Jump to content

IJN Natori 1/700 - finished


bianfuxia

Recommended Posts

Well, I suddenly have a truckload of time on my hands, admittedly all late at night, so here's another ship build to clear out of the stash.

 

This one I spray painted already, but the GB runner has kindly agreed there's well over three quarters to go before this thing is done.

 

IMG_20200320_212934675.jpg

 

IMG_20200320_213036854.jpg

 

 

Edited by bianfuxia
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

HI,

 

Mine is the Fujimi version - I still have the box. As I mentioned in my Jintsu build, there was some overlap though Tamiya may have released theirs at a different time - Scalemates say Fujimi 1972, Tamiya 1992 so yours should be better. It will be interesting to see if I can spot any differences, though it depends also on which period this particular model represents - I see it still has the twin TT as does mine so it is probably meant to be pre/early war.

 

Good luck with the build.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/24/2020 at 6:18 AM, PeterB said:

HI,

 

Mine is the Fujimi version - I still have the box. As I mentioned in my Jintsu build, there was some overlap though Tamiya may have released theirs at a different time - Scalemates say Fujimi 1972, Tamiya 1992 so yours should be better. It will be interesting to see if I can spot any differences, though it depends also on which period this particular model represents - I see it still has the twin TT as does mine so it is probably meant to be pre/early war.

 

Good luck with the build.

 

Pete

Thanks! I made some progress tonight. About halfway through doing what you see here, I realised that despite having sprayed this in advance, some of it hadn't been done. So I had to touch up the deck paint - the grey anyway. I didn't have the same brown any more so a small part of that deck is a slightly different shade. In different times I'd go get the right one, but for now, this will do. I bought this on a total whim anyway, it's not a super important project for me.

 

IMG_20200401_232237159.jpg

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's been a long time since I built a warship (FROG's HMS Undine to be precise), and I remember spending some little time drilling out the portholes.  Have you done that with this kit, or are they moulded that way?

 

Cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Loking good.

 

As I said in my Jintsu thread there were at least 4 variations of the grey according to Jamie at Sovereign Hobbies - I used the Kure Arsenal version which might be slightly darker, but yours looks fine - probably about the same as the Maizuru Arsenal shade. For the classes of ships with numerous vessels, they tended to produce at least 2 variations - pre/early war and late war. The main differences tended to be that the late war ones had increased AA armament, sometimes at the cost of one or more main guns, modified torpedo arrangements, and radar. I often found it difficult to tell which I was getting from the box illustration, which is why I ended up with the pre war 6" version of the Mogami, not the later 8" wartime one. The give away is usually what colour the floatplane is, though that is of course no help on destroyers as they did not have one. As your boxing seems to show a silver/red Alf I guess yours is an early one, which seems to be borne out by the 4 x 2 torpedo tubes - in 1941 they seem to have mostly been replaced by 2 x 4 mounts. If your instructions are in their sometimes mangled version of English it might give you a date - most of my early kits were in Japanese!

 

The masts and associated platforms etc can be a bit fiddly but they are usually a quick build. In case you did not know, the masts were black above the level of the bottom of black funnel cap for some reason.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, CliffB said:

It's been a long time since I built a warship (FROG's HMS Undine to be precise), and I remember spending some little time drilling out the portholes.  Have you done that with this kit, or are they moulded that way?

 

Cheers

HI, they were moulded this way. I did the bridge windows with a thin marker pen.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, PeterB said:

Loking good.

 

As I said in my Jintsu thread there were at least 4 variations of the grey according to Jamie at Sovereign Hobbies - I used the Kure Arsenal version which might be slightly darker, but yours looks fine - probably about the same as the Maizuru Arsenal shade. For the classes of ships with numerous vessels, they tended to produce at least 2 variations - pre/early war and late war. The main differences tended to be that the late war ones had increased AA armament, sometimes at the cost of one or more main guns, modified torpedo arrangements, and radar. I often found it difficult to tell which I was getting from the box illustration, which is why I ended up with the pre war 6" version of the Mogami, not the later 8" wartime one. The give away is usually what colour the floatplane is, though that is of course no help on destroyers as they did not have one. As your boxing seems to show a silver/red Alf I guess yours is an early one, which seems to be borne out by the 4 x 2 torpedo tubes - in 1941 they seem to have mostly been replaced by 2 x 4 mounts. If your instructions are in their sometimes mangled version of English it might give you a date - most of my early kits were in Japanese!

