1/700 IJN Zuikaku 1941

[Andrewvft]

Hi all,

Just finished this ship, though still working on the planes. I usually do planes, but thought i'd give Japanese aircraft carriers a go. I was kinda drawn to their rather colourful decks of stripes etc. I was initially looking for a good Shokaku model, but couldn't find one for a reasonable price in Australia. But then Fujimi came out with this release of the Zuikaku 1941 earlier this year. I painted the main white stripe markings and the red/white stripes. A misalignment resulted in the middle white stripe ending up slightly off center at the front of the deck. I only used decals for the diagonal lines at the front of the deck, the circle towards the after and the name symbol.

 

Thoughts:

- relatively simple to construct.

- hate dealing with the tiny pieces. I've broken the side antennas so many times. Broken the hooks under the stern of the deck and had to recreate one of the 3 anchors

- I'm trying to use PE parts for the 1/700 planes for their canopy frames, which is very tedious, Definitely won't be finishing them anytime soon.

- I was hoping fujimi would also have released wooden deck detail parts, but didn't see any and don't want to pay the ridiculous prices for the ones on ebay.

- Having seen the older Tamiya version, I think the Fujimi is the better of the two. slightly better details.

 

I wanted to have one of the middle elevators lowered and put a B5N2 kate on top. I chose the middle elevator and cut out a thin plastic sheet so it can sit at the bottom of the hangar tub. The original elevator wouldn't fit without sanding and was too thick. I also made the elevator sheet a tiny bit smaller so it can fall out if I turn the ship upside down. This way, I have the option to have it displayed raised or lowered just by swapping out the pieces.

 

Paint:

I used Tamiya IJN Gray (Kure Arsenal) for the hull and Wooden Deck tan. I thought the gray looked a bit too dark, so gave it a very light coat of white to lighten it up.

 

Anyway, thought i'd share my pics

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

That looks a good start to ship modelling. I would recommend you 'matt' it down a bit mode as it still looks a little shiny. As for aircraft, something to bear in mind with IJN carriers, is that the aircraft lived in the hangars and unless the ship is about to launch a strike or has just recovered it's strike, you wouldn't see too many aircraft on deck. I wouldn't worry about the canopy frames in 1/700 scale, far too small and fiddly!

 

thanks

Mike

[Thom216]

Looking very nice. There's just something quite attractive about these early war carriers, including the Lexingtons. Great job on it and can't wait to see some wings on the deck.

[Andrewvft]

Thanks Mike,

Eventually i'd like to put some planes sitting on top like they were being prepped.

[celt]

Very nice flat-top.

[Model Monkey]

Excellent build!