1/350 IJN Akagi with Hasegawa and Eduard PE

[warreni]

Hello Everyone.

Now I know you all wanted me to start the 1/72 Flower Class Corvette next but that one has had to be put back one in the queue due to me being weak as water..

You know how I went to Plan A from Plan B, well it has now changed to Plan C.. and it is a very cunning plan..

The tabs that attach the PE to the sprues in the DJ Parkins PE for the Flower Class are enormous!! The only way I could cut them was either with my PE scissors, which are very slow to use as the gaps between the parts is small, or rock back and forward with a sharp, chisel bladed knife while bearing down. Funnily enough I got sick of both methods after proving to myself how hard it was after removing a number of parts from the Deck and Deck Fitting Fret A. Beautiful PE and the thick attachments are sort of understandable to try and protect stuff during shipping. But I think it would be better t have normal sized ones, just lots of them.

But that ain't gonna happen in my lifetime so I am going to purchase some kind of cut-off wheel for my Dremel-like rotary tool and do it the fast, easy way. Should also be less clean up.

See how big the attachments are..

All those holes on the reverse side of the PE are going to be turned into rivets one day in the future through the use of a small, dainty hammer....

That is far as I got with the one fret and there are many much more parts intensive ones in that one set!

If anyone has any other ideas please feel free to tell me about them.

Now over to the Akagi...

I copied the instructions, 46 steps not including aircraft, so I can got to town on them marking all the parts that will be replaced by PE, and all the parts I need to butcher to install other PE.

One thing I have noticed already, Hasegawa have this weird idea of using the original plastic stairs with PE sides for there inclined ladders etc. The Eduard stairs and ladders use pure PE which I like much better.

I have already cut plastic for some early steps and have drilled out the hunreds and hunreds (or it seems like that) of portholes or whatever they are called on big boats, sorry, ships..

That's it for now. Back at work for the first day tomorrow.

Hope I survive..

Cheers

Warren

Edited February 15, 2015 by Warren

[smyfe]

[Gremlin56]

"Akagi", now that is a funny name for an Australian Flower class corvette :hmmm:

Still, it's your build

[warreni]

Greetings all.

Construction has re-commenced on the Akagi, I am glad I waited for the Eduard PE set as it adds lots more detail above what the Hasegawa sets provide. I must say I am mildly disappointed with the Hasegawa sets as the star of the sets is the super set, but all that does is give you all the girder work under the back of the Akagi's deck, much of which will be very difficult to see without picking the ship up and turning her over... not an easy job due to the size of the model.

Be that as it may here are some construction pictures...

First up the three PE frets provided in the Eduard set..

Well over 400 extra parts with crystal clear instructions Pontos could learn much from. One thing that struck me immediately is that it is not Eduard's usual nickel plated etch this time around. Must admit I love the colour and it is a shame to cover up the relief etched pieces.

Then we have some of one of the side deck areas partially completed. All the PE except for the three little stool-like items, are Eduard etch.

One of the things you have to modify to fit some PE is one of the little sheds in that area, well I call them sheds as that is what they look like to me.. After using a razor saw to remove the necessary plastic..

which I put back in place to give some idea of how it looked before it was butchered, you are left with a gapping hole you need to fill as the PE part that goes here is a lattice-work girder and you don't want to be seeing a hole behind it..

So being a deciding on a cunning stunt I reversed the original plastic piece and after a little trimming glued it back in place with Extra Thin cement.

Now all I have to do is trim it again after it dries, do a bit of sanding to smooth the plastic out, and hopefully you won't even know the lattice girder wasn't there is the first place.

Cheers for now

Warren

Edited February 17, 2015 by Warren

[ComfortablyNumb]

Hi Warren, looking good! I noticed you installed the pe in that section before you painted...as the deck is orange and the walls/building are gray, how are you planning on painting the deck? Masking off those installed pe stairs and towers is going to be tricky, no? Or are you going to hand-paint the deck? (also very tricky) Thanks.... and enjoy the build! -Tim

[warreni]

Hi Tim.

The deck is, if I have got it right, covered with the linoleum used on Japanese ships. Tamiya produce a Linoleum deck colour, XF-79, that I believe is much more correct than the colour on the paint guide which I think is a printing error. For these smaller areas of deck I normally employ the hairy stick method of colour application after I have sprayed everything else with Sasebo Arsenal Grey, again a Tamiya produced colour, XF-77.

You are very correct re the masking off of the lattice towers though so again a careful application of paint with a hairy stick should cover the problem.

