1/350 Carriers Taiho and Graf Zeppelin

[S-boat 55]

2 hours ago, Faraway said:

How about red, to suggest night lighting ?

Jon

That's a good idea and would draw the eye in, I guess could do both pretty easy 

 

 

[Gisbod]

Just catching up Sam, 

 

Great progress so far. What an interesting build.

 

Guy

[73north]

If interested AJ Press of Poland ( now gone sadly ) did a book on the Carrier 

GZ ( I have it ) with world class diagrams and artwork . 

If you need a photo of any PM me , and I can post them via email or post them here .

I also have a few WW2 original wartime photos of her at Gotenhafen and Stettin , including her under camo nets in the river later in 1943/44 moored further away from Stettin up river .

best one is the one taken of her under completion in 1940 in the shipyard 

with one taken on her deck ( I was only bidder ) next to the Funnel and the 2 masts .

 

[S-boat 55]

4 hours ago, 73north said:

If interested AJ Press of Poland ( now gone sadly ) did a book on the Carrier 

GZ ( I have it ) with world class diagrams and artwork . 

If you need a photo of any PM me , and I can post them via email or post them here .

I also have a few WW2 original wartime photos of her at Gotenhafen and Stettin , including her under camo nets in the river later in 1943/44 moored further away from Stettin up river .

best one is the one taken of her under completion in 1940 in the shipyard 

with one taken on her deck ( I was only bidder ) next to the Funnel and the 2 masts .

 

Hi,

 

thanks for the offer, it's going to be slow going but I'll likely drop you a line at some point

 

Sam

[S-boat 55]

So exciting news, well exciting for me - I feel like I'm five again!  the other ship has nearly reached port and is expected tomorrow/saturday, its this..;

 

 

When it arrives I shall take many sprue shots for you all, 

 

Now this is balanced by the fact that work has suddenly gone unbelievably busy which is why this build and Dunkerque being finished off has gone a little quiet, but I've decided that I'll definitely be working on both as a pair for a while at least. So question - is a joint thread okay or would separate ones be better? 

 

Thanks

 

Sam

 

[Jerry L]

Make it easy on you, joint thread, looking forward to the photos of the TAIHO.

[Faraway]

14 minutes ago, S-boat 55 said:

So question - is a joint thread okay or would separate ones be better?

A joint one would be fine for me.  And that looks to be an interesting ship, I will have to have a look for this.

Jon

[beefy66]

Agree joint thread but be careful you do not mix the parts up or it will be a WTF not a WHIFF build of both.  

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[S-boat 55]

Okay, so here are many sprue shots, I've promised myself to not photo everything and slowly bore you all to death, I'll put a link to more the photos on one drive for a while at the bottom. I'll leave the images at their original size so they may zoom in better... i think...i dont know how these things work, 

 

Apologies, these are taken on my phone so aren't great but its the best I have access to at present, 

 

The hull comes in pretty standard form but well fixed onto its own cardboard leaf, how they fix it in i dont know, i had to destroy the carboard to get it out lol. 

 

I personally think the detail on the hull is amazing, there are one or two areas where the hull platting varies in depth 'mid run' but aside that its very very good, and includes the grills on the bottom of the hull. 

 

I was thinking of infilling certain runs so that they sit slightly prouder than their neighbours by layering up a bit of primer or paint. I'll confess i dont know what the semi circle of dots is? any ideas?

 

As you move into the parts they are equally detailed;

 

Very fire arent the first to do high detail stuff but it is to my eyes very cleanly/crisply moulded

Its not perfect of course, there are some ejector marks in places and odd bits to fill but im not to worried on those as they are so minor, and a lot of this detail has to come off anyway but more on that later, 

 

 

Oddly they've gone to the trouble of moulding on detail underneath the lifts and at the base of the wells, not sure why as it just wont be seen irrespective of where you position the lift, 

 

This will sound ridiculous but my favourite part is the rudder, rivets for rivet counters, 

Boats are pretty good, 

 

So there must be a reason for it but they give you four copies of sprue J, i guess at least i'll have spare props, 

 

I did find a couple of awkwardly positions seams but they are very very minor, 

 

Some parts are tiny for plastic! i'll have to endeavour not to melt the blighters when fixing them in place, 

 

The planes (of which there are only 8 unfortunately) are actually models in their own right, its often said but these are certainly, better than the trumpeter planes ive seen,

 

 

The aa guns are very thin for plastic again, im not certain that aftermarket stuff will really improve them, certainly when it comes to the barrels, 

 

They do include pieces to replicate the steel beams supporting the ends of the flight deck, they've done them like this for a reason, they're fine if plain and oversized, 

 

 The flight deck is in 2 parts which planking detail, theres been argument over whether she had a latex of planked deck. Photo's that have surfaced of a pilot standinf with his plane on board clearly show planking. The model is set for the battle fo the phillipie sea, during which she was sunk. From the little i have read her deck was painted black/darkened just before the campaign so that'll be interesting to ponder when it comes to paint. At present im thinking do it as 'wood' then overcoat it to darken it but we'll see. 

