and different locations for many of the 20mm guns around the deck (and a ton of other detail differences too most likely).

 

Your best bet for camouflage references are the profiles by Sovereign Hobbies. Having said that, they only show Howe in 1942, whereas the pattern itself and the colours used would have evolved by 1944. The colours should be the same as KGV in 1943.

 

 

 

There are some pictures, will include port side ones as you showed a starboard:

 

 

 

 

There's also the excellent model by Chris Flodberg, which IIRC was well researched and should serve as a solid reference:

 

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/bb/hms/Howe-350-cf/index.htm

 

 

Hey Vlad! 

Thanks for the photo references and the suggestions, they've helped me with the paint scheme a lot! I know that the Howe had her differences from the King George V, which I've already started to do with my model. All of the AA mounts have been drilled out, along with their respective locations.

 

 

[The Naval Guy]

18 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Hmm. Wonder why I never published the 1944 drawings for HMS Anson and Howe. I drew them...

 

Anyway, in 1944, HMS Howe was similar to HMS King George V (as was HMS Anson) except that HMS King George V was the odd one out in using G10 (dark grey) as the darkest shade whereas both HMS Anson and HMS Howe used G5 (virtually black) as the darkest shade. The other 3 colours were the same on all 3 ships though.

 

Hey Jamie! Thanks for this! I never knew she used the sort of blue camouflage scheme. 

[The Naval Guy]

Edited June 30, 2024 by The Naval Guy

[The Naval Guy]

Attached above are some pictures of the AA gun mounts.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

[foeth]

 

Minor issue 😄 Note the counter shading beneath turret's the rangefinder, a fun detail to add,

 

 

 

 

[The Naval Guy]

Here's a current update on the Howe. I started painting the model Friday night and researched her '44 camouflage scheme. As a result, the best I could do was this mangled mix of grey, blue, and black tones. The model's paint scheme is loosely based on Chris Flodberg's build, however, most come from photographs from '44. Also, thank you Jamie for the reference guides! They really helped me in this build.

 

 

 

 

[The Naval Guy]

Here's the photograph sources I mentioned.

[foeth]

For more info on Howe, you can check out the Imperial War Museum. For superdetailing and general inspiration, there's also Ian Buxton's Battleship Duke of York (as an e-book for 12 pounds at our 'local' bookshop). Minor differences exist between the various ships in the class but overall a great reference to have.

[The Naval Guy]

Greetings all! Apologies for the lack of updates recently, however, the Howe is around 70% done!

[The Naval Guy]

 

 

[mick]

great work