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JMSDF Harusame (1960s) 1/700 - finished


bianfuxia

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Some of you may be following my build of the JMSDF landing ship Miura. In that build, the back story is that Miura is supplying a remote community with some much needed toilet paper. This is a job for the military, to prevent rampant looting of those supplies. So Miura is unloading an armoured convoy with tanks and armoured cars to escort the toilet paper trucks to the village.

 

Well, fellow Brit Modeller Arnold Ambrose has quite correctly pointed out the serious practical flaw in my scenario:

 

In  nutshell: "You're gonna need a bigger fleet".

 

Toilet paper is not like normal cargo - gold bullion, say, or rare Maseratis - toilet paper is as valuable in today's crazy world as, well, toilet paper.

 

You can catch up here: 

 

So after calling for backup, the boffins and brass at HQ rustled around the wharf. Of course, budget cuts (namely my rent in DC) have dramatically reduced the navy's capability. Most of my big kits are in reserve, aka the storage. So it's down to what's available to fill the gap.

 

So this little destroyer is going to steam in gallantly and begin some naval gunfire support with all those guns:

 

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Harusame was the third of its class of three Marusame class destroyers (wiki) launched in 1959. Though mainly designed for ASW (and this one later got the towed sonar array you can see on one version on the box), it had three 5 inch guns as well. They are going to support Miura in this initial mission.

 

As far as I can understand, the ship started out in the configuration you can see at bottom right. It got the variable depth sonar added in 1967, and at some point a semi-enclosed turret on the forward twin Bofors. Then, in 1979, it got twin mounts of the triple torpedo launcher that most western frigates and destroyers have. Harusame retired in 1989 according to the wiki page.

 

Anyway, being in semi-lockdown (basically not leaving the house even though we're allowed to), I have a little extra time for modeling. This is, in fact, only because I save the time I'd otherwise use to walk to the office and home each day and because we don't have to get the kid physically to school. As my wife said, neither of us are going to be writing the greatest novel of the 21st century or anything else. But we can try to keep the bad news out of our minds with some extra model building late at night!

 

 

Edited by bianfuxia
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Loving the toilet paper scenario, give this build relevance and depth everyone can currently understand! Complete toilet paper madness, though from my most resent shop it appears to have swapped to tea, and the toilet roll guard agreed. He thinks he will have a new posting soon.

 

good luck with the build!

 

Rob 

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First round of painting today - light grey for the sides and dark sea grey for the deck. May or may not be totally accurate but I can't associate any of the numbers on the instructions with any known paints, and at this time in the world tracking down the exact right shade is not a priority. So - it's a warship, it's grey. 

 

This one doesn't really have many parts, so it ought to be a fast build. Despite the comment about paint, I will try to do a nice job though!

 

IMG_20200329_215509991-1.jpg

 

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I've made a bit more progress on this one. The guns are nicely moulded - three 5 inch guns called Mk39 on the instructions but which I think are also known as Mk16 (link). It also has two twin guns, which I originally thought were twin 40mm Bofors but they are actually Mk 33 twin three-inch (76mm) guns. The front one has a shield on it, presumably for waves and spray, but is the same underneath.

 

You can also see the two triple torpedo tubes and the Hedgehog style thing up front which - as far as I can find out - is actually a Hedgehog, Mark 15.

 

I won't need those for the toilet paper delivery escort mission (unless the looters are using modified narcosubs I guess), but this ship seems pretty heavily armed for its size, accepting that it has no missiles. 

 

Anyway here it is. Notmuch to show but one step at a time.

 

IMG_20200402_233950348.jpg

 

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Fortunately I was easily able to remedy a big mistake which I only just noticed. This kit comes with two separate sets of instructions for the two versions - and I was following the wrong one.  I worked it out only after I'd glued the incorrect stern deck on. I only bought this kit because I really liked the big variable depth sonar rig on the back of it and then I used the wrong deck. But luckily it came of very easily with a few attacks of the knife.

 

You can see the removed deck in the photo, along with my other progress. The guns are just sitting there, not glued on yet. Lots to do still but it is shaping up and I really think it's a cool looking ship. You don't often see - or at least I don't - injection kits of the era of destroyers between WW2 and guided missiles.

 

IMG_20200406_004048905-2.jpg

 

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Gidday Bianfuxia, the stern deck came away cleanly I see. No doubt you can reuse it if you change your mind as to which version to build! 😀 Or maybe not. She's shaping up nicely to become an addition to the fleet. Regards, Jeff.

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14 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Bianfuxia, the stern deck came away cleanly I see. No doubt you can reuse it if you change your mind as to which version to build! 😀 Or maybe not. She's shaping up nicely to become an addition to the fleet. Regards, Jeff.

Yes, I did my usual very careful, precise job. You know, I trained as a surgeon, but for some reason I was relieved of my duty before I'd even got going on my first operation.... :)

 

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So, the shipyard made some further progress tonight. The front guns are now mounted. There are two types of fire control radar on the bridge there. I wonder if one is for the main guns and the other for the twin AA mount - makes sense although there's only one radar at the rear despite it having both types of gun there. I also painted the walkway round the deck.

 

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Sorry these cell phone pics are not as sharp as they ought to be. 

 

At the other end, having done the repairs on the rear deck, I added the variable depth sonar rig. It still needs the float, or buoy (every time I write that, which honestly is not often, I can't help but pronounce it like Denzel Washington's character in Crimson Tide - boo-ee). Anyway, that still needs to be attached.

 

There is a lot of touch up paint still needed all over this ship.

 

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The black cable is done with my trusty marker pen. Looks pretty cool. I think this will look really neat when I touch up the paint and add the BOY.

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Made some good progress tonight. Construction is complete except for the VDS buoy, which I am still trying to decide a colour for. Bright yellow would look cool but probably isn't realistic. The very few photos I can find of this ship are in b/w though. 

 

I know I said it before but I really like the look of this ship.

 

All that remains now is the touch up painting and the decals.

 

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While researching a bit more I realized I was wrong in my first post where I said this ship was "mostly designed for ASW". That should be AAW - it took the three 5 inch turrets off the old Midway aircraft carrier, apparently. They turned out not to have as high a rate of fire as you'd need for AAW, according to what I read, so the ships ended up serving more in a multi-role kind of mission, hence, I assume, the later addition of the VDS and the more modern torpedos (the standard NATO triple tube ones which I guess are aimed at subs).

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Interesting subject (even without the crucial TP mission 🤣

 

Very similar design to the US Forrest Sherman with the 1+2 5in turret arrangement. Your last post is spot on...the twin 3in rapid firing AA guns and three 5/54s are optimised for the AA mission, the extended capability appears to be a later development. 

 

Glad you included the giant TP dispensers on the stern though 😉👍

 

Very nice work so far, I also like the clean lines of this ship. 

 

Alan

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Well I'm calling this one finished. I'll take some more photos when it's daytime and I have some time to do better than just cellphone shots. But I finished it up tonight with the decals and last bits of paint.

 

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Gidday Bianfixia, congratulations on your completion here. Further to comments above, she does seem rather well supplied with guns for the ASW role, and Alan's comparison with USS Forrest Sherman is spot on, both with 5-inch and the two twin 3-inch guns. I actually built one over forty years ago, and botched it somewhat if I recall. This model is very good. Regards, Jeff.

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