600 Hood

Airfix's 1/600 HMS HOOD built by Peter Hall, together with build notes and further photos of Don Murphy's HOOD

Peter Hall built this kit in her 1931 fit, using the White Ensign Models WEM PE 616 1/600 HMS HOOD etched brass detail set, together with WEM PRO 607 1/600 FAIREY F3F (two supplied). A useful addition also is WEM PE 622 1/600 RN SHIPS BOATS DETAILS. For a full overview of the WEM range of etched brass, CLICK HERE. Although the kit was built before the availability of COLOURCOATS enamel paints (Peter used his own Humbrol mixes), these are now available from us, or any of our dealers. Paint colours required are C 01 DECK TEAK, RN 03 AP 507C, RN 01 AP 507A, and C 02 MATT BLACK, although the latter is not yet in stock at WEM. The seascape is made from Polyfilla (Spackle to the Yanks, so my Californian hubby tells me), mixed with shredded newspaper. The dried, painted seascape is then given a maximum gloss varnish coat to finish. As an alternative to the photo-etched 8-Barrelled Pom-Poms supplied (see photo below),

you can use WEM PRO 606 1/600 8-BARRELLED POM-POMS, or, for maximum effect and realism, combine resin and photo-etched brass parts, for a show-stopping model.

Click on images for larger versions

AIRFIX 1/600th SCALE HMS HOOD by Don Murphy

There are three "small scale" Hood kits in existence; Tamiya's 1/700 scale, Italeri's 1/720 scale and Airfix' 1/600 scale kit. For this Hood, I chose to portray her during 1931. Should you desire to portray Hood during her final engagement (and subsequent loss) with the German battleship Bismark in 1941 during the battle for the Denmark Strait, then the Tamiya kit would be your choice. As with any kit, you need to decide whether you want to super detail or whether the kit's parts are adequate for the job at hand. Reference material is also important. You must also be prepared to do some scratch building/kit modification for certain areas that update parts will not cover. For detail sets, there is only one source; White Ensign Models (WEM). WEM produces an incredibly spectacular sheet which contains many different items which we'll get into later. As for reference material, I have a copy of "Warship 19 HMS Hood" which provides many early photos of the ship. The kit is extremely old and requires minimal clean up. The kit shows it's age in numerous places and there are a few misshaped areas to be concerned with.

HMS Hood's history can best be covered at the HMS Hood website (www.hmshood.com). Briefly, HMS Hood was laid down as a battlecruiser during the first world war. Even though the Royal Navy's disastrous experience with battlecruisers during the battle of Jutland, forced a rethink of naval policy, Hood's construction was continued with minor changes (a battlecruiser was basically a large cruiser mounting guns of "battleship" sized caliber. The intention was that the battleship-sized guns would enable it to deal with any cruiser threat, while the battlecruisers high speed [as a result of lighter armor], would enable it to outrun any ship it couldn't [or shouldn't] fight; i.e. a heavily armored battleship). Although some modifications were made to Hood during her building, she remained, still, a battlecruiser, complete with all the dangers associated with that class of vessel. Hood measured in at roughly 860 feet, which, for the day, was a very large, impressive, warship. It was easy to see how the Royal Navy (and indeed, the British public) could have chosen her as queen of the fleet. To most Britons, Hood WAS the Royal Navy. Hood's secondary and anti-aircraft armament changed during her major refits, producing an interesting mix of old and new technology weapons which made her a beautiful, aesthetically pleasing ship to look at. HMS Hood, together with the new battleship, HMS Prince Of Wales, engaged the German battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prince Eugen during the battle for Denmark Strait. Although a hit was obtained on Bismark, the task force commander, Admiral Lancelot Holland, ordered the two capital ships to change course in order to bring all of his guns to bear on Bismarck. As the ships turned, a German shell hit Hood amidships through her thin armor and detonated her magazine, breaking her in two and sending her to the bottom with only three survivors. The Airfix kit portrays HMS Hood sometime before her last major refit, when her 5.5 inch guns would have been removed completely. Both WEM and Airfix include two 8-Barrelled pom-poms which Hood did not receive until 1931. Hood was originally equipped with twelve 5.5 inch guns and started losing them through subsequent refits. The last time she had all twelve of them was right before her 1939 refit. The WEM set includes aircraft handling gear and catapults. Hood lost all aircraft and associated gear in December of 1933, so based upon the weapons included, I have chosen to portray her as she was in 1931. I have divided these build notes into several sections to facilitate reading. Each section contains hints and tips to ease completion.

AFTERMARKET (UPDATE) PARTS: For aftermarket parts, I purchased WEM's photoetch (PE) update set and PE small boat details set. I also purchased resin paravanes and Fairey aircraft from WEM's "Professional" range. The WEM PE set includes numerous original items as well as items that replace existing kit parts. The kit parts that you'll be replacing include: fore and aft starfish, anchors, anchor chains, eight barrel pom-pom mounts, boat davits, searchlight lenses and funnel stack top grilles among other things.

KIT INACCURACIES: There are several; first, the turrets are devoid of any rivet detail and are slightly the wrong shape. Second, the turret barbettes are missing several ventilator pipe shafts. The 15" gun barrels are also the wrong shape and have fluted ends which makes them look like larger versions of 40mm Bofor's guns. The turrets also have no bottom for the front opening (where you insert the gun barrels. So it looks like you'll be making blast bags to fill the gap! The secondary guns have ladder rungs on their sides which do not appear to have been fitted, but I kept them on as they add a little detail to the guns. Also, for 5.5" guns, the barrels are a bit short. As stated above, Hood went through many refits and updates and the kit is a good representation of the ship during the 1930's. Consult the Sambrook Marine plans from White Ensign Models, to assist in placing the WEM PE ladders, stairs, doors, etc.

