1/350 Carriers Taiho and Graf Zeppelin

[Courageous]

On 1/10/2022 at 11:46 AM, S-boat 55 said:

(im assuming the top are ladder rungs and below are rigging eyelets)

That's insane, that'd push me over the edge doing that lot...better you than me. Good luck.

 

Stuart

[S-boat 55]

1 hour ago, Courageous said:

That's insane, that'd push me over the edge doing that lot...better you than me. Good luck.

 

Stuart

I'll confess the more I look at it the more I'm chickening out, we'll see but she's a bit of a time thirsty build anyway, and I'm not sure it'll really notice that much, 

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Re-reading your comments earlier, I find I didn’t answer your question correctly; the PE scuttles I’m using for Ark are a combo of VeryFire & Flyhawk

[S-boat 55]

8 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Re-reading your comments earlier, I find I didn’t answer your question correctly; the PE scuttles I’m using for Ark are a combo of VeryFire & Flyhawk

Thanks, I've looked at northstars but they seem forever out of stock

[S-boat 55]

34 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Re-reading your comments earlier, I find I didn’t answer your question correctly; the PE scuttles I’m using for Ark are a combo of VeryFire & Flyhawk

How many do you reckon are needed?

[S-boat 55]

Very small update, been working on both of them, Taiho's platforms are slowly progressing, I'm waiting on some bits to come in the post to speed it up a bit though. finished off the hanger wells using a bit of l'arsenals perforated beams, so they're ready to prime, 

 

 

One advantage to her is from what I can see everything above the water line was painted the same shade of grey, deck, bulkhead, fitting, all the same so that does simplify things. If that isn't the case please do let me know, 

 

Also been finishing off the boat deck on Zeppelin as well just using spare bits from the redundant plastic parts in the kit and spare photoetch, the davits and cable reels will go on post painting so this is essentially ready to prime and paint along with the hangars now. 

 

 

 

More later hopefully

 

Sam

[S-boat 55]

Little bit on the flight deck, the wooden deck includes a 'tramway' for the the cradle launch system, it does however create an issue as it fits with the kit not the eduard set. You'll see the kit has longer catapults, the wooden deck stops at the same point so I need to suss that one out. Also been a bit dim and stick the tramways on without sorting the remaining plastic part of the catapult out so that will be more fiddly now. 

 

 

Bit of progress on the underside of the forward deck, this was a real faff so beware my mistakes all ye who use the same aftermarket stuff. The fit of the eduard stuff is very good, however as its one sheet folded to make the main plate to which the supports are added its fiddly. When yuo try and apply any pressure to the underside to glue the supports in places, it deforms a little, the square section that goes over the underside of the catapult trays then prevents the middle of the support 'girder'  from contacting the plate and so won't stick. I realised this after taking 30 mins to try and do the first six. The last six took five mins as I put a pair of rulers under the upper side of he deck and that prevented any play from occurring. This likely makes no sense but i mention it as it was a pain that didn't need to be a pain and hope to prevent someone else the headache. There's more to go on here yet but this is where its at, 

 

 

Last issue is the davits for the boat decks, they-re one sides and being flat brass are so thin when held in place and viewed anyway other than the front don't look very good, not sure what best to do with them really, maybe just try and use something else but coming up stumps on what. 

 

 

s-boat

Edited January 19, 2022 by S-boat 55

[Adm Lord De Univers]

Didn't understand your instructions for the underside there at all (I think more my lack of sleep than your wording), but looks v fiddly and something my flailing fat fingers would've mangled up no end, so good job.

 

There are wood packs that provide deck edging of wierd shapes etc, that may be useful for the tramway/catapults, otherwise may require you to use the excess wood deck to score and cut to shape? i.e. to make your own planks and then cut the wooden deck to size...

 

 Personally, I would just claim that's where the wood stopped to stop interference with the tramway/catapult and paint the underlying deck where the wood should be a dirty steel colour. I'd then shove a plane over the top just in case...

 

David

[S-boat 55]

22 minutes ago, Adm Lord De Univers said:

Didn't understand your instructions for the underside there at all (I think more my lack of sleep than your wording), but looks v fiddly and something my flailing fat fingers would've mangled up no end, so good job.

 

There are wood packs that provide deck edging of wierd shapes etc, that may be useful for the tramway/catapults, otherwise may require you to use the excess wood deck to score and cut to shape? i.e. to make your own planks and then cut the wooden deck to size...

 

 Personally, I would just claim that's where the wood stopped to stop interference with the tramway/catapult and paint the underlying deck where the wood should be a dirty steel colour. I'd then shove a plane over the top just in case...

 

David

To be fair I'm not the best at explaining things,  we're on the same wavelength re the wood deck,  having had a think I plan to use a small rectangular bit of sheet to make it look intentional, 

 

Hoping to get a bit of paint on the hangars for each of them this weekend,  

 

Sam

[IJNfan]

Seeing how I love the Taiho I will be glued to this topic from now on. Can only say that its sharp work.

