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IJN Hibiki +++FINISHED+++


Ray S

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Hello all, this is my third build (excluding HMS Gloucester 1910 which has stalled) for this GB, and in keeping with In the Navy, it is another floaty subject.

 

This is the Tamiya 1/700 kit of the Hibiki, a Destroyer which was the 22nd type special destroyer and was completed in March 1931. The Hibiki first saw action in July 1937 off Central and Northern China, and it then proceeded through the Pacific War and survived. It was eventually handed over to the Soviet Navy as a reparation vessel on July 5th, 1947.

 

She was considered a 'lucky' ship, but was damaged a few times, and nearly sunk, but she always scraped through. The obligatory photographs:

 

DSCN5856

 

The illustration is a fabulous one, and I think it really conveys the speed of this ship.

 

DSCN5857

 

The hull is fairly plane, and this shows the only drawback that these early kits have - no scuttles or detail along the hull sides. I have had to fill a couple of sink marks; I thought they were where the anchors went, but were in the wrong place. Speaking of which, this instructions show to paint the anchors gun metal, but there are none moulded on the hull, nor in the parts.

 

DSCN5858

 

One of the runners is dated 1972, so it is an early model in the Waterline range, but Tamiya have supplied an upgrade set for this kit, runner 'X'. It will come in handy to improve some parts of the model:

 

DSCN5860

 

Thankfully, parts number 7 are a couple of anchors, so that will solve one issue! I will be able to use a few of these parts, the tripple torpedo tubes, a couple of the 12.7cm guns, and some of the smaller armament. The instructions are nice and clear, and in English

 

DSCN5859

 

This will be built out of the box with no etch. I think that if the model had been moulded with scuttles and sidewall details on the superstructure I would have added railing at least. I have drilled scuttles in the past, but it looked like a drunkards walk as far as straightness was concerned!

 

More soon,

 

Ray

Edited by Ray S
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Most of my work today has centered on this Hibiki model. I have built up some of the sub-assemblies, and replaced the kit 12.7cm guns with the upgraded parts supplied.

 

DSCN5861

 

The upgraded duns have more surface detail (over-scale or not, to me it looks better), and they also have built-in blast bags which were totally missing on the original kit parts. The compass bridge was a multi-layered structure and went together quite well, but I did need to clean up some flash and seam lines.

 

DSCN5862

 

The painting guide is on the back of the box and is in Japanese only, but it does give Tamiya XF53 as the main colour scheme. I do not have Tamiya paints, so I have used Humbrol 164 Acrylic for this, but this time I will remember to use a matt varnish when I paint it so it is not too shiny! In the Humbrol paint guide, they show three equivalents in the Humbrol range, 126, 128 and 156, all of which appear too light (and very varied) to me. Here she is just dry-fitted (except for the funnel stacks):

 

DSCN5864

 

In this image, the matt varnish is on the hull sides, but not the superstructure.

 

Well, that is it for now, hopefully I will be able to crack on with this, and with luck I aim to try and weather it too, to a similar extent as the box illustration shows, but no sea base.

 

All the best,

 

Ray

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Hi Ray,

 

Another nice choice. I have both Hibiki and Akatsuki from this class of 4 destroyers . When the Fubuki class of destroyers entered service in 1927 they were termed the "Special Type" as they were more heavily armed that any other destroyer in service anywhere with 6 x 5"and 9 tubes for  24" torpedos - the RN responded with the Tribals with 8 x 4.7". There were 2 sub classes of the Fubuki, and the Akatsuki class that followed was therefore designated the 3rd "Special Type" group. Like many IJN ships they were a bit top heavy and had to be modified - the next 2 classes had the main armament reduced by one gun to save top weight. Hibiki was one of the very few IJN destroyers to survive the war, being handed to the Russians as "reparation" - possibly renamed Pritky. Compared with the Fubuki's they had less boilers but ran at a higher pressure - as a consequence the forward funnel is rather thinner which some would say spoils their lines a bit.

