September 19th update:
Upper hull side weathered using Mig filter blue for panzer grey. Some slight rust streaks at hawsepipes and scuppers. Imperial crysanthemum fitted and painted gold. Anchor chains and screws have now been added. The superstructure base has been glued into position. draft marks fore and aft have been added. Now follows the rather mind numbing task of fitting numerous mushroom vents, bollards, bitts and other odds and sods that will busy the deck up:









All for now,
cheers,
Julian

Very nice - could you tell me the full length of this model - the PE is looking great, and can't wait as this comes together.

Thanks Alec, she's 25 inches long. The fun part of the build starts now after all the necessary paintwork on the hull has been done.
Cheers,
Julian

Hi Julian. I am having a stab in the Dark but they could be leftover reminders of her early Days when she was Coal Fired. I am guessing that they could be the Coal or Soot Shoots from from when she used to fill her Coal Bunkers. When Re-Boilered to Oil, I guess that they didn't bother removing and Plating over those Areas hence they remained in Place. I hope that will help answer your Mystery......Cheers Mark

Hi Mark, thanks for the message. It's plausible but would a powder be pushed down a pipe with a bend? How does this one sound: the pipes curve over the top of the torpedo bulges, (which were added later in the Harunas career I presume). Would this have been done to prevent the flow from the scuppers pooling on the top of bulges and enabling it to flow straight overboard? Does this sound likely or should I stop drinking the 96% alcohol paint thinner?
Cheers,
Julian

Pace has slowed down slightly due to the real world intruding Fitting mushroom vents, mushroom vents and more mushroom vents so I couldn't resist fitting the first turret, just a test before fitting the PE to the turret:






cheers,
Julian

The Fujimi PE is very delicate although easier to remove from the "sprues" than Eduard PE for example. The folds seem to be slightly thicker as well. None the less great care must be taken not to ruin the delicate parts:







Time for beer methinks after finishing turret "A" ,
cheers,
Julian

She is shaping up very nicely, I have to say...

The wooden deck looks better and better now the rest is being built up... Just wondering, since IIRC the Haruna is a sister to the Kongo, does it have the casemate issues that Fujimi's Kongo has or has that been fixed?

Cheers,

Harm

Wonderful progress Julian.

Harm, Kenny, thank you both very much. In answer to your question Harm: the casemate issue is the same as for the Kongo and would require major surgery to change. For me it's not a big issue but it evidently does poke "experten" in the eye I'll try and post a couple of photos this evening so you can see how serious the problem is.
cheers,
Julian

Ok, top photo is of a scale drawing of the Kongo. All casemates nice, vertical etc.
Photo number two is my Haruna build: not quite right:



Make your own judgement on how dreadful this fault is.

Lastly:
Turret "A" in base coat, weathering still to come


Cheers,
Julian

Thanks for the images...

It is the first time I have seen images of the wrongly shaped casemates - and frankly it does look very odd indeed... and the turret in paint looks a lot better,,,,


Cheers,

Harm

It doesn't look very practical. I can't imagine a shipyard choosing this way to construct the ship, (nowadays with the stealth profiles okay, but not in 1912). Having written that I must say that if Dade hadn't mentioned it in his review of the Kongo I wouldn't have really noticed it. It depends on which road you follow: if you take the arduous path of the die hard rivet counter life will not be easy for you and nearly all models will contain nearly unsurmountable errors. If you choose to build a model because you want to blow of some steam after a hard day at the office and a Japanese battlewagon happened to catch your eye at model store, hey, you might even get around to enjoying yourself
Just my 2 cents Harm, not going to get my panties all bunched up about it
cheers,
Julian

26th September update:
"B" turret build and sprayed. Needs some weathering and some small details need painting. Superstucture slowly taking shape now. The Fujimi PE takes a bit of getting used to but the fit is excellent, (check the accomodation ladder in the superstructure). I have included two snaps of a pair of Italaeri tweezers I bought yesterday. The hooked tip is extremely well pointed and angled and is making like fitting small parts a lot easier. For 4 Euro's I can thoroughly recommend the tool.










Cheers,
Julian

Jullian if I may what kind of MIG products and colors do you use?I have never used them before but here alot of people in all branches of modeling using them.Cheers

Hi Kevin, I use MiG's filters, washes and effects, (rain marks, rust etc.) and the pigments, (although those are more use for armor). Paints are Vallejo, Life Color, Tamiya and Citadel. I also very occasionally use Humbrol enamel.
cheers,
Julian

October 1st update: working on the superstructure and some of the triple A surrounding the bridge. I love the covered observation balcony; sort of a nautical skybox. The Fujimi PE set doesn't provide railings for all the decks, (Fujimi isn't being very helpful at all: sent an e-mail requesting further information on the PE set and they haven't even confirmed reciept ). I have several sets of spare PE railings that I bought from Jerzy Bin at JB Models in Vienna, (excellent service provided by Jerzy. Great guy to do business with). I will use this to rig railings where necessary:










Thats all at the moment, (and yes, I have seen the nasty gap on the port quarter of the superstructure and it will be filled).
Cheers,
Julian

Looking really good there Julian these Japanese ships really had some nice lines in them.Is the shahing on the turrets chalks,pre-shade??

Hi Kevin, yes, couldn't agree more. The Japanese had a fleet of very impressive and beautifully designed warships. The Kongo class has of course a very British pedigree to start off with.
The shading is not chalk or pre shading. I spray the "modules" with Tamiya Kure arsenal grey. Then I do a light spray on all surfaces with Kure grey lightend with some white. I finally add a Mig filter using the blue for panzer grey. On the hull sides I also did an oil wash using raw umber as coloring.
cheers,
Julian

Just a small update for October 3rd: Forward rangefinders fitted to AAA platform and railings and boat cradles fitted to engine room casing:









Cheers,
Julian

October 3rd update II: I managed to find time to spray and filter the engine room casing. The railings turned out better than I expected after the "battle" to get part of them to fit giving cause to many "expletives deleted"





Cheers,
Julian

Man got to get in on that MIG stuff just my patience for reading instructions lately has been really short.The girl is really looking fantastic Julian.I read another method in short discription of using oils on the deck;heavy;leave for 30minutes or so and then wipe.It had a nice effect of bring out the details of the planks.Ever been down that road Jules??I might try it out on a small part of the GS upper deck I tried one deal we do with A/C and I really did not like the effect so much.Cheers

What exactly do you guys mean by filtering?

This is what I have found from MIG have not read itn all the way

http://www.migproductions.com/minisite/lavados/washes.htm

Hi Kevin, Jason,
First of all thanks for the kind remarks about the Haruna build Kevin, I am enjoying the build and the results are okay up until now. Yes have heard about the oil wash technique you describe but I stick to my own way of doing the decks, (which is probably less realistic but reasonably predictable for me ).
Jason, Kevin has put Miguel's own explanation of the difference between filters and washes online via a link. I use it to get a weathered appearence in "munchkin scale" models. The filter is applied over a two tone spray job to bring things together and avoid a monochromatic appearence. It's something you have to mess around with to get happy with.
Check out these filters, washes, glazes and pin washes on my SU-150 build:






Cheers,
Julian