RMS Orcades was built in 1948 as a passenger liner for the Great Britain to Australia and New Zealand run as part of a group of orders replacing ships that had been sunk in WW2. She was the third ship to be named Orcades, the old name for the Orkney Islands and the previous ship of this name, a sister-ship of Orion, was sunk during the war. Initially, she was given a corn-coloured hull as modelled here and in 1956 she was used as an accommodation ship for the Melbourne Olympics. In 1959 she was re-fitted with the stovepipe top to the funnel exhaust as shown here and in 1964 the hull was re-painted white for cruising, see model number AL260A.