 

As I mentioned elsewhere in this build, there is some question as to whether or not the white Katakana characters showing the ship name were actually overpainted after the start of the war. Hibiki is I think the "late war" version so one of the 3 twin 5" gun turrets has been removed (the one on the deck house at the rear) and more AA guns added - originally they had 6 x 5" and 2 x 13mm but by the end of the war she had 4 x 5" and could have had between 22 and 28 x 25mm and up to 10 x 13mm. Akatsuki still has the 6 x 5" as the "early" version.

 

Should look good. Incidentally. If you fancy another one I have Fujimi's so called Matsu (actually I read somewhere it is a later modified version called the Tachibana's) going begging as I already have 2 and this was part of the Jintsu package I bought but did not really want. They were the last IJN destroyers built and were heavily simplified - probably more accurate to call them Destroyer Escorts as they had finally woken up to the threat of allied submarines - far too late. Yours for free if you PM me your postal address.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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21 hours ago, PeterB said:

Hi Ray,

 

If you fancy another one I have Fujimi's so called Matsu (actually I read somewhere it is a later modified version called the Tachibana's) going begging as I already have 2 and this was part of the Jintsu package I bought but did not really want. They were the last IJN destroyers built and were heavily simplified - probably more accurate to call them Destroyer Escorts as they had finally woken up to the threat of allied submarines - far too late. Yours for free if you PM me your postal address.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Hello @PeterB, I will pm you shortly, thank you very much for that offer indeed.

 

It does look like this Hibiki is late war, and Tamiya suggested in their guide that the hull markings were overpainted at the outbreak of war, so, despite me wanting to put them on and make her look a little different, I will not this time.

 

22 hours ago, rob85 said:

Another ship, bilimey your on a roll with these Japanese vessels, really good to see.

 

Rob

Yes @rob85, I am on a bit of a roll! I have had these in the stash for quite a while, and I am really glad I have found a 'spiritual home' for them on BM!

 

I have been able to get a few bits done to Hibiki today, but Flickr is playing up at the moment, so I cannot post any images. I will try again tomorrow, and now catch up on some of the other great builds in this Group Build!

 

All the best,

 

Ray

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Okay, Flickr loaded okay and I got the pictures on.

 

One of the great things about the upgrade parts that are sometimes supplied with the Tamiya kits is that they give a lot more detail. One area I found I particularly liked were the two main guns. There are rivets (probably over-sized), but the main thing was that the blast bags were just about spot on as far as I am concerned. They really sprang to life when I gave them a coat of Humbrol 127.

 

DSCN5868

 

There were no representations of them on the original parts. On the upgrades, apart from the 'rivets', there were also some other details too, which added interest. The torpedo tubes were another case in point, they had much more surface detail too:

 

DSCN5869

 

They had the 'rivets, but also banding on the tubes and detail aft. So much better than the plain originals. The torpedo loading rails I picked out by running a silver pencil along the tracks, so they stand out a little better now.

 

There is a rather convoluted pipe which runs from the rear of the control tower, around the foremast and next to the funnel. This had some obvious seam lines around it (hardly surprising considering the shape of it), and a flat plate at the end. I assumed it was a steam pipe or similar, so I managed to open up the end of it to make it hollow. It took some doing to open up the pipe rather than my fingers with the drill!

 

DSCN5870

 

I have added a few other bits, including the first of the single machine guns, and that almost did not make it! It had some flash on the end of the barrel, and, when I tried to clean that up, it popped out of my fingers and a mad scramble in amongst the carpet ensued, but the plastic was found eventually! The control tower is still only dry fitted, but the rest is glued on. Some matt varnish is still needed in places.

 

DSCN5873

 

So that is where IJN Hibiki sits at the moment, hopefully I will have another update tomorrow.

 

Thanks for looking in, and for the kind things written, it is all very appreciated.

