1/700 IJN Yukikaze 1945

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, for this GB I've decided on a build of the Japanese destroyer IJN Yukikaze in 1/700 scale. This ship was a Kagero class destroyer, the only one of the eighteen ships of the class to survive WW2, and she did so with hardly a scratch. Despite being involved in just about every major naval action of the Pacific war she didn't receive a single hit. Her only damage, of a minor nature, was caused by a mine. I read that she achieved legendary status among the Japanese people.

     I know there are model kits of Yukikaze in existence but I don't have one so I'll be modifying a Hasegawa kit I have of the very similar IJN Yugumo, which was the second ship (and the name ship) of the following class of destroyer. None of this class of twenty ships survived the war. Below is the traditional photo of box art, parts and instructions.

     The major alteration I'll be making is removing no.2 twin 5-inch turret and adding two triple 25mm AA mounting in it's place. I've had to scrounge some of these mountings from another kit. That's them in the right foreground of the photo. I also need fourteen single 25mm guns. I might have to scratch-build them but I have another potential source I'm considering.

     Anyway, that's it until next Friday the 8th May. Regards to all, and stay safe, Jeff.

[Brad]

A shame they did not manage to preserve her after Taiwan retired her. She was known as the lucky ship, but also a cursed ship due to many of the warships she escorted being sunk with a heavy loss of life. I've always wanted to build her in 1/350 but with all the modified US armament they put on her post war.

[Robert Stuart]

This looks intriguing, I'll watch with interest.

[Wez]

Glad to see this in the GB, I've been dipping into the Drachinifel naval histories on You Tube on an occasional basis.  I'm finding the IJN histories very compelling, not sure if he's done one on the Yugumo class or the Yukikaze in particular but they're worth checking out if you haven't seen them.

 

He's quite disparaging on the efficacy of the 25mm anti-aircraft gun, I get the impression he thinks you'd be better off with a bag of stones and a catapult.

 

Good luck with your build.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Guys, thank you for your comments. I knew she was thought of as a lucky ship but not a cursed one. Due to the attrition of the Japanese naval and merchant fleets I think these other ships would have been sunk anyway, Yukikaze in company or not, so I think the title of cursed ship is a little unfair. My personal opinion of course.

     I've watched some Drachinifel film clips but none on Japanese ships yet. As for the effectiveness of the 25mm I haven't heard too many extol it's virtues. I think it's biggest problem was the capacity of the box magazine - 15 rounds, and hence the need to continually replace them. This brought the average rate of fire down to that of the Bofors 40mm, but with only 1/4 of the shell weight and therefore 1/4 of the hitting power.

     Brad it would be interesting for you to do your build with American armament, and to compare the ships.

Regards to all, and stay safe, Jeff.

[Brad]

I think doing that build is a while off. I'm only just working on my second 1/350 warship. The conversion requires quite a lot of kitbashing.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, I don't have much to show as yet but I thought I should post an update on IJN Yukikaze to indicate I am still interested. Work is a bit full on at present so I'm finding it hard to get anything done in the evenings. I sit down at the computer or desk, and wake up some time later!

     I've been doing a bit more research into the ship. I've learned that besides replacing the no.2 5-inch turret with two triple 25mm AA guns I also have to modify the quarterdeck. Initially she carried two paravanes there and a depth charge chute (rails) with sixteen DCs. The model shows this configuration. It seems that mid to late war she had the paravanes removed and later the long DC chute. Instead were fitted two shorter chutes and she carried thirty-six DCs. So I've got to alter the quarter-deck. Below is a photo of what I've done.

     The top hull in the photo is another of these kits, unaltered. The lower hull is the one I'm altering. As you can see I've plugged the holes that would have taken the paravanes and I'm attempting to remove the unwanted DC chute, at the same time trying to preserve the tie-down strips holding the linoleum deck covering (those across-deck ridges). To give an indication of size, those squares on the cutting mat are 1cm square. I've also removed the thick mounting pin for no.2 5-inch turret.

