The Battleship HMS King George V (Top Drawings) Paperback – 15 Oct. 2013

As a fan of Naval History, Battleships and model building, it is no surprise that sooner or later all these subjects would become one in my model collection. The biggest kit of King George V available was the Airfix / Heller offering in 1:400. Then Tamiya pushed the bar up with their 1:350 creations of King George V and Prince of Wales, offering the model building world two of the most popular of the KGV class that comprised of Duke of York, Anson and finally Howe.As a model builder there is always the ever lengthy quest to find the ultimate reference guide to build the best and most accurate ship possible. The best books i have seen in recent years have been the "Anatomy of the Ship" series, stunning in their detailed break down and study of ships such as the Might Hood, Belfast and Dreadnought. Sadly to date I don't think there is a book based on any of the KGV class, which is a shame.This book, although not as detailed as "Anatomy", is extremely invaluable. It scores over the "Anatomy" in the fact that is gives you the simple plan drawings and visual information you want to create a great looking and accurate KGV ship. It does not go into the minuscule detail of welding technique, riveted joints, hull frame construction and machinery that make the "Anatomy " books mind blowing good books, but it does show you four angled views of all the parts of the superstructure and hull broken up into component parts giving detail on ladders, windows, doors, railings, directors and radar, it even gives you rigging and mast views. The directors, radars, AA guns, 20 mm guns, boats, boat deck positions, aircraft positions and even life rafts are shown. There are some cross sectioned drawings that show you the position of the armour belt, deck protection and positions of the machinery and internal water tight compartments.Another thing I really love about this book is here in this example of the quadruple "14 gun turret A. It shows you the turret configured with the UP launchers as fitted on completion, then it shows you the later fitting of the Bofors Anti Aircraft guns. This book does the same for many aspects of the ship that were changed in refits and upgrades though the years thus enabling you to build a KGV in any of her configurations.There are three larger that A3 sized plans that fold out to give even more information on the ship, colour deck plans, deck plans showing the various positions of equipment and arms that were added or removed over her years at see, side plans showing the make up of internal structures, compartments, hull line plans, positions of boilers and armour plate.Not a huge book in terms of pages, but each page is filled with visual information that can be used to fashion as realistic KGV model from the Tamiya, Heller or even, if you fell brave enough, the Revell kit.Seriously, this is a must for all builders who want to make a KGV. People at top Drawings, we need more of these books!

Beautiful drawings detailing this ship over the course of it's life. The publication consists of a book of details and three separate double-side sheets, one to 1/350 - plan, P&S elevations, sections as of 1940, one to 1/450 - plan, S elevation, general arrangement section and building lines as of 1945, and one to 1/450 - coloured plan and coloured S elevation each for 1940 and 1945 and on the reverse, a plan showing the various weapon arrangements between 1940 and 1946 to 1/450. Also included on this sheet are drawings for the Walrus aircraft, but there is no scale given for these. The book has three pages of plans and elevations as of 1942 and 1943 and coloured elevations of camouflage as of 1943 all to 1/850, and nineteen pages of details - cross sections, superstructure, weapons, boats - but like the drawings of the Walrus, non of these have scales listed, or if they are, I certainly couldn't find them.This omission is hard to understand, I can only assume it's an oversight by the publisher, but it certainly devalues what is otherwise excellent reference material.

These drawings and illustrations provided a quick route to obtaining extra detail in building a 1/192 scale model. The drawings also provided very valuable information regarding changes in armament at different dates within the life span of GV. The detailed drawings for the disposition and positioning of doors, ladders, railing types and the ships boats were particularly valuable. Access to these drawings definitely added to my knowledge of the vessel in regard to building a high quality, scratch built model. These drawings are very well worth purchasing.

Excellent publication with almost every aspect of the ships anatomy "exposed" in all her glory. Perfect for modellers, especially the loose leaf scale drawings. Invaluable addition to the collection and will be well thumbed when the 1/350 kit finally sees the light of day. Wealth of detail on every page, so don't be put off by the small number of pages.

Modelling the King George was made easier thanks to the book. It gave me details not on the building plans. Well worth the money.

This series is a welcome addition to information on these warships. Accurate model makers drawings are hard to come by at a reasonable price so these can provide the constructor with what they need. Along with other publications providing information on the various camouflage schemes the model maker can build good replicas of of warships in World War II.

Excellent book, great for using as a reference for models.

Very useful reference work and it is difficult to see how you could model KGV without it. An excellent guide to the many variations in equipment carried by this well loved ship.

Molto interessante per schemi. Non ci sono informazioni storiche.

As always, good detail, well presented, and well worth the price.

Ce type de revue ne s'adresse principalement qu'aux maquettistes. Je mets quatre étoiles en raison du fait que certains dessins ne présente aucune échelle. Autrement les plans sont précis et complets.Les textes sont en anglais et en polonais.

A good reference book to have if one builds scale models of WWII battleships. The line drawings are crisply printed, adequate in detail, and present several periods in the ship’s service career. The 1:450 colored plan and profile drawing provides good detail of the ship’s surface features. The 1:350 line drawings provide plan and profile views of the ship as commissioned in 1940, including cut-away drawings of the interior compartments on the flip-side of the sheet. The book also contains detailed line drawings of key sub-components of the ship, such as the hangar, superstructure, funnel stack, guns and many more. I consider this to be a worthwhile addition to my shipbuilder’s reference library.

I bought a modeling guide on King George V battleships, which was useful, but did not show me the upper decks detail like this book does. In the book, they are detailed drawings of the deck and conning tower that I used to add more detail to my model than could be achieved by using Gold Medal Models photo etch. For the price, this reference cannot be beat for advanced modelers like myself. If you are looking for pages of material to read, this is not the guide for you as historical information and technical data are limited.