By the way, tour Akagi is looking excellent. Have you got a wooden deck for her?

Cheers mate

Warren

PS I just went to order two small sheets of PE from Squadron and they wanted US$55 to ship them to me. That is pure rip-off!

Edited February 17, 2015 by Warren

[warreni]

Got to the second page of the instruction manual!! Woohoo!!

And the main thing on that page, glue the hull halves together.

Even though it is about 745mm long there will be no need for any filler the fit is so good. Much more impressive than the fit of some of the small er parts of the kit so far.

Anyway, that is it for today. Will be removing the clamps tomorrow and applying some extra thin cement to all the braces in the hull and applying some more cement from the inside as I would hate to have the seam open up at a later date.

Thanks for looking

Cheers

Warren

[J.P.]

Following with interest

[Rob 1]

Looks good so far. Will watch with interest.

I've used an Eduard PE set (for my 1:350 USS Missouri) and was pleased with the detail and quality of the set.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Rob 1

[warreni]

Welcome aboard J.P. and Rob.

Rob, I have used Eduard etch sets on many of my ships and have mostly had great results. The quality of the railings in this set is not as good as the railings in the Hasegawa sets though. And the Pontos sets I used in my last two builds were both excellent, just let down by the instructions..

I have had a quick look at the Fujimi sets I have for their kits and I am worried as the vast majority of parts in them are not even mentioned.

Cheers

Warren

[warreni]

Greetings all.

After a week away in Coolangatta (Gold Coast, Queensland) my bodily repairs have been going full pelt and I am getting more well every day.

So it is back to the hobby bench very soon and the Akagi will start again.

One good thing I found yesterday, Lucky Model have got the Sevastopol for just $9.99 plus postage... Do yourself a favour and grab one!

Cheers
Warren

[warreni]

After unpacking etc I went straight into the hobby room for a few hours and a few more hours this morning after I woke up at 4am..

Have done a few things ot the bow and stern..

A mixture of etch on the stern.

I got that deck in just before I went away,

The holes that were originally meant for the styrene hose reels I filled with plastic rod rather than filler as it is guaranteed not to shrink. Is very simple to do as well.

Then I built a few of the items that always seem to come out looking a bit crappy whenever I build them...

The dreaded hose reels... But the styrene ones don't look half as good so I used a few more hours of my life building these.

And that is it on this ship for a little while as I did not realise just how much linoleum is on the decks, and where there is lino there is always brass strips... and seeing that it is a very difficult job to paint the strips and get them the right colour I decided to lash out and buy the strip that Flyhawk produces for this very purpose. I am at the stage where the deck needs painting before I go any further so this one is going into hibernation for a few weeks until the strip arrives... Well I will probably paint the lino colour before then but until then she will sit and wait.

So the Flower is waiting for the cut-off wheels to let me cut the tabs on the PE and this one is waiting for brass, that leaves me with no other option but to start a new one.. bummer...

Until I work out which one to build, oh wait a sec a few boxes arrived while I was away that may provide just the item for me..

Cheers

Warren

Cheers for now

Warren

[Alan P]

Gold colour watercolour pencils work well for the strips as long as they are raised detail on the kit.

But after your work on the Russian dreadnought deck this'll be a piece of cake!

[warreni]

Lol.. if only..

I tried the pencil bit but it just didn't work for me.

I have decided to forge on with other parts of the ship, especially the bow which I will post pictures of tomorrow. You can hardly see any of the lino there when it is all assembled. I also used the kit hose reels there for the same reason, you can hardly see them.

Cheers

Warren

[beefy66]

if only most of the ship you canot see but this one you have ALL to see when built keep up the great work there Warren

Beefy

[warreni]

Hi everyone.

No piccies tonight but am slowly but surely working on the sponsons that hang out of the main superstructure on the port side of the ship. It is a mixture of PE and plastic and I am going to do something I haven't done before and install the railings early on in the build as I am worried it will be a lot harder to install them near the end as I have done in most of my other builds.

Slotting the forward section of the superstructure together was a bit fiddly but in the end it ended up being a nice, filler free fit, most of the detail being hidden by the flight deck.

I have also realised that my anchor chain and the plastic tubes the gun turrets are held in by are missing from my kit. But hard to make a claim now as I have had the kit in the stash for about 5 years now so I have to pilfer the chain from elsewhere and will just glue the turrets in position.

