Tamiya - Prince of Wales (1/350)

Hi Rick-  very nice kit-  I used Gold Medal Models PE set-  you can read my review from many years ago on

www.modelingmadness.com-   go to REVIEWs/ SHIPS

Painting instructions are a little off-  as most Tamiya instructions are due to their odd paint ratio mixes.

 -Len

It is a nice kit. My only gripe was that the side of the box shows the AP507B grey scheme that she wore when she was commissioned & fought the Denmark Strait action, but the kit doesn't include the correct AA armament for the time. The UP's shown in the illustration (see the roof of the B & Y turrets) aren't included in the kit. The UP's were removed before she went out to the far East & was sunk as part of Force Z, the period that the AA aramament in the kit is correct for.

If you want to do her at the time of the Denmark Strait, White Ensign Models do some nice 1/350th resin Universal Projectors.

Hi Len,

Nice review and build! Any suggestions on good reference texts or online references?

Cheers, Rick 

Hi David,

Thanks for the feedback - very helpful!  Are there AM replacements for the AA armament to get to the time of the Denmark Strait?  Also, references you would recommend for the P of W specifically, of this class of vessel?  Did you use WEM paints, or go with the closest colors from another company?

Cheers, Rick 

I used the King George V Class Battleships book by V Tarrant for reference. My build is still in progress & has been stalled for a couple of years, but it is using WEM paints & also their photo etch set.

To backdate the AA armament to the Denmark Strait time you have to leave off the 20mm Oerlikons (if I recall correctly...it has been a while) and replace the Pom Poms on  B & Y Turrets with UP's. Here is a photo of my not quite finished B & Y Turrets with the WEM UP's fitted.

http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=powue0.jpg

Thanks, David!  Nicely done on the B & Y turrets!  I've added the book you suggested to my list of references to get when I start the kit.

Do you have any other build photos posted?

What are your thoughts on AM barrels to replace the barrels in the main turrets?

Cheers, Rick 

Thanks for the compliment on the turrets. I haven't used aftermarket barrels yet & would only turn to them if the kit supplied barrels were poorly molded. The kit barrels were nice enough for me and all I did after cleaning them up was to drill out the muzzle on each one with a pin vice & a tiny drill bit. It makes it look like a gun & makes such a difference IMO. You can just see it in the photo.

There aren't any more photos of my build. To be honest, the kit is on top of a cupboard under a thick layer of dust due to deciding that I need to strip the paint off of the bridge. I took the turrets off & ran them under a tap to photograph them for the post. Will get back to it one day....eventually.

iv got a question regarding the paint colour. the instrcutions say to paint the deck with xf55 deck tan but this looks gray with barely a hint of sandy colour the box art shows it much more yellow iv randomly mixed some paint up that l;ooks like the box art and sprayed the deck but im not 100% convinced its right which should it be?

if iv painted it wrong how the hell tdo i remove the paint without eating the plastic?

ps im a noob and its my 2nd attempt at a ship

I built the King George (OOB) ten years ago, still looks great, and I think its a great model. The GMM set would make it better if your up to it

The Prince of Wales would be equally as good a kit.

I would go with the grayer deck color (not the sandy color), which I think is more realistic to wood conditions weathered at sea.