 

The join is in line with one of the arrestor wires so shouldnt be too noticeable with a bit of 'gentle' work. 

 

Now i got so excited for this that I spent a bit more for the dx version, - now we do not discuss this with the wife! Its a chunk more but includes brass barrels, masts, a several sheets of photo etch for nets, navigation lights etc and several resin parts for search lights etc, 

 

It includes things like individual ladder loops witha  drilling guide - im not confident on this one, but I'll give it a go, 

 

You'll notice a lot of perforated beams for the deck support and under the lifts etc, as some of it just wont be visible, im hoping to rehome some of it to graf zeppelin to raise her level a bit. 

 

Whether i'll get anywhere near this standard i dont know, but one can but try, 

 

The DX kit comes with the main photo etch as part A, there is also part B which is the arrestor wires and a wooden deck for her but its £91, which for a deck and very little etch seems too high to me, i may wait and see if ti drops (significantly) whilst i build slowly but i doubt it will for a while. There is also a part C which is extra aircraft and the associate photo etch, that again is £90 odd. It does have 45 aircraft complete with photoetch canopies and resin cockpits, yes resin cockpits! I've not invested, it looks very good in the photo's from veryfire but its a lot of money and to you'd have to be completely sure of getting a good result from that kind of investment. Very very impressive though. 

 

So there are a few shots of the kit, there are more on the link below which i'll leave open for a while,

 

 

https://1drv.ms/a/s!Arco4SQ9xxLFoRnzrqSwF0TJViGt

 

 

 

Thanks

 

Sam

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by S-boat 55

[S-boat 55]

And here we go...... made a start on Taiho, 

 

Rather forntuatly from the modellers point of view there is very little info out there on her as a ship. The Japanese were very successful in keeping all details secret, as a result i think there are only a few photos - so far I have found 3, and none of her construction. She was supposed to be a new type of armoured carrier, not susceptible to anything other than several bomb and torpedo hits, taking major damage before being put out of action. The reality was far from it, she had design flaws exacerbated by inexperienced crews and was sunk during the Philippines campaign by a single torpedo from an American submarine in 1944 little more than weeks after being commissioned.

 

Im pleased to report that the fit of the two hull halves was akin to a glove and hand as they say, the locating pins held them together and it was just a bit of tamiya thin and slight pressure to fix them proper like. 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by, 

 

Sam

 

[Faraway]

1 hour ago, S-boat 55 said:

I'll confess i dont know what the semi circle of dots is? any ideas?

I had the same question on a Japanese Destroyer and @Adm Lord De Univers supplied the answer.

It is a type 93 Hydrophone.

 

Jon

Edited September 18, 2021 by Faraway

[Faraway]

I forgot to mention, what is a very impressive collection of plastic. VeryFire do seem quite good at doing detailed moulding. For a brief time, before I sold it after realising it was too small for me to make, I had a 1/700 kit by them. The detail on that was stunning. Looking forward to this build.

I also forgot to ask, where did you get it ?

Jon

Edited September 18, 2021 by Faraway

[EwenS]

You will find a detailed history of her here

http://www.combinedfleet.com/Taiho.htm

 

The now defunct AJ Press did a two volume set of books with many drawings and pieces of artwork, some drawn from original ships plans. If you intend adding a lower hangar as you are doing with GZ watch out for the armour layout on the lower hangar floor. Drawings seem to show part of it with a slope over the boiler uptakes that I am still trying to fully understand. It makes no sense in terms of parking aircraft down there.

 

You will also find some photos, deck plans and cross sections (including one with that awkward hangar floor) here

https://www.armouredcarriers.com/japanese-aircraft-carrier-taiho-armoured-flight-decks

 

 

[Gisbod]

Looks fun Sam!

 

Guy

[S-boat 55]

1 hour ago, Faraway said:

I forgot to mention, what is a very impressive collection of plastic. VeryFire do seem quite good at doing detailed moulding. For a brief time, before I sold it after realising it was too small for me to make, I had a 1/700 kit by them. The detail on that was stunning. Looking forward to this build.

