1/700 scale IJN Ships make over

rtfoe

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Thanks Ralph and Jim, yup the foil was actually an experiment. This dio should be about 17 years old by now. I had done the Haruna in 2003 but stopped at rigging it. Nows a good time as any with the new product EZline to rig.

At the moment I have glued and clamped the hull of the Hatsuyuki to the waterline and filled and sanded. The clamping was left overnight to level the slightly warped hull.

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So far that's all I've done today. Maybe later I'll give some info on the Haruna (Kongo class battleship) and the Kuma light cruiser.

Cheers,
Richard
 

rtfoe

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Hi guys,
Kongo1944.gif

Here's a little about the Haruna. She was one of four Kongo class battle ships like the above. These four sister ships were the first modern battlecruisers in the Japanese arsenal. They were designed by Britain's Sir George Thurston, and strongly influenced the design of the forthcoming Tiger-class battlecruisers. Kongo was actually built by Vickers (and was the last Japanese capital ship to be built outside of Japan), while the remaining three were built in Japanese yards. During the inter-war years, all of them were upgraded in terms of propulsion and protection, and were re-rated as battleships. They were useful ships, fast and well-armed, but even after their upgrade their protection left much to be desired, as Kirishima discovered much to her cost at the hands of U.S.S. Washington off of Savo Island. (More info here)

The difference with the Haruna were her up gunned platforms of anti-aircraft armament as the war progressed. Out of the four sister ships she lasted until near the end of the war having been sunk at Kure Harbour while being repaired. HARUNA was laid down on No. 4 slip at Kawasaki's shipyard in Kobe 16 March 1912 and was built based on plans for KONGO designed as a battle cruiser. She was introduced with a double-level forebridge, a tall fore funnel and an improved main battery turret design with curved side plates.

I particularly like this ship because she participated in most of the sea engagements including Malaya where attached to BatDiv 3 at Hashirajima with KONGO was involved with the Pursuit of the Royal Navy's "Force Z". This meant that she and Kongo missed the Pearl Harbour attack however Hei and Kirishima were dispatched for that operation. The following are operations she was involved in: Operation "C" - The Raids in the Indian Ocean, Operation "MI" - The Battle of Midway, The Battle of Santa Cruz, The First & Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, Operation "A-GO" - The Battle of the Philippine Sea, Operation "SHO-I-GO"(Victory) - The Battle of Leyte Gulf, The Battle of the Palawan Passage, The Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, The Battle off Samar and The Final Destruction of the Imperial Japanese Navy where she was berthed in Kure.

She was hit countless times by successive air raids from TF38 to TF58 and from airforce B-29 and B-24 bombers finally sinking in shallow waters next to a pier. She was removed from the navy list on 20 November 1945.

Bomb aimers view....

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... or what it might have been. :smiling2: Same picture posted earlier but blurred and in B/W.

Cheers,
Richard
 

rtfoe

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Thanks Paul and Chris. I think there are quite a few posts by Ralph and there was one on the Kongo class ships last June I think...very impressive.

Cheers,
Richard
 

rtfoe

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Hi again, I placed what I had scratched to the base to check composition ... apologies for the blurred images

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Lens keeps focusing on the tugboat and not the platform...

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I will cut out a slipway to the gangway. Notice that I have sliced off the moorings for the crane and moved it further up.

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Thanks for looking in...Q&A welcomed.

Cheers,
Richard
 

wotan

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Richard

This is a really impressive dio. Looking forward to completion.

John
 

rtfoe

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Hey thanks John, nice of you to comment. I hope not to disappoint and complete this one once and for all. :smiling2:

Cheers,
Richard
 

rtfoe

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I can now use my little 1/700 locomotives and wagons bought 5 years ago in Sydney. Good thing too 'cos I didn't come across it in Japan...

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The little fellas keep me in scale.

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Laid them out and will trace out the track widths with a set of dividers.

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Below is where I will put in more tracks that stop just before the crane legs.

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Cheers,
Richard
 

rtfoe

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Back to the Hatsuyuki...
I've never done this before so it's trial and error. I wanted to emulate the metal plating sheets with the welds...

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I used thin strips of tape masks and randomly pasted in straight lines...

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A layer of Gunze 1000 primer then peel off and then another coat of primer...you get something like this...

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I rubbed down with my finger to smoothen the rough edges...will have to remove two spots of dust hair...

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Not very acurate but I can live with it...will see after some paint and weathering.

Cheers,
Richard
 

Jim R

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Hi Richard
So much to enjoy here. The little train and trucks are great. Nice job with the scratched jetty. Interesting history to the ships. The hull plates look to have worked well. Nice and subtle as it needs to be a this scale.
What made you decide to carry out these changes to the dio? The cutter you used for the jetty supports - what make is it?
Jim
 

Steve Jones

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Just popped in to see how things are going Richard and its been an absolute joy to catch up. Lots of activity and detailing going on. Looks like you are having a lot of fun. Great stuff
 

rtfoe

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Hi Jim and Steve, certainly am enjoying the build as it's been a while since I dabbled with ships in this scale. Trains and trucks are from Tomy which has become a good buy and finally put into good use. Lots of jetty pictures to follow and I haven't started on the history of the Kuma which sunk of Penag Island. 1/700 is quite tiny so the plates had to be subtle and nearly invisible. You only notice it in real close up pictures.
The dio re-work came about as I hadn't really finish the initial build and wanted some improvements. I wanted more activity in the harbour and decided on the extention with more little boats moored. The cutter is by Northwest. I wanted one since seeing John having used one in his build. It is quite helpful in cutting repeated size bits but it's good only for thin strips...anything thicker than 2mm has a slight slant to the cut.

