top of page

Scale: 1/1250

Set includes 20 lanterns (10 round style and 10 octagonal).
 

This multi-part set represents the protective perspex "lantern" housings for the exceptional Royal Navy Type 271 and Type 273 target indication radars. This feature is often missing from plastic model kits and oversimplified in others.

On King George V class battleships, for example, they can often be found mounted between the forward HACS directors or on the foremast starfish, especially before 1944.  On HMS Rodney, it was found on the mainmast starfish.  It is known to have been carried on the battlecruiser HMS Renown and some battleships of the Queen Elizabeth class and "R" class.  This was also a common feature found on County class and Town class cruisersDido class light cruisers, and escorts including the famous Flower class corvettes and Kingfisher class sloops of the Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Australian Navy. 

There were many varieties of perspex housing.  This set represents two of the most common kinds, one circular and one octagonal, installed on major Royal Navy World War II combatants.  Consult your references to know which of these two is most appropriate for your model.

 

© Model Monkey LLC.  This 3D-printed product may not be copied or recast.

From Wikipedia: "Type 271 was the original naval centimetric target indication radar, later fitted with a plan position indicator. Modifications P and Q were known as the "Centimetric Mark IV". It had separate transmit and receive aerials, small parabolic dishes stacked on top of each other, and referred to as "cheese" after their shape. The antenna array was carried in a distinctive protective perspex "lantern", and initially had to be fitted directly onto the radar office roof due to limitations in coaxial cabling (until suitable  waveguides  had been developed). The Type 271 was a vitally important war weapon, as for the first time it allowed escort ships to reliably detect surfaced U-boats or even just their periscopes. It was first fitted in  HMS Orchis. 350 sets were ordered. It was fitted widely to escort vessels of corvette and frigate size.

"Type 273 "Centimetric Mark IV" target indication set. This set was based on the Type 271, but was intended for major warships of cruiser and battleship size. It used side-by-side 3 feet (910 mm) wide cheese antennas that were carried in a distinctive protective perspex "lantern". In the Battle of the North Cape, HMS Duke of York identified the target of Scharnhorst at 45,000 yards (41,000 m) using her Type 273 set."

1/1250 "Lanterns" for Type 271 and 273 Radar

SKU: 1250-radar-lanterns-20
$5.00Price
    Product Page: Stores_Product_Widget
    bottom of page