I also forgot to ask, where did you get it ?

Jon

Antics online, they're based over our neck of the woods, they were great, kept me up to date, replied to emails prompt and dispatch next next day delivery 

[S-boat 55]

48 minutes ago, EwenS said:

You will find a detailed history of her here

http://www.combinedfleet.com/Taiho.htm

 

The now defunct AJ Press did a two volume set of books with many drawings and pieces of artwork, some drawn from original ships plans. If you intend adding a lower hangar as you are doing with GZ watch out for the armour layout on the lower hangar floor. Drawings seem to show part of it with a slope over the boiler uptakes that I am still trying to fully understand. It makes no sense in terms of parking aircraft down there.

 

You will also find some photos, deck plans and cross sections (including one with that awkward hangar floor) here

https://www.armouredcarriers.com/japanese-aircraft-carrier-taiho-armoured-flight-decks

 

 

Thanks Ewen, I'll have  a look at the sites, I'd seen a bit on the armoured carrier site but not the other, 

 

The kit comes with elevator Wells for both fore and aft but no hangar to join them, I'm going to see if you can see past the well enough to warrant any additions, 

 

Thanks for the sites

 

Sam 

[Faraway]

49 minutes ago, S-boat 55 said:

Antics online, they're based over our neck of the woods, they were great, kept me up to date, replied to emails prompt and dispatch next next day delivery 

I use the shop in Bristol often.

[Adm Lord De Univers]

3 hours ago, Faraway said:

had the same question on a Japanese Destroyer and @Adm Lord De Univers supplied the answer.

It is a type 93 Hydrophone

Did I? Hopefully the right answer then! 😄 - a friend of mine filed one of those in (thinking a small mouse had been at the mould or something, I dunno).

 

There's a lot of bits here and that detail is stunning, I think this is going to be fun. Oh and that rudder is a thing of beauty.😍

 

David

[S-boat 55]

Hi All, 

 

Apologies for a lack of update, I've mainly been making a plan of attack for graf zeppelin, taiho looks simple by comparison (I should not have said that). 

 

I've stumbled into a issue with the Zep though, the flight deck is warped, its not major but I think it'll have to go on earlier than I had hoped as I don't want to do lots of pulling it around once the hull is painted. So this has got me contemplating how to paint her. I've settled on an earlier period for her so I can utilise the bi planes. 

 

From the little I understand on the kriegsmarine schemes at the time they were broadly as Bismarcks, namely dunkelgrau 51 on the main hull and 50 on the uppers. I could do that on Zep, would it then be 51 to the flight deck then change to 50, or due to her height perhaps change from 51 to 50 halfway up? Could just be 51 all over....... I'm in a quandary, any thoughts would be very much welcomed, 

 

Thanks

 

Sam

[Martian]

21 minutes ago, S-boat 55 said:

I've mainly been making a plan of attack for graf zeppelin, taiho looks simple by comparison (I should not have said that). 

I wouldn't say you will be eating those words sooner rather than later but I'll lay the table for you: silver service if you like?

 

Mars' answer to Jeeves 👽

[VinBizz4786_]

Probably the most beautiful japanese aircraft carrier ! Cant wait to see this one completed !! 

[Modelholic]

It befuddles me a little how a manufacturer can make both sides of the hull one piece each but has to make a (shorter) deck piece in two parts.

Tom

[S-boat 55]

I have had a realisation, Carriers require an awful lot of thought in planning out what and how to do it, i feel like Dorothy realising she isn't in Kansas anymore,

 

 

Liking doing two together though, thinking as these are two axis carriers, maybe after this a pair of allied would be a good balance, (still one must not get ahead of ones self)

 

However i have drilled out the necessaries on Zep, treid some cheap drill bits, bent on the second hole, took 20 odd turns to get through, bought some proxxon 0.8mm bits - chalk and cheese, 3-4 turns per hole, little burring, lasted all 700 odd holes.

 

Thanks for stopping in, 

 

Sam

 

[Faraway]

If that was me, building two together. I’d be sure to get parts muddled and get German parts on Japanese and visa versa.

You have my admiration.

Jon

 

[S-boat 55]

1 hour ago, Faraway said:

If that was me, building two together. I’d be sure to get parts muddled and get German parts on Japanese and visa versa.

You have my admiration.

Jon

 

Well...at the moment the plastics are two different shades of grey, when primed or painted that's where the confusion may start ..... it'll be fine....at least that's what I'm telling myself