Maritime Content

The hull halves are joined and the deck is laid. Oh, if you want the rudder to turn. Add it before joining the hull halves. I didn’t, so the rudder will be welded amidships later. But who cares for a static model? The form and fit of this model are very good. That said, the deck did have a bow (long o) at the bow (short o) and stern. I forgot to take a shot of the forward end, but here it is aft: My solution was to lay the deck in position, clamp the gunwales amidships, hold the deck down in place at the bow with one hand, and run a stream of Tamiya extra thin along the join. Then I did the same thing aft. The transom was taking an inordinate amount of time to fit until I realized that the butt ends of the hull planks stood proud of those of the transom. Then it all made sense. At this stage of the game, the hull is quite pleasing to the eye of a former modeler of plank-on-frame wooden ships. It really could be that of a little ketch or brigantine. Almost seems a shame to ruin its pleasant lines with the ungainly trawler deckhouse to come! Best, Jeff

This continues to be brilliant, keep it up,

Evening all, Been able to do a bit more today, the DX kit includes 3d printed parts for the funnel interior, they are incredibly thin, thinner than photo etch. They're shaped in such a way that doing them out of etch wouldn't actually work very well, I must say though putting etch in is more satisfying, the results are equally pleasing though. Also got some of the rear superstructure built, the range finder is 3d printed as well, Forward superstructure is started as well, I've not got anything done etch wise yet, I broke my magnifiers so need to replace those before I can do much of the delicate stuff, been enjoying getting the plastic together though, the details on the kit are brilliant, I'm impressed so far, What I would say so far about this kit, is that the instructions aren't very good, for example they make no mention that the fore most part of the first funnel has to slide in and through the superstructure, what the instructions show is to fix the funnel in place and then the superstructure. You can't do that though as the form work is in the way and the opening for the slanted trunk is such you can't slide the superstructure on vertically, it has to go through before being fixed in place, Here's where she is at, already looking rather Japanese, That's all for now, thanks for stopping by, Sam

Thanks a good idea. I need to think about how to mask the inside off post painting it and before painting the outer. Anyway back to some more details from the upgrade/master set. the ammo holders of the AA placements. converting: via many many tiny pieces of PE (this one side that will be hidden has 14 pieces of PE on less than a cm2 to so far look like this: I am slightly dreading the curved pieces which don't have groves to give the correct heights but we will see. Until next time.

That's really helpful thanks Geoff!

Very detailed work. Tremendous care in making this.

Very, very, very nice!!! Congrats!! Since this model came out, I've been pondering, should I, shouldn't I..... Well, Sir, it's "your fault", that my stash is going to swell....

Hi I was thinking maybe a set of clips/jaws for the l/hand locators as you look at my pics) each with a base that has a locating hole so that it can be fixed to a (MDF?) base board In whatever position/sequence that suits the job. T’other end caused me a load of problems in the build because being one central point it twisted and I lost the thread sequence quite a lot whilst threading each ‘spreader’, I am thinking here it may be a wide jaw so that the individual threads can be spaced out in some sort of order, rather than rotating into the vortex as they did on my gizmo. Don’t know if you would be able to make the ‘Baby Alligators spring loaded for speed See (very bad) layout below, did this whilst eating a massive ice cream cone😁

They certainly seem to, though I would say they've made some bits more complicated than needed I think, but I'm.not complaining At the rate I build you'll probably finish before me lol

Looking good there, I have to use one of those headband sets with magnifier to see the PE these days. My ollnly bit of advice for PE is really good superglue. Have a look at HMS Fury below. To my eye the rear funnel top is at the same level as the top of the bridge wing with the 20mm oerlikon are, at lest the top of the railing around the platform. http:// Photo from IWM website. As long as the funnel is about the same on the kit you should be good, even if it looks low from other angles. If it needs to be raised the a bit of plasticard will do the job. forward to the next installment! Geoff

I continued painting the hull. Googling for color codes AI interacted and suggested than in 1/700 colors should be mixed with 20% white. Sounded reasonable but I prefer to cover apply lighter shades upon completion before oil weathering

Are you thinking of the board with clips, the two-clip stretcher, both, or other? I need to study that build more carefully, my rigging is 💩 and I usually mash it with my mud hooks when finishing the build.

Just bought a DX one so looking forward to it arriving and following this build. Neil

Wow, stunning work! The rigging is outstanding, all the more so as I am hor·ri·ble at that.

Hi Thanks for the shout out. Glad one of my ideas took root 😄. Just waiting for someone to ‘professionalise’ (if that’s even a word 🤪) my rig for threading and mounting cage ariels, as per my Dreadnought build, hint hint 🙃. Cheers Graham

In retrospect, that was an unfortunate word choice! Jeff

You really could regret saying that Jon

That looks lovely, nicer than the Aoshima kit which was good enough on its own. These Very Fire guys know what they're doing!

Absolutely stunning Rob, very clever !!

That is some beautiful brass work !

John, Perfect. If it worked so well on the compound curve of a breakwater, my job should be a snap! The plans actually give the diameter of the circle that needs to be achieved. Thanks! Jeff

Great to see the build process its all looking very good. Thanks also for the plug free advertising goes a long way. Just need to figure out another way of getting stuff out to various customers who choose to live in hotter climates. 🤔 Stay Safe Keith

Hi Munst, various publishers have produced books about Japanese warships, albeit in Japanese text, and probably the best for your scale would be the 1:700 Modeling Support Magazines, some covers shown here: Kagero also produce books that are specific to a single ship, such as this one for the Kaga. Other books cover vaious periods of the war and this one, by Model Art, has a section with details and plans called "Attack on Pearl Harbor". It has modelling details for all the ships that took part. HTH Mike

Enemies in war time, friends in peace. It demonstrates the stupidity of war. Agreed. You've done a great job of it. Regards, Jeff.

Model Art No. 378 "Pearl Harbor" has an extensive (35 pages x 4 planes on average per page) color section on the planes used in the attack, and scale plans on all 6 carriers (at 1: 1400? so rather small) Hans Lengerer's "Die Flugzeugträger der Kaiserlich-Japanischen Marine und des Heeres" should answer all your questions re. the carriers. It's bilingual, with all the text in English as well as in German.