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HMS Delhi

HMS Delhi...

HMS Delhi was unique in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. From May 1941 to December `41, she was refitted in the US with 5"/38cal DP guns, along with the Mk 37 fire control system, which replaced her original 6" low-angle guns. Impressed with this armament, the RN planned to convert more "D" class vessels with it, but after Pearl Harbor, the USN needed all the 5" guns it could lay its hands on, so no more were done. The Delhi survived the war, and was scrapped in 1947

The Project...

Using the Profile Morksie book and plans I started to scratch-build the ship. I used sheet plastic and many salvaged parts from my spares box, The 5" turrets were from an old Tamiya Fletcher kit ,The hardest part of the build, was doing the raked, different sized , funnels. These took several goes, before they looked `right`.

I made the seascape from Daz modelling clay, for the wake, and the rest of the sea was Fine Surface Polyfilla.I tried to depict the ship going at near full speed,this was the first time I’ve tried this, and I’m happy with the result.

The color scheme is an Admiralty scheme from when she was repainted in March 1942.When she emerged from the Boston Navy yard in Dec`41,she was painted in Haze Gray overall, with natural wood decks. The 20-mms were from the Tamiya KGV, but the Pom-Poms had to be scratch-built. It took me eight weeks to do, at times it didn’t go as smoothly as my build of the Cleopatra had done, but in the end it was worth it. Pom-Poms had to be scratch-built.It took me eight weeks to do,at times it didn`t go as smoothly as my build of the Cleopatra had done,but in the end it was worth it.