Jump to content

Battlecruiser Akagi


Thom216

Recommended Posts

Update time.

I have the top of the hull in place. It had some cross-members that I was going to leave for stability (which it really does not need) but found that cutting them made it possible to better line up the sides with the new bottom,

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

I did fix those with some styrene bits - and decided stop right there, as I have now made a canoe!

spacer.png

 

Make a few oars and I'm done!😃

 

Now for the join line, I put some PPP along there and sanded it...

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

This happened a couple times, as after the first application, I reverted to running CA along the join and sanding that.

Then I hit that with some gray primer.

spacer.png

 

Doesn't look bad on the starboard side (see, I know the right terms!) but on the port... and I can see that I over sanded.

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

That shallow shadow line is really too noticeable. I do that sometimes, where I'll just sand too much and make more work than I need.🙄

To correct that, I'll need to add material now, so out came the selection of styrene strips to see what I have that is the right height for the area.

spacer.png

 

That piece is already cut to size and glued in place. Tomorrow I'll sand/blend in the ends and contour the top, making it thinner on the high side, and blend it in at the bottom.

Hopefully with the next primer coat it'll be completely unnoticeable!

 

Model on!

Thom

 

 

 

 

Edited by Thom216
  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Thom216 said:

I have now made a canoe!

LOL 🤣 Do you have any native American figures to place in it?

 

      Great job of the hull joins. I'm going to have to do a similar styrene fill job in the near future but with the added styrene on the inside. I'm planning to convert an Airfix Belfast hull into HMS Sheffield, and to do that I have to remove Belfast's unique bulges. There may not be enough of the original styrene left after I do so I'll hedge my bets and fill the inside of the bulges, but after I've shortened the hull.

       Sorry, I've waffled on a bit - this is your thread, not mine.       Regards, Jeff.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

LOL 🤣 Do you have any native American figures to place in it?

 

      Great job of the hull joins. I'm going to have to do a similar styrene fill job in the near future but with the added styrene on the inside. I'm planning to convert an Airfix Belfast hull into HMS Sheffield, and to do that I have to remove Belfast's unique bulges. There may not be enough of the original styrene left after I do so I'll hedge my bets and fill the inside of the bulges, but after I've shortened the hull.

       Sorry, I've waffled on a bit - this is your thread, not mine.       Regards, Jeff.

No problem, waffle about, by all means!😁

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The canoe Akagi could have been a sly completed entry to put in the GB Gallery :lol:

 

I must admit I couldn't quite see what you'd done wrong on the port side but hopefully it's an easy fix.

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Alan P said:

The canoe Akagi could have been a sly completed entry to put in the GB Gallery :lol:

 

I must admit I couldn't quite see what you'd done wrong on the port side but hopefully it's an easy fix.

The pic doesn't show it too well, but it had a concave depression. As for the fix, just slap on some stryene and sand and sand and sand again! It is much better now though, just have to clean up some blending and I should be able to move on. Pics to follow!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alright, I got it, I got it!!:frantic:

 

After some 'mild' sanding...

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

A nice profile shot... The concave depression I sanded into it is gone, and what we are left with is the ship's sexy waist line.

spacer.png

 

Of course, before then, the styrene strip that had been applied, debonded from the side, leaving an air pocket. But before frustration could have me do anything hasty, I used a needle to 'pop' it and fed some TET under it.

That worked! So, sanded and cleaned - again! If that hadn't worked, the strip I had added would have come right off and I would have tried something else. But thankfully...

 

That is smooth, but I had sanded away the paint to level out the pin spots where the TET was applied under the strip.

spacer.png

 

So, with that done, I started drilling holes...

spacer.png

 

And screws...

spacer.png

 

And nuts! (with washers.)

spacer.png

 

With those secured with CA, I can pull the screws out and later get a nice wooden base ready.

Until, back to the instructions!

 

Modelling on!

 

Thom

 

 

Edited by Thom216
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, Thom216 said:

If that hadn't worked, the strip I had added would have come right off and I would have tried something else. But thankfully...

Gidday Thom, another option could have been filler putty, but over such a length it may have been difficult to get even. I'm glad the styrene strip idea worked.

Regards, Jeff.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Thom, another option could have been filler putty, but over such a length it may have been difficult to get even. I'm glad the styrene strip idea worked.

Regards, Jeff.

Yeah, that was next, but always have bad luck with filler.

 

Glad I can move on and finally start getting the decks down.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Decks down!

 

I had to snip some pins in order to get it to sit flat, as either the fore or aft deck might be slightly out of position. With all the pins in place, front and back, the middle was bowing up.

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

And I have, of course, since sanded off the under bite at the stern.

spacer.png

 

Tamiya's Kure Arsenal gray has also arrived, so when I get to painting, I'll have the right color.

 

On a side not, I was fondling one of the other Akagi kits that I have, when I noticed a bad error. In the mix of getting bottom hulls for the battlecruiser and the three-deck carrier, I had neglected to to also take out the shaft, propellers and rudders. So the kit that I took the hull bottom from and then sold off as a 'waterline' kit still has the spindly appendages! Doh!

