1/600 HMS Belfast gets a rework

[Richard Welling]

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The 1/600 HMS Belfast is one of the best kits Airfix produced.

250 parts; about the only realistic depiction of 20mm guns, Carley floats and British WW2 radar and fire control systems.

And it is cheap to buy; one can often pick up this kit for very little, it is the postage that costs the money.

Whilst the Belfast was a powerful ship, it is a somewhat ugly design, with the big gap between the bridge and fore funnel and the piled up quarterdeck.

Here is the kit reworked three ways, with 15 x 6' guns, with 10 x 8" guns similar to Mogami class cruisers and the third ship lengthened by 60 feet for approx 680 feet (two Belfast hulls joined together) and given 18 x 6" guns including three in quadruple turrets and additional machinery for 35 knots. The Belfast was originally to have quadruple turrets but these proved too complex.

By removing the aircraft and bulky hanger, shifting the funnels, lowering the bridge structure and reworking the quarterdeck, one can produce a more graceful design. I have used a different type bridge and different funnels on my 3 funnelled Belfast, but most of the rest of the parts are from HMS Belfast kits, including the fire control, radar & HACS directors.

The Belfast is a nice kit to work with, apart from having to remove some plastic spurs, especially from the mast and stays. 

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[John Symmons]

Hi Richard.

Very nice what-if models. It always amazes me the ingenuity of builder when modelling these old Airfix kit. They’re certainly something different and an inspiration.

I have the Belfast in my stash together with the WEM PE set, as one of a few 600 scale models, and to be honest it scares me. Love to see and read a build on the model then maybe I can pluck up the courage to try it. My preferred scale these days being 350.

Thanks again for showing your builds and keep them coming, and maybe I’ll get around to trying my hand at the Belfast.

Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

[Richard Welling]

Thanks John for your kind words.

HMS Belfast is a good kit to work with except for some plastic sprues here and there and some parts that have to be slightly reshaped to fit better, such as the shelter deck sides. A small sharp modelling knife and tweezers are essential for this kit. 

Overall, 1/600 HMS Belfast is a very nicely detailed model with an impressive number of parts and a remarkably cheap and available kit.

Would not be too hard to reshape it into the HMS Sheffield (of force H fame) that might be my next project, would be good to have a diorama with HMS Ark Royal, Renown and Sheffield and attendant destroyers steaming along... I got some 4.5s of the right shape for Renown secondary armament, so a conversion of the Repulse to the Renown configuration is now definitely on the cards..

Always found the Airfix model of HMS Repulse to be a bit basic and the hanger somewhat bulky and out of proportion to the rest, however, it is a great model to adapt to other uses..

The things we have to do to amuse ourselves, I would love Airfix to produce a 1/600 HMS Renown, but in the meantime, I can build my own..

Won't be able to resist adding to it some quad 40mm bofors guns & directors though..

[KiwiKev]

Interestingly enough there was a plan to convert Belfast into a helicopter carrier in a similar way to the Tiger class cruisers.

She would actually have been an amphibious assault ship, retaining the 6 inch turrets forward, but having the 4 inch gun decks carrying landing craft instead, and having marine accommodation fitted in lieu of aft turrets, with a flight deck and hangar above.

Would make an interesting "what if", and there is an outline of the plan in Warship 2018 annual.

[KiwiKev]

Here is a mod I'm applying to the "as supplied" 4 inch gun mounts on the Belfast model. I did a similar thing to the Ajax mounts and they turned out quite good. Having peeked at the Suffolk mounts I'm pretty sure they will also need to be done.

First and hardest part on this tiny part is to file out a step in the lower part of the rear of the mount.This is quite tough and all I can say is be patient and preferable use a file with one smooth side so you only have to worry about filing away one dimension at a time. This indent should be no more than 1.5 by 1.5 mm right across the rear of the mounting when looking side on, see lower drawing.

The barrel slot is too wide, and I used 0.25mm styrene sheets (parts F on drawing) to line either side, just be careful about the rounded corners right at the ends of these slots that can throw your sheets out of parallel and that would look awful. Trim and file these sheets to flush with turret face.

The original barrels can be used, you just need to carefully trim some material from the outside of each side of the joining block, but be careful as these could be easily broken.

I also use some very fine styrene strips ( part E on drawing) to simulate the mount sight shutters. As these are on curved surfaces, pays to pre-curve the styrene before gluing, so they don't start straightening on you as the glue is drying.

The rest of the parts are for the loading platforms and fuse setting mechanism. Part A height should be tailored to the thickness of part C so that the bottom of part C is flush with the bottom of the mount.

All parts are 0.25 mm styrene, except for part B which was 0.5.

You could choose to just do the front face mods which are fairly easy, especially if you mount the guns facing outwards. The rear modifications provide a better impression of a semi-open mount, but take a lot more work, and might be worth skipping if not really visible.

Here is a close-up of the Ajax mount as modified. Belfast ones will be similar.

[KiwiKev]

The 4 inch AA deck showing the modified 4 inch mounts. Some larger scale models show the crew shelters between the mounts as having the angled top shields going right round the top of the deck house. I'm not going to attempt that but have added the white styrene reinforcing ribs inside them, which adds a nice touch of detail.

[KiwiKev]

Dry fit of the main superstructure blocks. I'm determined not to glue anything until each "layer" is completed with PE and painted. This will be a test of my limited self-control and patience. Next main mission is to get all the paints needed and map out a detailed camouflage scheme for both sides. So far I've looked at a completed 1:350 scale Trumpeter model for comparison, and the Airfix model looks better and more detailed, especially with the WEM photo etch thrown in. This is definitely a lot more complex a build than the typical older Airfix models, and will take some care to get the optimum paint / PE / and assembly sequence.