 

The masts and associated platforms etc can be a bit fiddly but they are usually a quick build. In case you did not know, the masts were black above the level of the bottom of black funnel cap for some reason.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Thanks!

 

Yes mine has the twin torpedo launchers and the silver biplane. There's no obvious indication in the instructions about the specific timeframe of this configuration.

 

thanks for the tip on the masts - I guess they'd get black anyway from all the smoke, so maybe that's why they were painted that way.

 

I think whatever I'd sprayed this with was the nearest Tamiya equivalent to Kure Arsenal paint too. But it was two years ago and not a colour I normally had (I bought it to spray my Mogami in the seaplane carrier mode, which is a project for another day). I might re-do the deck (grey parts) with something else than what I used here.

 

Anyway, work continues!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, PeterB said:

 

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Hey Pete, do you know what the two long tracks are on the stern deck? They are two parts to insert into the deck - look like either tracks to move a float plane around, or maybe something for depth charges? 

 

I don't know much about ships really and I can't figure out what colour to paint it. I mean the choice is basically grey or black but anyway I thought I'd ask!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Morning all,

 

Natori was with Sasebo Arsenal until summer 1942, then with Maizuru Arsenal until spring 1944.

 

The 4 main IJN greys were all officially identical, but in practise they were consistent for each yard but consistently a bit different; each having their own recipe which they stuck to. On one model I wouldn't be losing much sleep over it though personally. It's not as though one grey can't work with itself!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, bianfuxia said:

Hey Pete, do you know what the two long tracks are on the stern deck? They are two parts to insert into the deck - look like either tracks to move a float plane around, or maybe something for depth charges? 

 

I don't know much about ships really and I can't figure out what colour to paint it. I mean the choice is basically grey or black but anyway I thought I'd ask!

As far as I am aware they are the tracks for rolling depth charges over the stern - painted mine in the same grey as everything else on my Jinstsu and all the other 5500 ton cruisers. For whatever reason very little mention is made of depth charges but in the Osprey New Vanguard book on IJN Light Cruisers there is a passing mention to "depth charge racks" and later to rails being fitted, though that may have been a late modification in 1944 or so in which case they probably should not be on either of our ships but what the heck- unlike some of the heavy cruisers, getting info on modifications to light cruisers is not easy! They are either provided as seperate pieces or moulded on the deck of all my kits, but then they also tend to provide the "mattress" type radar aerial for the No 21(2) set which Osprey was not filled until 1943! This business of moulding one early and one late version was not followed through very consistently, particularly with hull/deck mouldings. In fairness, they do usually provide different guns on the destroyers with a main one replaced by an AA one and so on.

 

I also thought painting the black upper masts were to do with smoke, but one source - Osprey again I think, says it was a recognition feature, whatever that means. RN ships often used coloured bands on the funnel for identifying units but not sure what good black on the top of the masts would be from a distance when the rest of it is a darkish grey.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another "give-away" about the date is the presence of the single 5"? AA guns - later they would probably be replaced by twin or triple 25mm in tubs. The mouldings look sharper and more detailed than my old Fujimi one - do they still give you the paper flags and black/white "window" strip for the bridge and control tower? I used the end of a wooden skewer cut flat to put blobs of red paint on for Hinomaru on the planes, but that is best done before assembly. The tail on this one would likely be red also, certainly the vertical fin and perhaps the horizontal as well.

 

Looking good!

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Experiment with the red marking but I will use the decals after all. 

 

With the exception of the long racks on the rear and the funnel tops, construction is complete. Now it's time for paint touch-ups.

IMG_20200408_000541812.jpg

 

 

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I built mine the only decals were for the large white Japanese characters on the hull spelling out the names of destroyers (though pictures suggest they were mostly painted over in wartime) and in some kits the paper flags were also replaced with decs. One or more of the USN carrier kits also had marking decs for the planes. I suspect the later kits like yours may have moved towards providing more decals, which is a good thing.

 

Coming along nicely and definitely better detailed than my old Natori.

 

Pete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, except for a couple of touchups I've just seen in these photos, I think I"m calling this one finished. It's a nice ship but I kind of want to move on to the next projects. 

 

Thanks to Pete for all your tips along the way!

 

I'll put some good photos in the gallery when I have a chance to take them, after touching up the last things I've seen in the pics.

 

IMG_20200414_235814855.jpg

 

IMG_20200414_235803707.jpg

 

IMG_20200414_235746058.jpg

 

 

spacer.png

 

Edited by bianfuxia
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...