Hi Guys, since Haruna has never been featured here as a WIP, I could tell you a bit more about what went into building it...
The kit is the old Fujimi IJN Kongo kit labelled under SeaWay Models and is pretty basic with not much detail. It has extra fittings to make the Haruna as all four sisterships nearly had the same hull but differed in the super structure and rear structures. The funnels were slightly different with each ship, Haruna having her aft funnel raised level with the front one.
The turrets and guns were replaced with upgrade sets from Skywaves 3 sets of accessories for heavy, medium and light IJN vessels.
The triple AA guns were also from Skywave and so were the searchlights and range finders.
Fujimi provided
decals/stickers for the bridge windows. I cut out slots and replaced with PE.
There were three levels on the pagoda style super structure and the back support was drilled out. Missing portholes also were drilled out.
Actually nearly all weapons including the side casemates and boats were replaced with Skywave accessories
The anti-magnetic wiring along the side was thin stretched sprue and cut plastic strip spacers. You will notice I have moved the planes around so it doesn't obstruct the stairway detail leading from the seaplane deck to the main aft deck.
I re-worked the solid side of the seaplane deck by replacing the whole section with plastic card and strip for the covered work stations below it with windows and supports.
The crane base wall was lengthened so it sat in a covered groove. The PE for all fittings are from Goldmedal.
The other feature that set Haruna apart from her sister ships was the squared aft deck structure that housed a huge array of AA gun tubs that are raised and envelope the aft funnel.
Rigging this ship will be a nightmare...these were ships built in the first world war and carried lots of
rigging.
That's the tour of the Haruna. If you do want Kongo class battleship, get the latest new tooled Fujimi or Hasegawa kits.
Cheers,
Richard