1350
IJN ISE

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The Project...

I’ve always wanted to build this kit and was thrilled when it was released in the large 1/350 scale by Fujimi. The kit itself is enormous and with the plethora of PE and wooden decking, I knew it would build in to a beautiful display model. I used the PE which was manufactured by Fujimi as well as the wooden deck.

I started by cutting the hull at (or near) the waterline to build it as a waterline model. Unfortunately, a half hull is not an option on this kit, so the Dremel tool was a huge plus. The internal hull supports, or bulkheads are designed to support the hull and as such, must also be cut to make a waterline display. The hull assembly was straight forward and fit was what I expected, i.e.: very nice and tight.

One of the biggest obstacles to this build was the sequence. The massive amounts of PE (3 sheets total) have to be incorporated into the build and each has its own instruction sheets. I highly recommend studying the parts, PE frets and the instructions and determine well in advance how you are to proceed. I actually had two sets of instructions posted side by side to compare PE parts with kit parts to determine which ones were to be used. Fujimi does make it easier by breaking down the frets into sections, as in ship sections, so one fret is used for the hull, one for the upper deck and another one for cranes and rigging. Still, patience is a virtue.

One the hull was built and painted, I attached the wooden deck sections. Be careful and precise because once they are down, they’re down! Fujimi did a nice job of hiding the seams where the decking joined and mine had a nice fat gap where I slightly misaligned one of the panels. Fortunately, a large gun tub assembly is placed over the seam (gap, in my case) to hide it quite nicely. Once the decking was down, I proceeded to assemble the ship from the deck up. There are HUNDREDS of tiny parts which pepper the entire deck. All must be used because of the wooden deck. The holes for the parts are all pre-cut and will be very visible unless every part is used.

The biggest challenge to the entire build was the pagoda style superstructure and all of the PE railing, ladders and other various miniscule parts which are incorporated in the build. Studying and cross referencing the assemble instructions are extremely important at this point. There are many sub-assemblies to complete in order to fully build the superstructure. One of the techniques I used was to attach outer railing after the structure was 90% completed. Which brings me to the railing.

Words of caution here!!! IF you are not familiar or have never used PE ships railing, Steer way clear of the Fujimi set! I’m not exaggerating here. This is a true test of ones will and sanity. Each rail section must be attached to the plastic base with each individual rail post. Unlike other after market PE rail sets which have a solid base or sections which act as attachment point (surface area) for the CA to adhere to the kit, the Fujimi rails have nothing. So, it’s either drill individual holes into the base or dab CA directly onto each post and hope for the best. I decided after dealing with the superstructure railing debacle that I would use another companies PE set when I do another Fujimi ship.

The color I chose to paint the Ise was the late war home defense camouflage scheme. I took some artistic liberty here in that the late war Ise had the catapults removed and more AA guns added since there were no airplanes or fuel for the Ise or her sister ship Hyuga. It was an unusual paint scheme for a ship, so I thought it would be something different to show the ship under way with full complement of planes.

The water was modeled with a combination of Liqui-tex gel and Woodland Scenes “water effect” and painted with Model Master acrylic. In all, the project took me 5 months to complete with all the PE frets and extremely small parts, but it was well worth the effort. Even without the after market PE, the kit builds in to a very impressive model.

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About the Author

About Timothy Powell (riceballtrp)
FROM: GEORGIA, UNITED STATES


Comments

Beautiful build of an unusual ship Timothy, excellent. Your PE adventures sound vaguely reminiscent Unusual to see a battleship in camo, cheers, Julian
FEB 07, 2011 - 03:31 AM
Simply gorgeous... Where did you get the idea for the camo from? And how well was the fit of the superstructure windows with the rest of the kit? Cheers, Harm
FEB 07, 2011 - 04:43 AM
Amazing build, terrific. Al
FEB 07, 2011 - 06:13 AM
I have had the ISe for quite a while. I thought i had pretty much everything I needed for her. I was going generic with the PE as the sets were so expensive, and there was good alternate PE out there. Then i saw some of your pictues and realized i wasn't going to quite get away with it. So a quick look and I saw that the B set would fulfill those needs. I then found it and with my points only paid $65 including shipping. So, I am glad you did your build.. This is one of my favorite ships due to the unusuallness of her. Love your build
FEB 08, 2011 - 08:02 AM