Back to the shipyard, Today is a subject that most Malaysian would not known in that we have a battleship!
Well kinda…
History
H.M.S Malaya was the 5th and final ship of the Queen Elizabeth class battleship that was build by Armstrong Ship Builders for the (British) Royal Navy. The name Malaya come from the fact the Federated Malay States paid for the construction of one of the battleship as a gift for the British Government. It is unclear who suggest the construction, it either the Resident General or majority of the Malay sultans that approve the motion. She was ordered in 1913, laid down 20th October 1913 and launched 18th March 1915. Also unique to the Malaya, she flown Federated Malay States ensign flag.
Specifications as built
Compliment: 1,124 to 1300 approx.
Speed: 24 knots (44 km/h)
Range: 5,000 nmi (9,260 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
Displacement: 31,100 tons.
Armament:-
8x 15-inch Guns
12x 6-inch guns
8x 4-inch A.A Guns
16x 2-pdr AA Guns
1x aircraft
Armour:-
Waterline belt: 330 mm
Deck: 25–76 mm
Barbettes: 178–254 mm
Gun turrets: 279–330 mm
Conning tower: 330 mm
Her career start with the infamous Battle of Jutland which is the only full scale battleship clashes in WW1 where she suffer the heaviest damage among the battleship group with 63 dead and 33 wounded.
After WW1, she was refitted twice. The first started in 1927-1929 that added anti-torpedo bulges and combine the two funnels into one. The second refit started in October 1934 to December 1936 with improved deck armor was improved, AA guns increased to eight 4in quick firing Mk XVI guns and sixteen 2pdr pompoms (in two eight gun mountings) , and a cross-deck catapult. This was removed in late 1942, by which time the escort carrier had begun to eliminate the need for battleships to carry their own aircraft.
In WW2, she mainly relegated to convoy protection and hunting german raiders in the Mediterranean seas in Calabria, Taranto and Malta before set as reserve in 1943. She took part in Normandy landing (aka D-Day) as a reserve bombarding ship before she fully withdrawn from service at the end of 1944. From there on she became an accommodation ship for a torpedo school until 1948 where she sold and handed over to Metal Industries which later on scrapped at Faslane in the same year.
Trivia:
– One of the casualties of HMS Malaya from Battle of Jutland, Able Seaman Willie Vicarage was the first men to receive facial reconstruction using plastic surgery and radical reconstruction via the “tubed pedicule” technique.
– In 1922, she carry the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mohammed VI from Istanbul into exile in Malta.
– There a whole history about the HMS Malaya bell in Malaya/Malaysia which i recommended reading it here
Source:
Roll of Honour
Ships Nostalgia
History of War
Prep Work
Plastic Marks 
AA gun assembly
This is certainly abit harder kit to assemble especially how the bridge is set up where you need to make sure each floor is spaced correctly and not lean on either side. There are some annoying assembly like two piece gun cover and some of the AA guns where the latter have very tiny pieces to stick together. Also there are some significant plastic marks that need to remove for easy fitting.
Later on i added PE railings from IJN heavyduty railing set from Flyhawk(?)with some of the provided PE parts.
The colors is a headscrather for me since it a camo pattern which i prefer to handpainted but i don’t have the require color for it so i just get around and find the closest match that i could get from my small acrylic paints stash.
The color used:
- Tamiya XF-66 Light Grey – Main Armor color
- Tamiya XF-57 Buff – Deck
- WarPaints Dragon Red – Lower Hull
- Warpaints Matt Black – Camo color 1
- Warpaints Unifrom Grey + Army Green – Color Camo 2
- Warpaints Matt White – Gun cover
- Warpaints Greed Gold – Propeller
- Warpaints Strong Tone – Wash
- Tamiya X-1 Black – Name Plate
As for the decal, i only used the two standard British and the Navy flag, i kinda disappointing that they don’t include the special ensign flag but that might be too small for it.
Modeler Kai 