by George Warren
1/350 HMCS Kootenay (Resin Shipyard)
HMCS Kootenay is my third resin model following ISW’s 1/350 RN Tribal DD that I converted to HMCS Haida and ISW’s 1/350 1939/40 Flower corvette that I completed as HMCS Amherst. It was completed over a five month period. HMCS Kootenay was originally an RN "D Class" destroyer HMS Decoy and was originally commissioned in the RN in 1933 and was transferred to the RCN in April 1943. Kootenay was named after the Kootenay River which placed it in the RCN River Class destroyer group that included destroyers in the RN "A" to "I" DD series. Along with many of the older RN destroyers Kootenay was converted into a dedicated ASW destroyer prior to its transfer to the RCN. This included, among other ASW enhancements, increased depth charge capacity and the removal of both the 2nd torpedo tube mount and the "y" 4.7" mounting. After its transfer to the RCN, Kootenay uneventfully escorted North Atlantic convoys between St John’s Newfoundland and Londonderry with Canadian Escort Group C-5. During the build up to the Normandy campaign it was transferred to the Canadian Escort Group C-11 and during the summer of 1944 it assisted in the sinking of three u-boots. It also had a very interesting and charmed earlier RN career having survived the evacuations of Greece and Crete, Tobruk convoy escort work, and the six months following the Pearl Harbour attack was spent with the RN Eastern Fleet in the far east.
I did the model mainly "out of the box" with no major structural changes but I did enhance it at the detail level based on the MacPherson’s Canadian River Class Destroyer book. I suspect that this model represents Kootenay at a later date than the Resin Shipyard version. Photographs of Kootenay were taken with my 35 MM SLR film camera and the developer placed them on a CD.
The River Class Destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy, Ken R. MacPherson, 1985
This book provides a large number of detail photos of RN Class "A" to "I" destroyers operated by the RCN during the 1930s and WWII. These RCN ships were re-named or named (if new) after Canadian rivers rather than following RN naming conventions. The book also has a large photograph of the picture depicted on Resin Shipyard Kootenay box. It is also a useful reference for anyone doing an "A" to "I" RN destroyer as it is mostly photographic and many or most of the ships were directly transferred from the RN rather then being built for the RCN or modified uniquely for RCN use.
The Kootenay model was acquired by Resin Shipyard from Armada. The model has many extras not mentioned in the instructions including decals (Resin Shipyard’s RN/RCN/RAN Hull Number decal sheet), anchor chain (actual chain not PE) with enough left over to do my ISW corvette, and 2 strips of plastic that must be bilge keels, at least this worked very well for me. I suspect that these enhancements are value added improvements provided by Resin Shipyard. The instructions include 3 dual sided pages of detailed instructions and descriptive text c/w parts list, colour painting diagram, basic specifications, Kootenay history, and a list of other "D" class ships and the loss or disposal dates.
I made two part substitutions. The first included the only damaged parts in the kit, the 4.7" gun barrels were broke or bent and I replaced them replaced with surplus 4.7" barrels from ISW’s tribal model as I had used Nuttal barrels in my Haida model. I replaced the torpedo tubes also from ISW tribal as Kootenay’s originals seemed to have too much space between the tubes (at least to my eyes).
Out of the box assembly went very well especially with the detailed instructions and hints scattered throughout the instructions.
The model included two brass rods of different thicknesses. The instructions recommended that the thinner brass rod be used for the mast but I found this was not rigid enough especially since I was using WEM Lyra for rigging so I redid the forward mast using the thicker rod and got a suitably rigid structure.
There appears to be two ways of doing the forward railing. The instructions point to a separate piece that goes from the deck edge to the superstructure at the hull split. I did this but when applied the forward railing (weather deck) I realized I had a 1/4 inch or so left over so I suppose I could have used this piece with an appropriate bend for both segments.
I didn’t fold the P/E depth charge storage boxes small enough but I’m reasonably pleased with the end result. The instructions recommended that two throwers and their storage boxes go on either side of the after deck house (port and starboard). Some photos seemed to show, at least to my eyes, that there was 4 sets behind the deckhouse so hoping that this was correct and in the interests of increased clutter I went with this approach. I also suspect but do not know for sure but based on looking at photographs that the throwers forward of the deck house didn’t have storage boxes perhaps because the depth charge storage area was so close however I left those boxes there.
To my eyes the funnels, at least from looking at photographs, look too long in length, ie running fore and aft. They are even bigger than HMCS Haida’s funnels (ISW Tribal) although the Kootenay’s funnels are oval while the Tribal’s are round.
The enhancements by and large came from the MacPherson book.
I used WEM paint for the hull sides, ie off white and western approaches green which I air brushed but hand painted WEM deck green for the deck, next time I will air brush the deck too as hand brushing required too many coats and looks rather thick. I used Humbrol 70 for the bottom. I haven’t tried weathering yet but I find the western approaches green to be rather wimpy so maybe that will be an enhancement for the future.
Based on the MacPherson book and using a magnifying glass, I increased the life raft complement from the included 6 to 10 (there can never be too many life rafts in the spares box). I ran out of my ISW spares but had luckily ordered the WEM Pro Life Boat/Raft set. The additional rafts were placed on the DC racks (2) and under the between funnels platform (behind the vertical) support (2). I got bored with doing the rafts the same colour so I painted them in various combinations of white and grey reflecting that many ships seemed to have a mix of raft colour (grey and white) combinations, especially late in the war.
Some of the photographs of Kootenay in MacPherson’s book, ie those taken in February 1944, showed a signal projector platform located on the after port and starboard side of the bridge deck. These parts also came from extra parts from ISW’s tribal.
I added a galley stack to the after deck house. I noticed that it was on some photographs of Kootenay and other ships at times and at other times not there at all. I suspected that it could be folded away especially since I saw one at 45 degrees.
The DCs were made out spaghetti and placed them on the DC throwers and in the storage area where the after set of torpedoes would have been located prior to Kootenay’s ASW upgrades.
I used WEM Lyra for the rigging and thin wire for the stays supporting the funnels and masts.
I added some clutter, ie coils of rope made from coiled wire, wooden boxes, and collision mats made with wood and wood/wire respectively. The crows nest was made from a ball point pen ink tube. The Huff/Duff aerial came from the WEM J,K&N PE which is a very useful source of RN destroyer bits and pieces.
The "H75" came from Resin Shipyard’s RN/RCN/RAN Hull Number sheet which is included in the Kootenay model. I also added the green maple leaf and the red "barber pole" markings on the 2nd funnel, the later as evidence of Kootenay’s earlier time with Canadian Escort Group C5 also known as the "Barber Pole Brigade. The barber pole markings were originally on the 1st funnel too however MacPherson’s photographs seem to indicate that they perhaps gradually faded away over time. These markings are part of the decal sheet sold with ISW’s Flower corvette models.
It was a nice little build, also great to get some solid Canadian content of which Resin Shipyard is very enthusiastic about delivering more. I rather enjoyed adding additional detail to a fundamentally excellent kit using MacPherson’s book and resulting in an pleasing historical reproduction to the best of my ability.
