Royal Navy ships' bottoms and boot-topping 1936-1950

[dick]

For those interested I have updated my paper and Sovereign Hobbies are kindly hosting it:

https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/page ... ng-colours

[Timmy C]

Great piece, Dick, much appreciated. If I may suggest, can you add a note on how we know in which colours each manufacturer produced their coatings? The article covers well the sources for the RN/demand side, but doesn't mention sources for the industry/supply side. Thanks!

[dick]

Thank you for the feedback Timmy. The answer to your question is that the various authorised manufacturers' paints and their colours are listed in the Rate Books (listed in my 'Sources'):

Rate Book - Copy.jpg

Changes between the periodic reprints were promulgated in Admiralty Fleet Orders.

I'll see if I can amend my paper to capture this. (Afternote: now done as V.2a)

(And of course many D.495s recorded the both the manufacturer and the colour used giving us further confirmation.)

[Timmy C]

That's excellent, providing not only the two ends of the process, but clearly demonstrating the in-between of how the user understood the supplier's options!

[81542]

Gentlemen,

Information has recently come to light courtesy of correspondents on the britmodeller.com website (who I thank) that Richard Dennis's book on
this subject will be published by Troubadour Publishing, 28 June. The price is given as £19.99 Sterling and it is a soft-back.
The ISBN is reported by Troubadour as 9781806344253. Orders can be made in advance. The price of packing and posting will, of course, depend on where you reside on the planet.

[Admhawk]

£35 shipping to Canada!!!!!

Inconceivable.

[dick]

I'm afraid that international postage rates do seem to be high generally. Within the UK it is just £3.90. I just tried looking up what Canada Post would charge to send the book from Canada to the UK and the cheapest option I could find was 55.29 Canadian dollars. Throw in the cost of packaging and it works out much the same as UK to Canada.

For those interested here is a link: https://troubador.co.uk/bookshop/histor ... ld-war-era

[Mr. Church]

Looking forward to this. Well done again for getting it to publication. Pre-order placed.

Potential additional future volumes on RN camouflage welcome too.

[dick]

Looking forward to this. Well done again for getting it to publication. Pre-order placed.

Potential additional future volumes on RN camouflage welcome too.

Thank you. With luck it will be available from Troubador a bit sooner than the official publication date. I hope that you will find it interesting.

I am considering how to tackle things above the waterline!

[Admhawk]

Hey Dick, Amazon.uk has the book listed for preorder now and shipping is only £12.05 to Canada! So I bought one!!

Shipping has gotten ridiculous and is affecting small business everywhere. It seems only the big hitters can afford it now. Shame.

[dick]

Hey Dick, Amazon.uk has the book listed for preorder now and shipping is only £12.05 to Canada! So I bought one!!

Shipping has gotten ridiculous and is affecting small business everywhere. It seems only the big hitters can afford it now. Shame.

I am pleased that you found a way around the problem!

[philgollin]

.

Well ! I've received my copy (direct from the publisher - I understand that bookshops/sellers will take a few more weeks).

A most excellent book which shows just how much research went into it.

There are lots of "definite" statements, but also lots of indefinite (e.g. name of supplier but not [say] black or grey ... etc ...) and, unfortunately, quite a few missing mostly because the ships' books are missing.

However, overall a fascinating and useful addition to my "library" - if anyone has a large collection of made and painted models of RN ships I'd avoid this excellent book as it will otherwise get you back repainting the bottoms of you models.

Agreat piece of research and a must for any RN fan.

.

[dick]

There are lots of "definite" statements, but also lots of indefinite (e.g. name of supplier but not [say] black or grey ... etc ...) and, unfortunately, quite a few missing mostly because the ships' books are missing.

Thank you for your kind words about the book Phil.

By way of explanation for others on that particular point, something I deliberately set out not to do was to say anything was 'definite' unless I found evidence for it it in some contemporary document. The 'indefinite' is deliberate as I did not want to risk misleading people or misrepresenting the record by writing up as a fact or stating something was so if I had found no evidence for it. So in the ship-by-ship list what you get is what is to be found in the archives. However in those situations where the only record is that of the name of supplier of the paint used on a ship and you therefore have a potential choice of two colours, eg black or grey and black or red, I hope my section on deducing the colour in this situation on pages 14-16 will help identify which was in practice the most likely option.

It does indeed say something about the size of the RN then that with over 850 vessels covered there were so many more for which no records survive. I found it so sad that so much had obviously been destroyed.

Best wishes,

Richard

[Mr. Church]

I am considering how to tackle things above the waterline!

Tackle with a book with colour profiles please!!

Especially for RN Battleships, Battlecruisers and Carriers!!

[Mr. Church]

It does indeed say something about the size of the RN then that with over 850 vessels covered there were so many more for which no records survive. I found is so sad that so much had obviously been destroyed.

Best wishes,

Richard

So true Richard.

But if there is no surviving record for a parricular ship, then that is a concrete research finding in itself. Then we know that all that can be done is an educated guess. Barring new colour photographic or other hard evidence emerging.

So your book is invaluable in that regard. What is there is there record wise, and what is not is not!

Again fair play for taking the considerable time and effort to unearth all the records and bring the information forth for publication.

My copy arrived during the week, and I thorougly recommend it to all interested in RN ships and modelling. I will be making good use of it for future RN kit builds.

And I definitely am interested should you do a future volume on RN Naval Camouflage.