Bitzer

Love the rigging, that is fantastic!

Beautiful job! Love the weathering and rust effects. I have a friend that uses the same techniques you used on the sonar dome but for the life of me I can't achieve the same effects.

Oh yeah, I remember! Beautiful build sir.

I live in Meridian, next to Boise and we may have met. The reason I didn't enter it in Carriers instead of Dioramas is because I'm portraying a scene which encompasses everything, ship, crew, planes and water. If I was to show it in carriers, the judges would have looked at the ship itself and all the other stuff would be superfluous. It did win third in Dios and considering the competition, I was pleased. The judges had over 6000 entries in the all and had a lot to look at. I'm sure they didn't have the time to put a magnifying glass to it. My next ship (the 350th IJN Takao) will be in ships in Omaha. Are you going to the Boise contest this Oct? It will be there, and after that it will be donated to the Warhawk Museum in Nampa ID. for their Pearl Harbor display. Thank you and everyone for the complements

I can't see them without signing in. I don't have a Flickr account.

Aaaa, my favorite ship! Nice job

Excellent work! What did you use for the rigging?

Very nice, especially for a 1/700. It's tough to build them where they don't look toy like. You did a cracking job on the PE. Are the radars and mast girders from the kit of were those after market? I just bought my first set from Akan and was wondering how they were. Being from the States I haven't heard anything about them and bought a set for my MiG-27. Bitzer

Yes, the base is 91 cm so it takes a lot pf space. I slapped together a plastic cover to protect it from dust and the occasional accident

Thanks mate! Oddly enough, most of my planes, tanks and such are 1/72, then I typically go and build 1/350 ships

Thank you Will. Yes, it was all a labor of love. It will be a while before I build another carrier although I have the Hornet and have my eye on the Kaga

Thank you very much mate!

Thank you Billn.

Thanks mate

Thank you Toryu, I have been interested in the PAO and specifically the Japanese since I was a teen. The Akagi, being my favorite carrier, with all her girders and overhangs just makes her look mean in my opinion. I read and watched what I could for research but "Shattered Sword" was an invaluable source of information regarding the IJN's carrier operation procedures. That and the few old photos available.