Alan P Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 This is a fantastic job, patient and looking very effective Pap! The shading and drybrush effects are very nice, subtle but look great. The sub is a real gem too. Like a sci-fi vehicle. Must have been huuoooge in reality. What happened to it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted December 26, 2009 Author Share Posted December 26, 2009 This is a fantastic job, patient and looking very effective Pap!The shading and drybrush effects are very nice, subtle but look great. The sub is a real gem too. Like a sci-fi vehicle. Must have been huuoooge in reality. What happened to it? G'day and thanks for the nice words. A potted history of the subs follows: The I-400 was originally designed for a top secret mission to bomb the Panama Canal. The resulting delay was to be a significant delay to the US Navy. Designed in complete secrecy (including the M61A1 "Seiran" float plane) the subs were a complete shock to the Americans when they were discovered. The design work began in January 1942.The I-13, I-400 and her sister sub the I-401 got underway on the afternoon of 23 July. The planes had been re-painted in US camo, including the stars and bars, a fact not known outside of Japan until this information was disclosed on an article by General (formerly Leutenant Commander) Tadashi Watanabe. The Panama mission was dropped been dropped, the target was now Task Force 38 anchored at Ulithi Atoll. Located in the Carolina Islands, this was to be a staging point for the aerial assault of Japan, and the Japanese hoped to take out the carriers. A previous attack on the task force using the "Kaiten" manned torpedos had failed..Whilst underway, the nukes were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which resulted in the surrender of Japan. Ordered to return and surface run only, the I-400 was spotted on 27 Aug, 1945 by a pair of TBM Avengers from the USS Bennington (CVN 20). She eventually surrendered to the two Summer Class destroyers, "Blue" (DD-744) and "Mansfield" (DD-728) that intercepted her. the I-400 was about 25ft longer than the destroyers that she was surrendering to.The I-400 was boarded the same day and eventually the Captain surrendered the boat and his sword. The I-400 was about 200 miles from Japan at. this point. The I-400 and the I-13 had now both been captured. The I-401 was not captured until the 31 Aug, 1945, but not before he Captain committed suicide. After all three subs had returned to Japan under escort, three US Navy crews were trained in the operation of the subs and the three subs were sailed back to Pearl Harbour as war prizes. These would be the biggest subs built until the advent of nuclear subs several years later. The subs arrived din pearl Harbour on 6 Jan, 1946. Following an extensive technical analysis, the subs were used for torpedo practice and the I-400 and I-401 were sunk on 4 Jun 1946, off Barber's Point Oahu. The wrecks were recently re-discovered by the Hawaii Underwater Research Laboratory (HURL), cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted December 28, 2009 Author Share Posted December 28, 2009 Well, I am calling this one done. I have finished the weathering and the Aichi M6A1 "Seiran" attack plane has been added. I have also added some Tamiya 1/350 crew figures. I havn't used these before but they are vey thin, however, whilst they look convincing from the front, the effect is very two dimensional when viewed from the side. I like them though as they add a sense of scale to the finished kit. cheers, Pappy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deon Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 That's an amazing piece of work Pappy, I know how small those figures are and I hope your eyes hold out for many years to come! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted December 28, 2009 Author Share Posted December 28, 2009 (edited) That's an amazing piece of work Pappy, I know how small those figures are and I hope your eyes hold out for many years to come! G'day Deon, Thanks very much. The figures look a little simple and clumsily painted in the pictures due to the magnification, but they do look effective to the eye. I know that PE figures are also available in 1/350, but I opted for these guys as they are a little thicker than PE (about 3X) and I think that plastic paints and glues better than the PE figures, The feet are actually slightly fatter than the rest of the figure to provide a good gluing surface, cheers, Pappy Edited December 28, 2009 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skii Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 simply magnificent ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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