That's it for now,

Cheers

Warren

[ComfortablyNumb]

"install the railings early on in the build as I am worried it will be a lot harder to install them near the end"...good plan!!... if you can avoid knocking them down, or deforming them during the lengthy build process. (I've been over a year working on mine so far). That was too much for me to think I could make happen with my clumsy ways, so opted to do them once I had the sections done.

I can confirm that many of the railings cannot be placed on the model from above, if you wait till the end of doing the sections, like I did. They must be installed from the side (more difficult for sure because some of them fit into tight locations, and very few are straight and some are quite lengthy). Because of all the overhangs, projections and gun tub supports on the superstructure, many of these parts fit VERY closely inside the railings towards the stern of the model (almost touching each other) so you'll have to be careful about that using your method as well. But with your skill and patience, I know you can make that happen.

For me, building complex ship models, especially like Agaki(!) is a challenge... but once that challenge is overcome, it becomes part of the satisfication we all get when we produce an acceptable replica. You will feel that same satifisfaction as your build progesses I know.

If a full blown Akagi, especially with all those photoetch underdeck supports and trams included with the Super Detail Up package, isn't the most difficult/complex production kit in the world to build, in ANY CATEGORY (armour, planes, vehicles, etc.), than I'd like to know what is!!

Its a great challenge, and one you will arise to I'm sure. Looking forward to seeing your build as you are going about it in completely different manner in many aspects than I am. ENJOY, my friend! Its an epic build and one that will make you think hard about how to best go about it!

Best regards, Tim

Edited March 2, 2015 by ComfortablyNumb

[warreni]

Hello Everyone.

Thanks for your praise and insights into building the Hasagawa Akagi Tim. I am following yours closely even though I may not add many comments.

It is also a physically large 1/350 model. I have built Bismarks and New Jerseys, even a Musashi, but this one is bigger than all of those.

Anyway, here are some photos showing the gradual build up of this mighty aircraft carrier.

First up assembling the large bow section. Took a bit of trimming to get right due to the mounting holes in the parts being a bit small (and I didn't realise that for a bit)

Here is is installed and the anchor chains I sourced from some I didn't use in another kit. I didn't bother about the seam in the front as it would have obliterated much fine detail, and with the flight deck in place you won't be able to see it anyway. I am modelling for enjoyment, not some judges in a competition.

Sorry it is a bit blurry but there are the two walkways at the front of the superstructure..

And here it is with the ladders and railings etc installed. These should survive the rst of the build as there is not really all that much left to install in the immediate vicinity.

Then e have the gradual build up of the port side forward walkways and sponsons..

Now it is just the railings that need to be installed there.

That;s it for now.

I am off to bed

Cheers

Warren

[ComfortablyNumb]

Wow..you work fast Warren! Looking good!! (except your paravane crane is upside down..no big problem tho)

Your camera takes better closeups than mine...I'm jealous! How long do you estimate your Agaki will take you Warren?

[warreni]

You know something, that crane is shown that way up in the instructions. I think the boom could go that low, maybe.. But I will change the orientation.

Yes, I am a fast worker and should have it finished in about a month I think. Although I have a feeling all that iron work may take a while to complete. I am going to have a lot of stuff left over so I may just have to buy the Akagi's sister ship when it is released to use it all up.

Cheers

Warren

"Speedy"

[warreni]

Greetings!

A bit more progress.

With this area I can spray the grey paint without any fear of over spray on any linoleum floors, hence no need for brush painting. The davits in one of my detail sets were damaged in the etching process so I used the plastic ones for this area. Will mostly be hidden anyway. Lets see how the company in question handle my problem.

Then for my next trick I will turn these two piles of plastic bits

.. into twin 25mm mounts... Nothing up my sleeve...

Cheers

Warren

[ComfortablyNumb]

Haha....nothing up your sleeve except your elbow Fast work my friend...and you see what I meant about installing the railings first? Anyway, you managed it fine from what I can see.

[davetwin]

Nice progress Warren

[warreni]

Thanks guys and I hope everyone is enjoying the ride.

Big update tonight, well lots of photos and I have finished the port side of the Akagi, well almost..

Maybe a bit close..

That's better!

Almost like one of those fairytale castles with all the huge towers and brace etc..

I drilled out a couple of struts as well

All masked up and ready to paint..

And then we have the after painting piccies..

I haven't installed the 200mm guns yet. I have added the brass barrels but they are not fitting to my likings so I am trying to find some pictures of them to find out what they should look like. No luck so far.

Until tomorrow

Cheers

Warren

[Guest]

Wow, that some great detail.