     I'll have to shave a bit off the hull at the break of the foc'sle deck (not in the photo) and I'm thinking about the idea of drilling out the scuttles (port holes) in the hull. Just thinking about it, mind. I have a question on underwater hull colours of IJN ships Does anybody know what colour and did they paint boot-topping (the black stripe at the waterline)? Even though this model will be water-lined it has a base plate, currently bright red plastic. My options at this point are to paint the edge of this plate dark red-brown (I'd read somewhere that was the colour of the underwater hull) or black. I have a photo of Yukikaze and although black and white it shows a very dark (I'm assuming black) colour on the small amount of hull visible below the water line. Any ideas/info anyone?

     That's as far as I've gone to date. I'm also building USS England in another GB but I'll try to get a move on with this. Regards to all and stay safe, Jeff.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, I've completed my build of USS England (In The Navy GB) so I can now concentrate on IJN Yukikaze. I decided to drill out the scuttles, a first for me.

     Fortunately the deck lines (and hence lines of scuttles) are all parallel with the waterline. I pinned the hull to the temporary wood base and used a piece of styrene strip with a hole drilled as a guide to pin point the holes. then drilled them with a 0.5mm drill. I actually started drilling through the styrene strip at first but decided that the drill might enlarge the hole over time so I stopped doing that. Also, a pin hole can be 'moved' a little if it is off the line slightly. I wouldn't be able to use this method on a hull like the American 'Fletcher' or 'Sumner' class, with their continual shear upwards toward the bow. I'd have to make some sort of guide that would hang down from the deck edge instead.

 

      I've glued the hull to the base, after painting them both first. The fit wasn't the best, though, the base plate was a tad short. Not worth losing sleep over it though. The hull grey is Hu79, although it looks to me more like Hu27. A tin of Hu27 I used recently was very dark. I'm beginning to think that Humbrol is having trouble matching paints to lids. It's a bit darker than I would have liked but the alternatives that I had in stock were either darker still, or very light. I painted the lower hull base reddish brown, Hu70.

     You can see the scuttles I've drilled under the foc'sle and towards the stern. There were none in the midships section of the hull. I've temporarily screwed the hull to the block of wood. This gives me something to hold onto while building, so I don't have to handle the model itself. I did this for my last two ships and found it quite useful.

     That's probably it for now. Before I paint the deck I'll have to do a little bit more research, because due to the extra AA guns fitted later in the war other equipment such as boats got relocated or removed. So I'll have some holes in the deck to fill. Best to do it before painting the deck.

     So it's 'bye' for now. Stay safe and regards to all, Jeff.

Edited June 4, 2020 by ArnoldAmbrose

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, I have a little bit more progress with IJN Yukikaze, to show I'm still in the group build.

     I said in my previous post that I think Humbrol is getting paints and tin lids mixed up. Well, now I'm certain of it. I painted the hull and superstructure sides with paint from a tin marked Hu79. And the deck from a new tin of Hu27. I can't tell any difference. As I think neither are truly 100% authentic (I'm not a rivet-counter when it comes to colours) I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

     When I started this build I thought the major alteration I needed to do with this kit was replacing no2 turret with gun tubs for more light AA weapons. But I discovered that the quarterdeck depth-charge arrangements needed altering also (post #7). Since then I realised that the bridge needed modifications too, and that's what I've been doing of late. I don't have much in the way of photos of the actual ship in 1945 so I have had to rely on photos of other models. Below is what I've come up with to date.

     The kit upper bridge part had a rearward extension to the mast but I chopped it off and did my own. All the white bits are my own additions. I still have to add the forward leg of the fore-mast tripod and a few more alterations/additions to bridge and mast. In the foreground is the gun tub that will replace no2 turret. Another similar gun tub, currently under construction, will be mounted just forward of it and super-firing over it.

     As you can see, the grey paint on the vertical surfaces and the horizontal surfaces are the same, despite coming from differently marked tins. They only look different here due to the camera angle. Oh well . . .

I've decided I need to deepen the main turrets by 0.5mm, which I am currently doing. Other than that, this is as far as I've gone. I hope to speed things up a bit shortly.