 

Ray

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Hi Ray,

 

Just been looking at the Osprey book s on IJN destroyers, and they have a pic of Hibiki which they say was taken on December 10th 1941 during the invasion of Malaya - it looks as if the side name markings have been overpainted rather thinly as there is still a hint of them showing I believe. So you could put them on and overpaint them with a thin wash if you really wanted.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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Gidday Ray, you're certainly on a roll with these. I plan on converting a IJN Yugumo into Yukikaze 1945 for the "Journey's End GB" which starts tomorrow, although I want to get a bit more done on USS England first. Like your IJN Hibiki she has no.2 5-inch turret replaced with triple 25mm AA guns. Your ship and mine were I think two of only four Japanese destroyers that survived the war. 

     I like what you're doing with your model, and I think it will be interesting to compare the two ships when they are both done. Regards, Jeff.

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9 hours ago, PeterB said:

Hi Ray,

 

Just been looking at the Osprey book s on IJN destroyers, and they have a pic of Hibiki which they say was taken on December 10th 1941 during the invasion of Malaya - it looks as if the side name markings have been overpainted rather thinly as there is still a hint of them showing I believe. So you could put them on and overpaint them with a thin wash if you really wanted.

 

Pete

Oh goody! I have never tried applying washes (paint wise!) to ships, I will give it a go.

 

5 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Ray, you're certainly on a roll with these. I plan on converting a IJN Yugumo into Yukikaze 1945 for the "Journey's End GB" which starts tomorrow, although I want to get a bit more done on USS England first. Like your IJN Hibiki she has no.2 5-inch turret replaced with triple 25mm AA guns. Your ship and mine were I think two of only four Japanese destroyers that survived the war. 

     I like what you're doing with your model, and I think it will be interesting to compare the two ships when they are both done. Regards, Jeff.

I have clocked your intentions on 'Journey's End' already Jeff, and I think that is a good idea!

 

Cheers, Ray

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Hello all. I have now finished this IJN Hibiki (at least for the moment anyway).

 

I was able to get the last few bits on today, all went quite well, except for construction of the foremast. The location was a bit vague, no section of the mast was a vertical in real life, the tripod lower was all angles, and the upper canted back too!. Anyway, it is on, and straight when looked at from the bow, so that was a result.

 

DSCN5892

 

I used the upgrade parts for the cutters, but the location holes for the davits were closer together than the original kit boats' were, so I angled the davits in slightly, making them 'pigeon-toed'. The increase in quality of the replacement boats was worth it. I was not so lucky with the other boats, again the location holes for the davits were closer together, but I could not angle the davits in quite so easily, so I ended up using the original boats (the ones with the white cabins).

 

DSCN5891

 

As you can probably see on the above photo, I slightly misaligned the base plate - a hazard of using high power magnifiers and not being able to see close-up without them! The magnifiers seem to alter perspective quite a lot, and I completely missed this until this morning, when it had set tight!

 

I had put on the depth charge rails, they had the charges moulded in integrally, I should have replaced them. However, I tried to show the charges as 'drums' by painting them Humbrol 67 and giving them a rounder shape along the carrier sides. I may have got away with it in this small scale!

 

DSCN5889

 

This is how she looks now:

 

DSCN5882

 

This really shows how plain the ship hull sides are. It seems quite strange that they did not put scuttles along the sides, they did with some of the other ships produced around the same time.

 

Now, I mentioned that the ship was finished (for now), but I want to do an experiment with it. The illustration on the box shows quite heavy weathering. Well, I want to try and replicate some of that. In addition, it has been mentioned by @PeterB that the ship's name may have still been visible after partial repainting at the start of the war. So I want to add the transfers, and try and lightly paint over the markings. So, if it all goes to pot, you can at least see what she looked like before!

 

I will pop some more photographs into the Gallery shortly.

 

Thanks for looking, and for the input.

