I agree, this is really coming together well, Dade, and a pleasure to view. What a difference this is from the 1970's Hiryu build, I would never have belived something like this would be possible. Great entertainment - so what's next???

Peter F

Thanks a bunch guys! The plan for this month revolves around the deck. Getting all of the markings put on, washes, weathering, etc. With the Kongo finished, this project is my main focus now, aside from getting a couple of campaign entries done.

Looks great Dade! I have this same kit and Lion Roar deck in my stash. Are there any pitfalls with the deck and included photoetch I should be concerned with? How did you manage to glue it down without the glue coming up through all the plane attach holes all over the deck? Did you use the kits decals for the deck? My decal has yellowish colored lines for the deck and red circle and I really don't like it. Yours looks much whiter and better. Sorry for all the questions but this is a good looking model and I need all the advise I can get for when I build this in the future.

Hi Anthony,

There are a couple of fit issues where the deck girders go against the original kit's hanger deck, fore and aft. But nothing truly fatal... you'll need to do a little surgery on the plastic there to make it fit. The biggest thing was cutting out the side balconies from the kit's deck and gluing them to the PE version. Also, you'll have to make some room for the deflector to fit down inside if you choose to use it, but again, nothing really bad.

As long as you follow Lion Roar's instructions of where to place your glue points, you'll be fine. They put the glue points so that they fall between the holes and it works like a dream.

I used the kit decals, but will still paint over them as they're a little translucent and they need to be consolidate better. Also, after the decal for the hinomaru set up and dried, I was annoyed to see that somehow a hair got under the decal, and the decal snuggled down perfectly around it. This was a case of Mr. Mark Setter doing its job TOO well.

So... I scraped off the offending hair (and part of the decal) and will touch up the area with the airbrush. This, along with getting the rest of the lines on, the red area on the aft deck, and those lines as well, are my focus for the time being. A photo update covering all this will be posted it's done.

Until then, back to work...

just bought a Hiryu today. Hard to get Aoshima stuff here in New Zealand . When It turned up in my local shop I took it as an omen Will have to finish my current project before I can start. I have some Hiryu pe questions I hope you can answer for me

My question Dade is primarily what are you using from toms modelworks.
1.Are the railings better than GMM,( that Id normally use ) why toms in this build?
2.Whats in the carrier set A by toms model works that youve used in the build?
3. I cant see where you got the funnel pe from. Which set did you find that with?

Hope you can help with some of that. This will be my first flattop and Im watching your work avidly to get some pointers

Hi Allen and welcome to the Hiryu! I'm sorry this log has been so silent. Busy month with my usual last minute update upcoming...

1.) I used Tom's rails for this build as they are thin and thus easy to flow along the curved areas of the decks. For me, GMM may have been a little too thick to do this easily.

2.) The only thing I've used from Tom so far in this build has been the rails. I haven't used anything from the rest of the set yet but stay tuned.

3.) The funnel grills came with the Lion Roar PE deck.

Thanks for watching and enjoy your Hiryu!

"Don't botch the deck!!!"

This is the thought constantly running through my mind until this build is finished...


First up, although using the supplied decals for the lines, I wanted the lines to be a little more solid in certain spots, so I used the applied decals as guides to mask and airbrush. This is especially true in the areas where the decals overlap and make more solid lines than other ares:




The lines didn't stretch as far back as they should, so I had to continue them along. While the kit includes a decal for the white lines on the apron, I didn't want those to be translucent either... so after painting the lines, I masked off the apron and painted it white:




The apron was then masked and painted red. Note: The lines needed to be 2mm wide. I had tape in 1.5mm and 2.5 mm, but no 2mm. So, I lined up two 1mm strips side by side. Tedium begins.




The side aprons also had to be painted like this. Strangely, the kit doesn't include decals for this, so either way, the whole thing has to be done with paint.




Meanwhile back at the Hinomaru, a hair had somehow gotten under the decal during the application. After the decal settled down, the hair became visible and proceeded to taunt me. And so, it was time for some cosmetic surgery. The decal was scraped and the offending hair removed. A little paint was put in as primer and then the Hinomaru was painted over with a red mixture (this also helps to weather the Hinomaru). It's not perfect, but after more weathering, and a plane sits on top of it, I think it'll be alright.




That's all for now! I'm sorry for being such a stranger-- just very busy. If all goes according to plan, next month should see the deck finished and the planes started...

Nice save on the Hinormaru. Looks better with the non-uniformed coloring anyway. There's always that one little hair or dust mote that screws up a perfectly good paint job

some pe advice. I see your painting the pe. eg those ourrigger side apron things before you bend them. I find that its very easy to scratch paint off during bending. you got any advice ? does it help if you spray part with klear before bending? whats your way of doing stuff?

Thanks Dave. I have to say that the more I look at it, I agree that having the Hinomaru made up of multiple tones makes it look better. A happy accident! I think the final shading will make it all click.

Alan, yes, I normally put on a coat of Klear (Future in the US) to help seal on the paint for parts painted on the fret. There still ends up being some cracks once in a while, so I do some small touch ups. But overall, the process works well for me.

