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Scratchbuilding A New Deck for IJN Kaga

Step 8…

I started with the rear circle and worked out from there. I was pleased to see that the deck held true to form by needing the starboard solid white line position altered about midship to correctly line up with the forward deck on that side just like the real Kaga. I continued to paint white lines in stages. I also painted the rear deck white where the red line decal would go to help with its visibility. The last thing painted was the Kaga kanji symbol on the rear of the ship. I free handed cutting it out of tape on my counter top three times before getting the one seen here and transferring it to the deck.

The next detail was the rear decal that had the alternating red and white lines. This was made in a publishing program on a computer and printed out on Testers white decal paper. I also cut several .75mm strips of this and made each diagonal line of the forward deck marking (Hino Maru?) by hand. After all this was done I punched two holes in some scrap styrene, painted in “buttons” from the holes Kure gray and glued them in the spotlight holes near the rear elevator. Since everything was painted separately the masking was light and the paint perfect.

The last detail was to create the airplane tie down holes. I got on the computer again and made graph paper of about 3.5mm square with an orange center line to use for reference. I taped the deck to the counter and this paper in sections and proceeded to lightly poke holes in the deck with an extra sharp thumb tack. I periodically sharpened the tack with a Dremel and sanding disc. Some sections I lightly burnished with a brush handle to get the outline of elevators and deck objects in the paper and help see where I did not want holes. I also pulled back one side of the taped paper often to help see where holes were going and which to skip making.

Well, the deck turned out alright for my first try. There are a few issues with the bow’s scribed lines and a few gaps here and there in the carrier drain. Once the rest of the model is finished and final flat spray coat and some weathering is done this should be a great model and quite a bit better than the kits offering. I’ll do another write up on the underside and a few other details after a short break from the project.

Sources...

Lars Juel Mosbaek – IJN Kaga Build
Mr. Omami – IJN Kaga Build
Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft Carriers 1921-45 By Mark Stile
Various line drawings and photos from photo searches on the internet.