[KiwiKev]

Not sure how good the paint instructions are in the Vintage Classics instructions, but my copy from an older release has only one side shown, and is very hard to decipher. I've put this plan together based on various sources. May not be completely accurate but should work OK. I've used Humbrol 96 as the 4th shade, but it could be substituted with a grey somewhere between 64 and 27.

Key: 64=light grey, 65=light blue, 27= dark grey, 96=navy blue/grey.

[KiwiKev]

Very slow progress on this one. This is by far the most complex Airfix kit I've tackled. Getting the sequence right is critical, especially with the WEM photo etch to be added. I will try and get the hull and upper decks completely finished first, so that railing and superstructure sub-assemblies can then go straight on. The camouflage scheme complicates things as multiple shades with masking are required on the hull and some of the superstructure blocks. All dry fitted in this shot. The funnels are interesting as the forward one is all blue-grey, whereas the aft one is half dark grey, half light grey. I have attempted to scribe panel lines on the funnels again, I'll have to give myself a C minus for that effort, but I think I'm slowly improving my scribing technique.

[Ratch]

When Belfast was released in 1973, it raised the bar in 1/600 ship modeling. The subsequent 80s issues of KGV (81) and Repulse (82) raised it further. It's such a pity that these were the last 1/600 warships Airfix issued. Think what we might have had by now.

[KiwiKev]

A word of warning here if you want to use the WEM photo etch replacement catapult. It won't fit in the gap if you glue both the forecastle deck and aft deck levels both on. Ideally you glue the aft quarter deck level on, assemble the PE catapult, then glue on the forecastle deck. Even then I'd check clearances carefully as this looks very tight. I could only get mine in by trimming the forward supporting ribs after they'd been glued on. As anyone who has done much PE will tell you, that sort of thing is not recommended for either the finish or your own sanity.

This picture shows the catapult assembled:

This photo shows it in place but not yet glued as it needs to be painted first. You need to check all the decks will fit, and I also needed to file a slight chamfered edge on the forward end of the boat / 4 inch deck section to get it to fit over the aft supporting ribs of the catapult without crushing them. All very fiddly and pays to take some time to get this right before final gluing.

[KiwiKev]

If I was using the WEM photo etch set for HMS Belfast again, not sure I'd bother with the catapult and the life raft support structures on the sides of the front and rear superstructures. They are all almost invisible when the model is complete and I'm not sure they are worth the bother. It would certainly have been easier to line up the life rafts neater using the original parts. I also did not use the PE torpedo doors, so unfortunately I'd have to say the PE designer spent a lot of time on features that were a little pointless for this kit. The PE crane booms as always are a nice addition however. I used the original single 20 mm mounts supplied, but glued the PE front shields on them. This required cutting the top of the plastic shield off the mounts. I think this was the best compromise as building the entire mount out of the PE parts is very tricky.

You will notice I have glued the liferafts under the 4 inch mounts vertically which was wrong, so don't copy this. The mounting slots look like they accommodate verical mounting but in fact I used the wrong liferafts. The 4 inch mounts have been modified as noted in an arlier post, and the crew shelters between them have had some reinforcing ribs added.

Getting close to finished in the photo that follows. This was a tricky build that required a lot more attention to the instructions than I gave it, so I have made some stupid mistakes. Even so it looks a pretty nice kit.

[Sailorman]

Very nice ..... This is one in my stash but which I haven't got around to as yet.

[KiwiKev]

Very nice ..... This is one in my stash but which I haven't got around to as yet.

 

 

Quite a good kit in concept. There is some flash and short molded parts, nothing to worry too much about. Seems to be one left over part, part #63 which I've scoured the instructions for and don't seem to find a purpose for. I wondered if it was meant to raise the aft director slightly higher, as that seems very low, but its not depicted as going there in the instructions I have, but mine isn't a Vintage Classic, so maybe the re-release instructions include this part.

[KiwiKev]

Basically finished. The PE mast top radar antennas look a bit big, and I may have to check the size on some clear photos if I ever find any, and possibly revisit them.

The photo that follows shows the PE pompoms, funnel top grid, a ladder way, part of the crane boom, and the boat support brackets. The ship's boats had some extra detail added, such as grab rails, hatches and life buoys on some. Pure guess work but the boats always look a little light on detail so I like to add some if I can.

Some overall views follow. This is a good kit, quite complex though, and it took a while to assemble and paint. Pretty happy with the result. There were one or two parts that needed flash removed and one of the mast supports was molded short so needed an extension glued on, but otherwise no major problems.

[Mark-364268]

I'm building this at the moment and part #63 had me stumped for a long time. It seems to be that it attaches to the bottom of the cradle (62) that goes into the catapult channel, which has a 'do not glue' instruction. (Square black box)This means that as long as you are very careful about where the glue goes, you can move the catapult cradle from side to side.

[KiwiKev]

I'm building this at the moment and part #63 had me stumped for a long time. It seems to be that it attaches to the bottom of the cradle (62) that goes into the catapult channel, which has a 'do not glue' instruction. (Square black box)This means that as long as you are very careful about where the glue goes, you can move the catapult cradle from side to side.

 

 

That makes sense. I did eventually find it in the old instructions too but still couldn't work out what it was for. Not that it mattered in my case as I replaced the original catapult with the PE one.