Murmansk Convoy Ships: 1/3000 Navwar

 Seen from a distance, a sneaky German recon plane spies its target in the cold, northern waters - radios its position and expect all hell to break loose (see below, my "dirtied up" [aka with a rusty brown wash] Navwar, 1/3000 British Convoy): 

This is in preparation for "Halsey" Murmansk Convoy operation, with tactical game play using "NIMITZ".

KM Scharnhorst 1/1200

Sitting opposite the KGV's of Scapa Flow biding its time lies the convoy hunter KM Scharnhorst.

Fast (she almost got away from HMS Duke of York, cruisers and destroyers at North Cape), well armoured but her 11" armament is too light to tangle with a true battleship, she is after all still a battlecruiser.

A beautiful ship nevertheless.

Again, painted a while ago now so the paint scheme is lighter than I would have liked it and the Ardo float plane needs some crooses, however no complaints about the model. Revell also produced a 1/1200 her sister the KM Gneisenau, nicely fitted with a second float plane as per her historical difference not just a different box cover.

Footnote: I have a nearly completed 1/700 waterline KM Scharnhorst from Tamiya tucked away in some loft space still calling to me :)

German recon over Scapa Flow: 1/1200 KGV

Following on from the urge to paint something meatier than 1/3000 naval I came across some of my earlier 1/200 Revell efforts. Sitting at anchor in Scapa Flow is HMS King George V (KGV) guarding the convoy routes from attack by heavy units of the KM.

Some daring Luftwaffe recon pilot(s) I am sure was tasked to skim low dodging flak and Spitfires with a good camera to make sure what they saw was not a clever dummy (cf HMS Centurion pretending to be HMS Anson in the Med)

A simple model to make but one dislike I have is the (IMHO) poor job they did with the 14" guns in the turrets (too chunky) compared to the good job they did with the other models in the series.

In retrospect the paint job is also a bit too light grey for my liking and lacking Atlantic weathering and that Walrus needs an attempt at some British roundels!

 
However the KGV class were the mainstay of the Home Fleet and in the thick of it, being in at the kill for both the KM Bismarck and KM Scharnhost (and continually hunting the KM Tirpitz). In this series I also have, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Duke of York, both assembled and under coated ready for a paint job. Although externally different boxes, internally the kits are the same.

Footnote: I also have the Airfix 1/600 KGV, assembled (though not fully glued together as it has to be painted in sections) ready for a good under coat, but that is far too large/daunting  project for me to tackle at present!