Two Dollars.... (well spent) and some HMS Prince of Wales Questions

I will let you know when my copy of  Warship Reflections Ship Camouflage 1939-1941: Royal Navy

From Snyder and Short arrives next week.

In the meantime look into ordering this:

No rush my friend. But RN subjects are all new to me. Wood decks, were they stained or bare? Metal decks, what color were those painted? What differences are there in her May 1941 configuration and the kit configuration (which appears to be that from December 1941 and 'Force "Z"')

So according to Martin Quinn over on Modelwarships, she was 507B Medium Gray in May 1941.

The steel decks were 507A, the wood either that or natural teak depending on what you read from various sources.

Go over the and read through the "calling all KGV fans" thread.

BTW P oW was to be call King Edward VIII, before he abdicated.

The few high angle photos from that time are contradictory. Some show dark wooden decks, indicating them to be stained/painted, while others show light wooden decks, indicating natural teak. At least that is how I interpret them to be. Thanks for the information and pointing me to that thread on that site.

The kit is missing the Unrifled Projector anti aircraft armament that she carried at the time of the Denmark Strait battle. If you look at the side art on the box & the grey scheme you will see them sitting on top of the B & Y turrets. After the Denmark Strait battle they were replaced with 40mm Pom Poms. IIRC the kit also has some 20mm AA guns that were added after the Denmark Straight battle that you will need to leave off.

White Ensign Models does resin UP's in the scale. G Morrison's post is spot on with the paint scheme. White Ensign also do these colours.

A good reference book if you can find it is King George V Class Battleships by VE Tarrant.

When it comes to figuring out the color of wood decks based on black-and-white photos, there's a big joker in the deck. Unpainted wood looks darker - a LOT darker - when it's wet.  If you find two pictures taken at about the same time in which the decks look different, there's a fair chance that the darker one was taken after a rain storm - or after a washdeck party finished working. It's easy to think you're looking at a camouflaged deck when you're actually seeing a deck that's been partially hosed off.

I don't know how this particular ship was painted, but I throw that out as a possibility.

I looked at the thread over on Modelwarships that GM pointed out. It has some great photos of POW from the Newfoundland conference with Churchill and Roosevelt onboard. In those photos the decks quite clearly are unpainted/unstained so I am going to go that route. I do not think that the decks were cleaned off just for the conference meeting on her decks. But you never know.

Thanks for the information about the AA fit. I was starting to figure out about the 20mm Oerlikons on the fantail from photos, but the UP/Pom Pom switch is news to me. Many thanks gentlemen.

I also was reading on that thread pointed out by GM about a radar that was added after Denmark Strait?

IIRC 20mm guns were also added further forward beside the bridge structure as well as at the stern. I think I read that she was originally supposed to have a UP in the stern area that was never fitted.

The Wikipedia page on her gives details on the refits & the radar that you mention:.:

en.wikipedia.org/.../HMS_Prince_of_Wales_(53)

Ah yes, I had not noticed the record part of the wiki article. Thanks for the heads up on that

I am still reading thru the MW thread. I have now reached the point where the both sides are presenting their case about stained and unstained decks. Apparently during the building process stains were applied as aerial view camouflage, and later once operational the stain would be removed. So it is indeed quite possible that PoW had stained wooden decks at the time of Denmark Strait.