Not to fear though, as this kit has all it needs, as well as the three-decker. It's the full deck Hasegawa kit that is missing those parts, though not for long. I splurged on another Fujimi full hull kit and it is on its way now. And rather than sell it off as yet another new 'waterline' kit, I think I'll keep this one and, at some time, due a fourth Akagi as she was at the time she was rediscovered at 18k feet down. But that wouldn't be for a long while.

 

Model on.

Thom

 

Edited by Thom216
  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/28/2023 at 3:27 AM, Thom216 said:

...at some time, due a fourth Akagi as she was at the time she was rediscovered at 18k feet down. But that wouldn't be for a long while.

That will make for an interesting model Thom :speak_cool:

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Wow, almost a month since the last update! Bad, slow-modeler me!🤪

 

In the interim, I had to do a little rework on the side, as the plastic I laid down decided to peel up. That was fun to see...

spacer.png

 

A flood of TET and light sanding fixed it - again. Thankfully, I have not had any other problems since.

 

Then I moved onto some PE parts.

spacer.png

 

I was unhappy with the curved sides, as I had not folded it correctly. But trying to fix it, made it break and fall apart.😒 No prob though! I just used some of it to detail the original piece. 

 

I had better luck with this PE platform for under the fore funnel.

spacer.png

 

I had put some strips of styrene inside to block the light passing through.

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

Then it was barrel time. The kit actually comes with some nice barrels, including little dimples for the bores. But I had bought a set of turned metal so decided to use those. 

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

I had fun blowing out the side-walls on two of them while drilling the holes. Thankfully, the worst one will be under the turret mounted launch deck.

 

And then the bridge PE. It folded and went together great. A may have to try and tuck in one side a little more.

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

But now there is a little fit problem with the platform that goes above it...

spacer.png

 

I'm quite sure it is not meant to be pitched back like that. I'm also sure I used the correct parts, so I have no idea how that happened.

Looks like some trimming will be happening!

 

Thom

 

 

Edited by Thom216
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Thom216 said:

Wow, almost a month since the last update! Bad, slow-modeler me!🤪

 

In the interim, I had to do a little rework on the side, as the plastic I laid down decided to peel up. That was fun to see...

spacer.png

 

A flood of TET and light sanding fixed it - again. Thankfully, I have not had any other problems since.

 

Then I moved onto some PE parts.

spacer.png

 

I was unhappy with the curved sides, as I had not folded it correctly. But trying to fix it, made it break and fall apart.😒 No prob though! I just used some of it to detail the original piece. 

 

I had better luck with this PE platform for under the fore funnel.

spacer.png

 

I had put some strips of styrene inside to block the light passing through.

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

Then it was barrel time. The kit actually comes with some nice barrels, including little dimples for the bores. But I had bought a set of turned metal so decided to use those. 

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

I had fun blowing out the side-walls on two of them while drilling the holes. Thankfully, the worst one will be under the turret mounted launch deck.

 

And then the bridge PE. It folded and went together great. A may have to try and tuck in one side a little more.

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

But now there is a little fit problem with the platform that goes above it...

spacer.png

 

I'm quite sure it is not meant to be pitched back like that. I'm also sure I used the correct parts, so I have no idea how that happened.

Looks like some trimming will be happening!

 

Thom

 

 

Hi Thom,

 

Given that it was never built in this form it is difficult to be certain, but looking at the line drawing in Breyer's "Battleships and Battle Cruisers" it looks as if maybe the problem part is actually not meant to go on that way - it looks like it sits on top of the bridge to me, that is perhaps rotated 180horizontally and not on the rear mast thingy at all. Of course I am probably wrong as unfortunately Scalemates do not have a copy of the instructions so it is difficult to tell exactly which part of the structure I should be looking at!

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Toryu said:

That's a lot of fine detail work, Thom! Are you still working on all three Akagi iterations? (I missed that point)

Yes, still going to do it. In fact, I've been toying with the idea of starting up the three-decker in the Transport/Carrier GB.

 

18 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Hi Thom,

 

Given that it was never built in this form it is difficult to be certain, but looking at the line drawing in Breyer's "Battleships and Battle Cruisers" it looks as if maybe the problem part is actually not meant to go on that way - it looks like it sits on top of the bridge to me, that is rotated 180horizontally and not on the rear mast thingy at all. Of course I am probably wrong as unfortunately Scalemates do not have a copy of the instructions so it is difficult to tell exactly which part of the structure I should be looking at!

 

Pete

 

And I will be definitely checking those line drawings out! One good thing about this being a Whif is that if I get it wrong, who says it would never have been right?😉

 

 

Edited by Thom216
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Thom216 said:

One good thing about this being a Whif is that if I get it wrong, who says it would never have been right?😉

One of the advantages of a Whif, they might sometimes be impractical, implausible, impossible, farcical, ridiculous, laughable, stupid, etc etc, but NEVER wrong. 😁 Regards, Jeff.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/28/2023 at 10:27 AM, Thom216 said:

Bit the plastic! Snipped and shaved and the part sits nice and flat.

Yeah, that looks more like it. That enclosed bridge will look good when painted too. Regards, Jeff.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...