 

All the best, Ray

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Looks good Ray,

 

A thought on the davits - as I said in my Jintsu build, these kit instructions always show the boats hanging from the davits but I am not convinced that is correct. Pictures seem to show most if not all of them on frames or chocks on the deck connected to the davits by cables, so I just put mine under the davits this time round - saves the fiddle of gluing them on and also makes them a lot less likely to break off like most of mine have in storage. With regards to the name characters, the pic was right at the start of the war and it probably was repainted later, but then it would have weathered so what the heck - there might well be a "ghost" of them showing through at the period you are modelling it. I have seen a pic of a destroyer (not Hibiki) with the name clearly not overpainted and the caption says it was taken in 1943 I think, so go with whatever you fancy!

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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Gidday Ray, I think it looks very good. I agree that the hull looks a little bland now, but only after you pointed it out. I've never drilled scuttles in the hull all the way through but on some of my scratch-builds I've drilled a little way in. I don't know if I'd risk a finished build though. As for the locating holes for the davits, If I have a hole too big or in the wrong place I often plug it with styrene rod or sprue then re-drill it. HTH.

     And Pete, that's an interesting observation regarding the stowage of the boats under the davits. I'll try to remember it.

 

Once again Ray, well done. Regards, Jeff.

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14 hours ago, PeterB said:

Looks good Ray,

 

A thought on the davits - as I said in my Jintsu build, these kit instructions always show the boats hanging from the davits but I am not convinced that is correct. Pictures seem to show most if not all of them on frames or chocks on the deck connected to the davits by cables, so I just put mine under the davits this time round - saves the fiddle of gluing them on and also makes them a lot less likely to break off like most of mine have in storage. With regards to the name characters, the pic was right at the start of the war and it probably was repainted later, but then it would have weathered so what the heck - there might well be a "ghost" of them showing through at the period you are modelling it. I have seen a pic of a destroyer (not Hibiki) with the name clearly not overpainted and the caption says it was taken in 1943 I think, so go with whatever you fancy!

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

9 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Ray, I think it looks very good. I agree that the hull looks a little bland now, but only after you pointed it out. I've never drilled scuttles in the hull all the way through but on some of my scratch-builds I've drilled a little way in. I don't know if I'd risk a finished build though. As for the locating holes for the davits, If I have a hole too big or in the wrong place I often plug it with styrene rod or sprue then re-drill it. HTH.

     And Pete, that's an interesting observation regarding the stowage of the boats under the davits. I'll try to remember it.

 

Once again Ray, well done. Regards, Jeff.

Hello both, thanks for those comments. Well, after Peter had mentioned about the davits, I thought about checking pictures of the real thing (a bit late, I know...) and found a great image of Hibiki which showed how the fore cutters were stowed, and they were on blocks of some sort, and the davits were angled inboard.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Hibiki_(1932)

 

That image is interesting, it shows the cutters forward on chocks/blocks, but the covered boats near to the aft funnel are on the davits, which are of a different type. I will see if I can modify my model in the light of this, so thanks for pointing this out. I must have missed (more likely forgot knowing me) the original information, because I read all of the Jintsu thread.

 

Another learning experience is to ensure I look at some images of the ship before I build it! I am off to check up on the IJN Kinu now, before I boo-boo again!

 

Thanks for the guidance, it really was appreciated.

 

Ray

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Hi Ray,

 

I will have a look and see if I have any pics of Kinu - should at least have something in that class. When you think about how davits work, or at least how I assume they work, if the boat is stowed inboard it has to be swung out between the davits, so the must be wide enough apart to allow that I would have thought. They work like minature cranes so first the boat would be cranked up into the air, then the davits swung round so that the boat moves out over the side - I guess the cables have a swivel attachment to allow that. The ones provided in most if not all of these kits therefore may be a little too close together, but then I might have got the operation all wrong - could be that they are articulated so that the upper part can be "leaned backwards" to provide the required clearance which might explain the odd shape of the ones on the replacement sprue, or maybe the curve of the "swan neck" type provides a "cut out" big enough for the boat to pass through if you see what I mean - not a subject I know much about and frankly I would not worry about it too much in this scale.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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