1/350 Nagato (1941) with Flyhawk

[AndyPG]

The epic-ness continues. 104 oars might push you to the brink of madness. 🤪

[Courageous]

Some nice work but I have to agree with Andy about the oars 

 

Stuart

[calistan]

I seem to be back to a glacial pace on this lately, so I'm posting a couple more images to motivate me. The latest sticking point was having to thoroughly clean the room before applying Pledge floor polish for the weathering. I've done the weathering in two stages, so it was one coat of Pledge with rust colours and some general grime, then another coat of Pledge with black and white over the top. It looks okay, maybe needs smoothing out in places but at least I can do that without wiping off the entire thing.

 

^ Still needs tidying up / fading below the waterline, but the effect on that bulge is what I'm aiming for.

 

^ Somehow I managed to obliterate the flagpole, some tiny mushroom vents and the leadman's platform from the front while manouevring this unwieldy beast for varnishing. Where they went, only the carpet monster or possibly the washing machine knows. The flagpole was just a bit of wire and I have spare vents, but the platform is a bigger loss since it had a mesh floor. I've found a similar square mesh-looking piece in a set of 1/700 safety nets that I never used, so I might be able to reconstruct something similar. Will probably have to make one for the other side too, so they look the same.

 

The moral: don't carelessly handle a large model that's bristling with photo etch while wearing a baggy jumper.

[Silenoz]

That's one of the reasons I still refrain from ships... Would be spending more time repairing then actually construction...

 

Very nice work so far, and a good guide for my version (1/700 is the only disadvantage, equal amount of PE...) when I come to it...

[calistan]

I've finally done the three aircraft! I kept putting them off because they looked so fiddly, but when I finally got round to it they didn't take all that long and were actually good fun to make.

 

 

^ One of the things putting me off starting them earlier was the official colour scheme, a green and red/brown camo pattern that I think looks really ugly as well as difficult to paint. I saw a 1/72 kit for one of these that has some sort of pre-war white with red tail scheme on the box, so I went the non-historical route and painted these similarly. It's Mr Hobby IJN aircraft grey, which I was originally going to use for the entire ship but it turned out to be way too pale.

 

Next up, numerous minor repairs, matte varnish, sticking the boats and planes to the deck, adding some small details that I forgot, and some rigging as soon as I get hold of some lycra thread.

Edited January 19, 2020 by calistan

[calistan]

I'm finally done with this. (Bar the chrysanthemum on the front, which I forgot about, and a ladder on the back that I tore off while doing the matte coat.)

Here are some low quality pictures from my phone, I'll post some better ones in RFI when we get a bright enough day to mess around outside with a decent camera.

 

This was model #4 for me, a big learning experience and a lot of fun. Some things I wanted to do didn't quite work out, but I'm pleased with the things that did go well and confident that the next one will be better.

 

My one-line review: fantastic base kit from Hasegawa, the Flyhawk detail set is a mixed bag, with hindsight I'd have paid the extra for the Pontos set.

 

^ I didn't like the way the boats looked hanging from the davits so they're all on deck. Will figure out a way to hang them convincingly next time.

 

^ Deck details. Some of those bits are moulded into the deck and masked off, others added later.

 

^ Strangely lit view under the pagoda, where loads of girders reside.

 

^ Looks super busy. Can't ask for more than that, really.

 

^ Final bonus shot: these are mostly unused sprues left over. The PE kit replaced a lot of this stuff and there's a large number of of redundant parts that presumably go with the other version of Nagato or were intended for some sister ship model that Hasegawa never produced.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Wow!

[Courageous]

Incredible work.

 

Stuart

[Silenoz]

Stunning... Really nice

[73north]

wonderful build 

 

I agree with your fair comments about Pontos super-details sets being world class and well worth buying 

( plus the Pontos instructions are copious and easy to understand ) -

 

the other HUGE advantage with Pontos is the fact they have all brass masts so the rigging is so much more easy and stress free -

to explain my experiences with the HMS Prince of Wales 1/350 set by Pontos - as an example 

 the Main 14 inch Guns and 5.25 inch AA Guns have brass barrels but they are made easy -  to fit inside the kit turrets

due to the ingenious Pontos brass elevation / trunnion ( see photo below ) 

that allows you to easily glue the barrel to the trunnion ready made hole and allow you to individually elevate or depress each main gun barrel !!

the amount of work that saves is truly marvellous 

Brass turned parts

The turned parts are another essential part of the detail set. In addition to a set of barrels for the entire armament including its mountings, parts for the masts and yards, the boat trees, cranes and fans are included. The national flag and ensign poles are also included as a turned part.

 A big plus compared to the two-dimensional flagsticks of other accessories.

 The most filigree parts are certainly the tubes for the 20 mm Oerlikon and the 2 pdr. Pom-Pom. The tubes for the pom-pom come in two different lengths so that the staggered tubes of the original can be reproduced with little effort.

the older detail sets by Flyhawk - can be frustratingly vague and unhelpful with the instruction sheets

( with Flyhawks older sets  only if you have a full reference book of your subject to hand , can you sometimes follow where something is to be exactly placed )

the main and big advantage with Flyhawk is the etch is very well designed and workable = and lovely detailed ) 

 

 

I had the Flyhawk Set for the Trumpeter Repulse 1/350 - and that's was a lot better than your Nagato instructions =

I was glad to help you a tiny little bit - as I have a fascination and a bit of experience in the IJN ships in 1/350 scale 

 

I would also say Infini Super Detail Sets  ( also of South Korea ) are well worth buying - for some IJN Ships ( eg Yukikaze ) 

plus the Very Fire sets are also very , very good 

 

I would also point of that Lion Roar produce very nice Super Detail sets but they seem to be as rare as Hens Teeth - and usually only on ebay as second hand 

They have a website - but I have never seen a UK or USA seller offer them for sale 

Edited February 22, 2020 by 73north

[Alan P]

Shame I missed this epic build at the time but it's been a happy hour catching up. 

 

An excellent result, amazed it's only your fourth model 😮

[h20]

fabulous  build! it looks brilliant