[S-boat 55]

So not been doing much modelling at all of late, want to get some painting done and so waiting for clement weather to go outside for airbrushing, tried it inside - um not again shall we say, 

 

Have however been knocking a stand up for her/others with the help of me old man, the idea was one that could be used for models interchangeably so that until i get a proper cabinet then what is displayed can be out and the others in the cabinet. Now to be fair i don't have many to display but the idea is sound. 

 

So brass tube 6mm out to support a brass washer, with a 5mm brass tube running through to form a pin on which said model can sit. Then if wobbly there can be a washer and short bit of tube inside the model to stop it rocking. kinda like a top hat into which the top of the pin sit in,

 

The wood is just an old shelf that wants sanding etc but not too worried on that, this is mainly an experiment for the final plan using acrylic, 

 

Hier sind wir - (here we are)

 

 

It seems to work well, will want the top hats inside i think but seems a goer

 

thanks

 

Sam

 

 

[S-boat 55]

Howdy one and all, 

 

I'd not forgotten this one, been working away on it since finishing Dunkerque but as I've been looking to Taiho progress has been somewhat slow/minimal. However I did decide that I couldn't let a good deal pass on ebay and figured in for a penny in for a pound and picked up the extra planes set. From looking at the kit for a long long time and using the planes from Zeppelin to play with ideas for layout I decided it was worth it. Word to the wise, Veryfire are cunning, I'm noting little bits here and there that try and push you in the direction of getting all of the extra detail sets. E.g. there is no funnel cap in the kit, its only an etch option in detail set A, the flight deck barrier is a solid plastic part in the kit and looks awful and from looking at the rest of their moulding I think this is potentially deliberate. The only way to get the etch option is set B for the deck which also includes the crane 'well' covers as etch, these look great but again there is no plastic alternative in the kit so without set B you are pushed to have the crane in the raised position. I think its perfectly acceptable to be giving incentive to by the extras but it shouldn't come at the expense of not having the parts to actually complete the build satisfactorily without them, especially as were you to pay list for all the sets you'd be looking at £400 with the kit. The other part of set B is the deck markings - only the stern and bow are included in the kit the rest is optional extra, so its either mask it off or gulp and spend £100 nearly for a deck, arrestor wires and some decals. I shouldn't moan and please forgive the rant, it just seems a little underhand, 

 

The kit only has 8 planes albeit beautifully moulded as they are, so with this set the total increases to 55, 1 down on the 56 she had at her loss, and comprises;

19 Zero's

20 Judy's

2 Val's

14 Jill's

Each has photo etch canopies and resin cockpit details - well seat and dash boards - anyone any idea what colour the cockpit internals were?

 

 

So planes aside I'm finally in a position to be able to say that the progress made is actually visible. There's been photo etch, then more photo etch followed by some more photo et.. you get the idea, some has been reasonable and some has been rather small, Ive taken to laying them out ready to glue to make it more of a production line effort. 

 

Example below of the etch gussets etc in place on her forward port lower level, any idea what the misting is. I've been using loctite to make the assemblies and then gorilla super glue to fit them in place as it sets slower, I've not touched those areas with glue all i can figure is its from the glue as it evaporates a little?

 

 

The most time consuming bit has been scraping away the moulded detail;

 

 

Now on to the visible progress I mentioned, a before and after (blurred for some reason) below; 

Close ups of the area I've been working on, the rear starboard platforms are now complete to 'midships' in terms of construction, still require 'fitting out' and railing etc but that will come later when all the platforms are on elsewhere and I don't need to flip her over so often. 

 

 

 

This shows just how much brass there is and (moulded detail to remove)

 

So that's 1 'corner' of her done, I've other platforms on her that need the etch adding and others still to remove the moulded stuff from. I said a while back there were 20 platforms, I was wrong, there are 42 in total, so far I have done 25, with 6 more on ready for etch and the others left to prep so there is a long way to go, but I'm pleased that you can actually see some progress now. 

 

Next I'll finish those 6 off and start completing the starboard forward platforms and start doing a few planes here and there, 

 

Apologies to witter on so much, thanks for stopping by, 

 

s-boat

 

[Courageous]

Nice work with the PE, must play havoc with the old eye-balls .

 

Stuart

[S-boat 55]

38 minutes ago, Courageous said:

Nice work with the PE, must play havoc with the old eye-balls .

 

Stuart

Definitely does, by the end if a session it all starts getting less defined 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

5 hours ago, S-boat 55 said:

Word to the wise, Veryfire are cunning, I'm noting little bits here and there that try and push you in the direction of getting all of the extra detail sets.

Gidday, I don't like sly underhand marketing tactics either, in anything. If you pay good money you should get a good and complete product.

 The work you've done on this is very impressive though. And you should have a decent size air wing now. Regards, Jeff.