 

So, goodnight, stay safe and regards to all, Jeff.

[Thom216]

Some nice mods going on to that little ship. And looking good too. Odd about the paints, but I don't know enough to comment on tone and such. Perhaps a little mix with gray to lighten to what you need.

[MikeR]

Looking good so far!

 

My dad built a few of these for me back in the late '80's. If I remember correctly he had to do some slimming of the "nobs" that the gun mounts slot onto as the fit was a bit problematic.

 

Mike.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Guys, thanks for your comments.

     Thom I'm considering adding white to the tin of Hu79 to make a lighter grey, since it's not the correct colour anyway. But I'd like to lighten the sides rather than the decks, and as I've already attached the base with the underwater hull colour I might leave the tin as it is until the next model, and stick with what I've done so far for this build. Thank you for the idea though.

     And Mike, I found the same thing when I dry-fitted the turrets to test the thickness of them. A very tight fit, so I drilled the holes in the turrets out a little. Much better. I suppose I'll have to do the same with the torpedo tubes - but I haven't checked them yet.

     Regards, Jeff.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, I have a small amount of progress to report on IJN Yukikaze, namely the aft gun pits that replaced no2 turret.

     The lower level gun pit is glued on but the upper gun pit is dry fitted at present. The deck-house these gun pits are mounted on is off centre, to allow space for the aft reload torpedoes, and this caused me to glue the lower gun pit crooked, but I didn't notice until after the glue was dry. I tried to remove it and tore a great chunk out of it. I was able to salvage it however and didn't have to make a new one.

     The upper level gun pit is the second one I've made, the first didn't look very good. I think it's going to be 'fun' trying to glue it level and straight, plus the mainmast tripod legs (seen here also dry fitted) vertical at the same time.

   Those white strips of plastic at the edge of the hull are screens shielding some of the single 25mm AA guns I still have to make. You can see the holes I've drilled in the deck to take them, two guns behind each of the screens. There are more towards the stern and on the foc'sle deck abreast of the bridge structure.

     I've also painted the scratched deck levels to the rear of the bridge, plus glued the guns to the turrets and painted same, but no photo of them yet.

 

Well, that's it. Tune in next month for another tiny installment.      Thank you for your interest. Continue to stay safe, and regards to all, Jeff.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, IJN Yukikaze now has her funnels fitted.

     I did the fore funnel first, but it didn't fit very secure. I then tried to fit the forward reload torpedo canisters but couldn't get them on - the locating pins on the casing were too large and long for the holes in the canisters. So I drilled out the holes and shortened the pins. Much better. But I wasn't happy with the funnel so off it came. I then sliced off the poor excuse for the locating pin (it was much too small for the locating hole in the casing), filed the base of the funnel flat, drilled then fitted a much thicker locating pin and finally re-attached the funnel. Again, much better. I did the same for the aft funnel in advance.

     The aft funnel doesn't have sufficient rake (backward lean) I think (my fault) but when the AA gun platform was added it hides this somewhat. The pillars holding up this AA platform had square pins at the base but round holes in the deck - go figure! When filed round the locating pins were naturally too small, so the usual solution, plug the holes then re-drill them smaller.

     The fore tripod mast is fitted now, but I think the forward leg has a bit too much rake but I'm not changing it now. It was a piece of rod I added, so my fault. You can see the platform added to the fore tripod, and a hole drilled to take the top mast, which I think I'll scratch-build and add later.

    In the foreground are the two turrets  which I deepened with 0.5mm styrene card, and the range-finder added to the director.

 

That's it for now. Thank you for your interest. Stay safe and regards, Jeff.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, I've now fitted the two quad torpedo tubes to IJN Yukikaze, plus the gantries that I assume have something to do with loading/reloading the tubes. The gantry that straddles the four aft reloads was missing from the kit so I had a go at making my own. That's the white thingy (a technical term) down aft.

The forward reload torpedoes are stored alongside the forward funnel, two either side. Each pair has it's own gantry, although only one (port side) is visible in this photo.