Anyway I drilled portholes to the hull with a powertool. Next time I will do it with a hand drill and not be so impatient. They're not as straight as I wanted...

First removing the tape and coating with another layer of primer.
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Then marking the spots to be drilled I pricked each point with a needle then drilled.

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I'll be drilling other portholes iin turrets and the bridge superstructures.

I'm looking forward to the new Tom Hanks movie "Greyhound". Lots of destroyer footage and submarine Wolfpacks.

Cheers,
Richard
 

rtfoe

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Now a little bit on the Kuma...

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Although she spent most of her time around Phillipines and Dutch East Indies, she did visit Kure as most IJN ships did and Singapore for refitting and sailed to Penang. Let's start with her early days...
Light cruiser Kuma saw action shortly after her commissioning as she was sent to support the landing of Japanese troops in Siberia during Japan's Siberian Intervention against the Communists during the Russian Civil War. Subsequently based at Port Arthur, China (now Lüshunkou), she patrolled Chinese coastal areas between the Kwantung Leased Territory and Tsingtao, China. After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, she began patrolling further down the Chinese coast.
On 10 Apr 1941, Kuma was assigned to Vice Admiral Ibo Takahashi's Cruiser Division 16 of the Japanese 3rd Fleet. With that unit, she supported the invasion of the Philippine Islands in Dec 1941. Between 10 and 11 Dec, she covered landings at Aparri and Vigan at Luzon, Philippine Islands; at the latter location, she was attacked unsuccessfully by five United States Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. On 22 Dec, she supported the landings at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon. On 3 Jan 1942, she was re-assigned to Vice Admiral Rokuzo Sugiyama's Third Southern Expeditionary Fleet and patrolled the Philippine waters until 27 Feb. In Mar, she covered the invasion of the southern Philippine Islands, shelling Cebu harbor on 1 Mar and covering the Zamboanga, Mindanao landing two days later. A Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF) unit based aboard Kuma rescued about 80 Japanese nationals who had been interned. On 9 Apr, Kuma and the torpedo boat Kiji were attacked by US torpedo boats PT-34 and PT-41; Kuma was hit in the bow by one of eight Mark 18 Torpedoes fired, but the torpedo failed to detonate. On 10 Apr, she covered Cebu landings. On 16 Apr, she covered Panay landings. On 6 May, she covered the final assault on the island of Corregidor, the last American strong point in the Philippine Islands. She remained in Philippine waters for patrols until 12 Aug 1942.
After a refit at Kure Naval Arsenal, Japan in Sep, Kuma returned to Manila, Luzon, Philippine Islands on 20 Sep. She was assigned to Vice Admiral Shiro Takasu's Second Southern Expeditionary Fleet. She picked up troops of the 38th Infantry Division and delivered them to Rabaul, New Britain, Solomon Islands on 10 Oct. She patrolled off Makassar, Celebes between Dec 1942 and April 1943, running several transport missions to Rabaul and New Guinea during that time. Between Apr and May 1943, she was refitted at the Seletar Naval Base, Singapore. She patrolled Dutch East Indies waters between May and Jun. On 23 Jun, her group was attacked by 17 American B-24 Liberator bombers of the 319th Squadron, 90th Bomb Group, US 5th Air Force; she suffered only minor damage from near misses. On the next day, she became the flagship of Cruiser Division 16 as the flag was transferred from Kinu; she led patrols in the Dutch East Indies until 23 Oct. Between 1 Nov and 12 Nov, she received additional anti-aircraft weapons at Singapore. She patrolled the Dutch East Indies and the eastern Indian Ocean until 9 Jan 1944.
On 11 Jan 1944, Kuma was sighted by British Royal Navy submarine HMS Tally-Ho off Penang, Malaya. At about 10 miles northwest of Penang, Tally-Ho fired seven torpedoes at Kuma at 1,900 yards; two of them hit her on the starboard side, starting a fire as the depth charges onboard were ignited. She sank by the stern, killing 138 as she went down. (Text from WWII Data Base for reference only.)

I have always wanted to build the Kuma after seeing it at a LHS glass display back in 1977. Boy that's way back. I was intrigued by the rigging. The kit was painted basically all grey including the deck with no PE and I thought I could do better. Now years later I'll see what I can do.

Cheers,
Richard
 

rtfoe

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Hi, back to the Hatsuyuki...

Being an old Tamiya mold, most of the upper structure is smooth with no portholes or hatches. I changed the drill bit to a smaller gauge and drilled away. I tried looking for etch hatches that I though I had stashed away but failed so I cut thin sheets measuring from the box art and etch figure heights. These are some of the additions...

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That's the Shiratsuyu behind

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Just look at the drilling...you might think I was having the hiccups when doing it. :smiling2:

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I sanded the edge of the AA gun tubs as they were slanted for easy mold release. The upper structures aren't stuck down yet for easy painting of the deck later. I may add PE railings to the sub assemblies first and then painting them in situ.

Haven't much bench time even though the country is in movement control mode as SWMBO has gotten me to fix the house and what nots. :tired: By the time it's night I'm exhausted. So if anyone asks if I'm affected by Corvid-19, it's a big yes. :smiling6:

Cheers,
Richard
 

Steve Jones

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Nice history lesson on the Kuma. Unless you have a laser drill I cant see the holes ever being exact. You have to give us a slight clue that they arnt the real thing anyway :smiling2: :smiling5:
 

scottie3158

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Richard,
Nice work do you just leave the holes or do you add something to them?
 
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