REFERENCE MATERIALS: For my references, I virtually lived at www.hmshood.com. For printed material, I used SAM plans and a color profile with Humbrol numbers from WEM. I also obtained a copy of Warship Profile, Issue 19 - BattleCruiser Hood. Had the WEM Colourcoats paint range been available at the time, life would have been a lot easier.

SCRATCHBUILDING: The WEM PE set contains virtually everything you could ever want to detail your ship. However, there are one or two items on the ship that you can improve through scratchbuilding and cutting/modifying. The WEM aircraft crane needs a cable drum; so using one of the kit supplied jack staffs, I cut a small length to use as the drum. WEM recommends that you sand down the kit supplied starfish and then glue the remaining floor to the top of the etch starfish. I chose to just not use it. I then glued the fighting top to the starfish. This gives a cleaner look in my opinion. While we're on the starfish, once completed, the forward mast mounting pole is too short; so the starfish does not sit on it. Using the jackstaff again, cut a small extension for the mast; it's the same diameter. The secondary battery area is noticeably bare and devoid of any detail. There are some beams that can be added using thin (0.5mm) Evergreen strips. Consulting the SAM plans, I added two beams, a ladder, a door and a staircase to each deck area. Using the same size Evergreen strips, I also made some ventilator piping for the forward and aft turret housings. Using the plans as well as photos from Warship 19, I added three to each side (port and starboard) of the turret housing. I shaved down the anchor chains as I planned on using the WEM PE ones. I did this using a combination of xacto blade and sandpaper wrapped around a popsicle (ice-lolly) stick. Upon examining Warship 19, there is an incredibly detailed shot looking aft from right above the forward funnel. You can see inside it about 1/3rd of the way down. I noticed that the funnel had a dividing wall (I always wondered what the inside of a funnel looked like!). I chose to have my funnels hollow for better effect, so I added the dividing walls using Squadron sheet styrene. Using Testor's Cement For Glass, I fashioned blast bags for the main and secondary guns. I also hollowed out the barrel openings of the main guns using a new Xacto #11 blade. I also added some WEM resin paravanes. Well, the guns didn't come out as I planned so I purchased some brass tubing and made 15" and 5.5" gun barrels. What a difference!

CONSTRUCTION: This kit is old. How old? Well, I personally built one back in 1972, So do the maths. Nevertheless, the kit is not bad, but there are some little niggly things to look out for. The tip of my forward deck was broken off and nowhere to be found in the box. The twelve 5.5" guns have sink marks on top of each gun; easily filled in with gap filling CA glue. Lots of flash around the props. The upper deck and superstructure walls appear just a little too thick for my taste in this scale, but I'm sure that many an eight year old was over the moon with this kit back in the 1970's. The two hull halves are slightly off when glued together and uneven. This is not readily noticeable until you go to glue the forward deck section in. No real problem, just glue the starboard side with CA glue and then when dry, put glue on the port side and squeeze the hull together to get it to bond with the deck. When it comes time to glue the boat deck to the bottom decks, you may have a gap where the aft end of the boat deck does not fit onto the quarterdeck walls. Just insert a thin sheet of plastic to fit the gap. Works like a charm. I painted the deck first this time and then when dry, did the deck and superstructure colors. As I clipped the mounting plugs off of the boat bottoms, I saved them to plug the holes in the deck. Having had fit problems with a previous Hood's aft starfish, I test fitted until I was blue in the face. Success! For painting my port holes and vision ports (and for small boat windows) I used a permanent fine tip marker. Much easier.

ACCIDENTS: I only had one this time! When gluing the roof to the forward fire control position (the tower structure behind "B" turret) the roof set at an angle. So I had to pry it out (which naturally broke it). This turned out to be a bonus, as I had to make a new roof which hid the horrible gap that I would otherwise have had to fill with putty.

PAINTING: The following paints were used: Deck Tan (wood deck, deck of admiral's barge), Aircraft Interior Black (funnel stack grilles, inside of funnels), Flat Black (gun muzzles, port holes, vision ports, anchor chains, pom pom shell tips), Insignia White (wood deck weathering, motor launch tops, lower hull of admiral's barge, blast bags), Imperial Japanese Navy Green (gloss) (upper hull of admiral's barge), Wood (ship's boats, booms) and Brass (pom pom shell casings). I made British Medium Sea Grey (hull, superstructure, weapons, motor boat hulls) and British Ocean Grey (metal decks and walkways) using the recipe on WEM's colour profile. For the searchlight lenses, I used Humbrol Silver. Hatch/door outlining and deck outlining was accomplished using a number 2 pencil.

CONCLUSION: Once again, WEM's etch set made this a fun project. It brought back a lot of nostalgia to revisit an old kit from my past.

Below, a selection of photos of Don's model

For full paper copies of all our lists, or for any further enquiries, fax 0870 220 1786, phone 0870 220 1888 or E-Mail me, CAROLINE, DAVE CARTER or my husband, the token Colonial, JOHN SNYDER. Alternatively, please write to White Ensign Models, South Farm, Snitton, Ludlow, Shropshire, SY8 3EZ, U.K. for details of a wide selection of warship kits, books, brass and plans.