Deck looks great Dade, and yes,.... nicely save with the hair! having two dogs and two cats, I know all about those troublesome airbourne hairs.

Frank

Hi Dade - I love the mantra "Don't botch the deck." I can relate to that in so many ways. Indeed a nice recovery - I agree that the fading effect looks great. Barry

Thanks a bunch guys!

Frank, yep, I have two cats. Tacy, the female, consists of what could be the softest substance known to man and sheds like crazy. Oskar (like the Bismarck's cat) barely sheds at all. This hair was so fine that it could only be a Tacy hair. I've been lucky so far, but I guess it was time for my luck to run out.

Barry, I think half of my posts on MSW deal with some kind of deck stuff, but with this thing is even more terrifying. The island is so tiny, it makes the deck prep even more noticeable. Now that I think about it, nearly this entire build log has been about the deck. When it's done, the model's basically done.

You were saying...



This is the lady of the house, Lua (Moon in english) and she come home just to shed us to death!!!!!
But a nice pet

Great work Dade - in more than one "area" !


Rui

Hi Rui, yes, where would we be without our giant cats of doom? Scary to build with, but we could never go without them!

Session 10 Closed!

amazing update dade~! Love the deck work as usual.. great tip on the Future coating of PE parts, will try that some day. Also love the masking/paint jobs. nice recovery on the deck.... thanks for all the pics! cheers

Yes a very good update and nice save on the decal. You may of mentioned this already so forgive me, but what paint are you using for the gray and wood of the deck and did you prime these peices and what with?

Hi Anthony,

Thanks for the nice words. Yes, I usually prime everything with Tamiya's light gray spray primer. The only times that I don't are for very tiny things that likely won't get handled very much, like the AA guns.

The gray is a custom mixed color I made from Tamiya paints years ago that unfortunately I lost the ratios too. I made a LOT, though, which is why I can still use it now, despite moving on to a general use of Gunze. The base color of the wood sections is Tamiya's Deck Tan spray can (TS-68). I had enough left from some other project and figured I'd use it here instead of airbrushing something on. After the washes, it'll have more depth, but I think it works well as a base color.

Big updates this month! Time is running out, but I think we'll be okay. As Darkwing Duck says, "Lets get dangerous!"

First up, it's time to return to the water started way back when. I mix up the Deep Ocean color in with some white glue...




I then coat the bottom of the hull with the mixture. We want that coat to be nice and thick to fill in any possible gaps and also to mimic the water displacing around the ship.




After the hull goes on to the base, some of the leftover mixture is used to make some water flow patterns. It's okay that it's bulging now, as once the glue dries it settles back down (the color will also darken to its original shade).





After the glue dries, there may be some gaps that have to be filled. Also, we want to help the water pattern along, so we use putty to do the job (I use Tamiya putty).





The putty is painted with Deep Ocean after drying (PE anchor chain can be seen dry fit in the second picture)..




We'll leave the hull and water aside for the time being. The hull still has to be weathered more with dry brushing, rust, etc.; and the water still needs more blending and colors. But I wait until more of the scene is complete before I determine my composition. For more information on my water technique, read my article HERE...


Now it's time to start on the striking power of the aircraft carrier: the air wing. The planes that come with the kit aren't bad, but they need some help. Especially in the realm of landing gear, where the original pieces are just two plastic stubs. Props (which will be straightened later after seeing these pics), torpedoes (Kates), bombs (Vals), fuel tanks (Zeros) and microscopic tail wheels (some of the smallest PE I've ever used) are also added.

Zero (x5)...


Kate (x4)...


Val (x4)...


Tiny stuff... Note, I leave little PE stubs on the bottom of the landing gear wheels so that I can stick them in the tiny holes on the deck when I glue the planes on for added security.



Continuing with the tiny stuff, now we get to the boats. These will be barely seen after the flight deck goes on.




The PE anchor chain is mounted and painted (anchors will come later), as are the boats (the landing boats are totally out of view under the upper deck between the launches). And then some really tedious stuff in the form of PE reels (2mm and 2.5mm widths). Plastic rod is cut to length to create the reels' drum that the line goes on. I coated the rod with CA, and wrapped tippet line that I rig with tightly around the drums to give the reels added depth and realism. This got kinda scary for a while, but worked out well. Again, this stuff will be barely visible after the deck is mounted. The shiny spots will be dull coated, but first I will put some people in there in a future installment.



Light is getting visible at the end of the tunnel!

Hi Dade! Great to see you back. Terrific work on the water. When I think about coating the hull bottom with the glue mixture and then turning it over to place it, i keep hearing the words "don't drop it" echoing in my ears. Barry

Thanks a bunch, Barry, and yep, those same thoughts run rampant through my head the whole time.

Looking good Dade, it is always nice to see a build starting to come together. That PE on the planes is very small what set did you use?

Hi Anthony, I'm going to see if I can at east get the deck glued on before the end of the month but we'll see. The PE is Lion Roar's IJN Carrier Aircraft LE700024 set. All the PE used for this build is listed on the first page along with photos of what it looks like, so if you see anything you like in later installments, you can find it there.

Nice stuff. Can't wait to see the deck on. WWII IJN carriers always seem so much more powerful than the allied counterparts.