[PeeWee21]

Hi, my first comment here but been watching closely as I have the DX version also ready to start.  You mention the wooden deck set B upgrade, I bought this along with the aircraft a couple months back direct from China via aliexpress, it was a lot cheaper than uk retail.  Like you I bought it for the PE parts rather than the deck itself.

 

Your joint builds are wonderful and a great resource for when I start.

[S-boat 55]

8 hours ago, PeeWee21 said:

Hi, my first comment here but been watching closely as I have the DX version also ready to start.  You mention the wooden deck set B upgrade, I bought this along with the aircraft a couple months back direct from China via aliexpress, it was a lot cheaper than uk retail.  Like you I bought it for the PE parts rather than the deck itself.

 

Your joint builds are wonderful and a great resource for when I start.

I'd wondered about aliexpress but always had a concern over how reliable/trustworthy it was, I might now give it another look, 

 

That said I'm contemplating doing mine with a blackened deck as she reportedly had in her final appearance before her sinking and wouldn't know where to start in doing that to a wooden deck, 

 

Happy to answer any questions re the kit, so far I've only had to do very minimal shimmying of plastic parts and has otherwise been very very good, 

 

Do you have any thoughts re the colour of her anti fouling red, Japan seems to of used two shades, one quite a rich red and rhe other almost plum like, no ones which ships had which when though, ?

 

Sam

[PeeWee21]

I have the super 33d drawings by kaveri which shows a dark red/brown colour.  But no idea on accuracy.  I have found little info though the book is a good reference if assuming it's been well researched

[ArnoldAmbrose]

8 hours ago, S-boat 55 said:

Do you have any thoughts re the colour of her anti fouling red, Japan seems to of used two shades, one quite a rich red and rhe other almost plum like, no ones which ships had which when though, ?

     Gidday Sam, I don't know about the carrier but I have the book "Anatomy of the Ship - Battleship Yamato". On the back cover is a colour drawing of the ship and the underwater hull is dark red/brown. On page 22 is 'Wartime colour schemes". Paragraph 2 states a reddish-tinged brown ("aka aji ga katta chairo") was used underwater. It consisted of 20% red, 65% brown,10% black and 5% white. HTH.

     From a model perspective, historical accuracy aside I'd be hesitant of painting the underwater hull too bright. Such a large area could be dominating to the eye, drawing attention away from the detail of the upperworks. But that's just my opinion only.

    Regards, Jeff.

[S-boat 55]

7 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

     Gidday Sam, I don't know about the carrier but I have the book "Anatomy of the Ship - Battleship Yamato". On the back cover is a colour drawing of the ship and the underwater hull is dark red/brown. On page 22 is 'Wartime colour schemes". Paragraph 2 states a reddish-tinged brown ("aka aji ga katta chairo") was used underwater. It consisted of 20% red, 65% brown,10% black and 5% white. HTH.

     From a model perspective, historical accuracy aside I'd be hesitant of painting the underwater hull too bright. Such a large area could be dominating to the eye, drawing attention away from the detail of the upperworks. But that's just my opinion only.

    Regards, Jeff.

Hi Jeff, that's great thanks, as ever you look around and find so many other modellers examples and just get overloaded with options,  I’ll try knocking up a mix based on those %'s and see how it looks,  

 

I finally fished the etch on the starboard platforms tonight,  I'll put some pics up tomorrow,  

 

Thanks

 

Sam

[S-boat 55]

Hi All, 

 

So exciting day for me, platforms on the starboard side are finished in terms of the gussets/supports/beams etc underneath, still railing and equipment to add but tis solid progress, down side is there's the other side to do. Hopefully that wont be too bad as I've already done bits of it so im part way there already. Few pics of the brass in place now the front end is done, you'll see there's a bit of tidying up to do in places, 

 

 

 

 

Oddly the tiny bits under the balcony to the right side of the photo was some of the easiest bits to do, 

 

 

 

I might do a bit on the stern just for a change then pick Zeppelin up again, 

 

Thanks for looking in, 

 

Sam

Edited March 9, 2022 by S-boat 55

[Courageous]

So much bling  !

 

Stuart

[S-boat 55]

44 minutes ago, Courageous said:

So much bling  !

 

Stuart

There's a wee bit for sure, I laid our the etch frets the other night figuring they'd be looking a bit bare by now, no where even near lol

[S-boat 55]

So not much of an update - more of a question, thoughts (honest opinions) re this if you would be so kind;

 

I think I like the overall impact and idea, fairly happy with the shapes etc, not sure of I should substitute dunkelgrau 51 for a more mid grey rather than a blue grey, but then I do quite like the blue grey just as a colour full so I'm undecided. it is of course all based on Jamie's excellent colourcoats range, 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Sam, as the ship was never completed as such it's a "What If". So I think you can really use whatever shades that appeal to you. I personally like a bit of variety in the display cabinet and authentic dazzle camo schemes and whiffed schemes give me the opportunity to have that, mixed in with the plain greys of other ships. HTH. Regards, Jeff.