--Originally Posted 3/29/08--

The following are all the pics of Sydney which I've been able to acquire so far:

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Click on Image to EnlargeAll the above 9 pics show Sydney in overall gray - sometimes appearing very light, as in the standard pre-war livery - however brightness on these ancient, copies-of-copies-of-copies can be very deceiving. Moreover, the left pic in the center row shows turret tops and anchor deck appearing darker than the vertical surfaces - particularly considering the high overhead sun angle (discernable from the visible shadows) - so that this is almost certainly a wartime camo scheme.

Also, the two end pics in the top row, as well as the second-from-left in the bottom row, were all captioned "1940"; the year in which Sydney went to war in the Mediterranean, beginning in May.

Likewise, the following pic of her forward funnel after the July 9, 1940 battle off Calabria shows a solid, rather light gray:


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According to Alan Raven's Warship Perspectives - Camouflace Vol.I: Royal Navy 1939-1941, it was in Alexandria in November, 1940, that Sydney was first painted in a disruptive camouflage scheme:


Click on Image to EnlargeAlthough some of these camo features do not match Raven's drawings perfectly, they do agree in all major respects.

Raven states this scheme was worn through Sydney's return to Australia in October, 1941, after which she was repainted in a different scheme (see below). Therefore the rightmost pic, showing as it does the Sydney, Australia bridge in the background - and which was indeed captioned "1941" - must have been taken in October/November 1941; not long before this repainting.

The only pic known to show any part of Sydney as-sunk is of this recovered (Carley Float) life raft:


Click on Image to EnlargeIts monotone surface yields no clues (the model of Sydney in front of it is in overall gray, but this, too, proves nothing), however, again according to Raven, Sydney was repainted into a so-called "dark hull / light upperworks" camo scheme and remained so, presumably, until sunk.

Raven says the color of turret tops and wood decks in unknown, however based on the above picture showing these, I would guess her turret tops and metal decks/roofs remained a darker gray, while her wood decks were natural wood.

So there's what we've got - looks like a pretty simple conversion from the original Leanders (I'm doing it from the old Airfix Ajax kit, for example); insofar as decks and superstructure, just relocating the gun platform and catapult turntable.

If anyone has any more info on this - or any more historical descriptions/pics of HMAS Sydney - please pipe up or send it in, as you prefer!

Cheers,

-Matty