     The forward funnel has an exhaust flue attached to it, as seen here. The kit part has it coming from the bridge superstructure, but in reality it comes up from the foc'sle deck so I've extended it down, seen here as that white curved rod. I've confirmed this from a photo of the actual ship.

     The main searchlight is fitted on it's stand abaft the second funnel, and the director with range-finder is dry fitted above the bridge, just to see what it looks like.

 

Well, that's it for now. Stay safe, and regards to all, Jeff.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, this is IJN Yukikaze showing her full armament fitted, although the main turrets are just dry fitted at present. This photo is not the best angle to show the vessel but I wanted to include some of the box art of a kit that supplied the light AA guns.

     In front of the model is the left-over turret, showing the white styrene sheeting added underneath to give the extra depth I thought the turrets needed, plus the mounting hole drilled out a little. The light AA weapons came from another kit, the Pit Road kit of Escort Type No2 kit the model is sitting on in this photo. The guns of this kit are a lot better than those of the original Hasegawa kit I used, and better than anything I could have made. As you can see on the box, the Escort Type No2 kit contains two models. A sprue is provided for each of the two hulls, plus a combined weapons sprue to share. This weapons sprue was quite generous and a considerable number of twin and triple 25mm AA mounts were provided, enough for the two models of the kit and this model also. But it only had six single mounts (I needed fourteen) so I split some twins and triples to get the single 25mm guns I needed and used four of the slimmer kit singles for the four 13mm machine-guns that Yukikaze carried as well. The depth charge rails came from this kit too, and I also intend to pilfer the two radar sets from it.

     The two boats carried are from the original Hasegawa kit. Four boats were originally carried but the two abreast of the bridge were removed when the extra single 25mm AA guns were fitted there mid to late war. 

     The model only needs the masts done now, which should be 'fun'. I hope to have them done soon. 

So, thank you for your interest. Stay safe in these times (all times, really) and regards to all, Jeff.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday All, I have now done the masts on IJN Yukikaze.

     For both masts I used the rearward tripod bracing legs from the kit and scratch built the rest. The main topmast (left of photo) is a continuation of the forward leg and is made from 0.5mm styrene rod, with a yard of stretched sprue. The platform at the top of the tripod is from 0.25x1.5mm styrene strip. A type13 radar antenna is mounted on the front of the mainmast tripod. It was used for aircraft detection.

     The foremast bracing legs (right of photo) had it's own platform but I glued another to it to get the correct shape and to give more support to the fore topmast. That platform addition is the white piece in the photo in the previous post. Again the topmast is of 0.5mm styrene rod with yards of stretched sprue. The middle set of yards sweep backwards and upwards. On the platform in front of the topmast is the type22 radar, looking a bit like a double fog horn. This radar was used for aircraft and surface detection, but could also be used for gunnery control. Both radar fittings came from the Pit Road kit mentioned in the previous post. Also mounted on the fore topmast is a lookout position. From photos it appears to be enclosed rather than an open crow's nest and has a viewing window facing forward. I meant to include the kit topmasts in the photo for comparison but I forgot.

     As mentioned in the previous post the light AA guns came from the Pit Road kit, and can be seen a bit better here. The twin (in front of the bridge) and triple 25mm guns came separate from the mountings they slid into. Although the barrels are a bit chunky I think they look OK, better than the Hasegawa kit guns, and better than anything I could make. The Pit Road kit came with only six single mounts so I made the single 25mm guns by separating some twins and triples and mounted them on 0.5mm pedestals. I used four of the kit singles as 13mm machine guns. I did not know where they were fitted so I invoked modeler's license and fitted then about midships, those guns just below the break in the foc'sle deck and just in front of the boats. All the light guns are painted gun metal (Hu53) and appear a bit shinier than I intended.

 

     And here she is, IJN Yukikaze 1945, the sole survivor of her class and one of only four Japanese destroyers to survive WW2.

     I'll post more photos in the gallery soon.

 

Thank you for your interest and including me in this group build. Stay safe, and regards to all, Jeff.