My next build here will be the Fujimi 1/350th IJNS Haruna. I will be using Fujimi's own extensive PE set, metal replacement barrels for the main armaments. I have also bought some sets of the 1/350th Japanese crewmen to liven up things on board and to get the color right I now have several Japanes colors in stock including Sasebo en Kure armoury grey. I won't bore you with another review of the Haruna: Dade said all that needs to be said and I'll add details as the build proceeds. I will try and get a review of the PE set up after Sail Amsterdam next week. The PE set was a great disappointment as it did not include the Kanji symbols for the ship's name. All for now, things should liven up after next week.
Cheers,
Julian

Howdy
I too am building the Haruna. Unfortunately, it is stalled due the demands of work. I just wanted to mention a couple things. Be careful with attaching the deck pieces. I ended up with a pretty good misalignment and gap in the forward two pieces when I attached the after most piece first. I was able to join the pieces with some surgery and hide the problem with the fujimi wood deck. The second is in regards to the Fujimi PE. The instructions are terrible. At least half of the PE is not even mentioned. I spent a couple days identifying what PE goes where using the kit instructions, PE instructions and paper copies of the PE sheets. I made notes on the kit instructions of the PE part numbers. The inclined ladders were a particular pain to identify.
Have fun
Shaun

Hi Shaun,
thanks for the tips. The hull fitted like a glove but I'll keep your advice in mind when I get around to the decks. The instructions are very not European and the PE instructions are a minor disaster Takes patience and long legs to finish this baby. Hope I stay the course.
cheers, Julian

Looking forward to your build Julian.......

Here are the first careful steps in the construction of the Haruna, (thanks for encouragement Joe !). I bought the Haruna during a discount action at Mol Modelbouw for € 180,- which makes it one of the more expensive models I have ever bought or built. To finish it off I bought the Fujimi PE set from Hobby link Japan for an eye watering price after tax and shipping.
The hull parts with strengthening bulkheads fit perfectly producing a very strong and rigid boxlike construction:





The focsle deck and poop deck parts also fit like a glove needing only very little Mr. Surfacer 500 and 1000 to work away a couple of very slight gaps:









The hull needs some light sanding to remove mold lines, nothing serious though and once again Mr. Surfacer smoothes things down ready for the grey ground coat:





I am adding PE portholes + covers which is a rather mind numbing task but will improve the general appearance when painted:



I have added some photo’s of the PE set here below. It looks rather flimsy, is very nicely packed on sheets of sticky polythene so I am very curious how this PE will handle. The instruction sheet is a stinker, more like a puzzle than anything else. Here I really miss an Eduard or WEM set:









That is all at the moment, hope to make some more progress this coming week as I have a couple of days off.
Cheers,
Julian

Looking good so far! I'm curious, are you going to add a wooden deck like Dade did with his Kongo? I bought Haruna vs Kongo because of his review and am looking forward to building it! With the help of this build log of course!

Hi Jason, no, no wooden deck on this build. I agree that they look better but there are limits to how much I will spend on a model and there are some really nice models lined up for release: Italeri Biber, Trumpie's Arizona and Hasegawa has an escort carrier in the pipeline. To avoid sudden death administered by mrs. Gremlin I have to make some choices
cheers,
Julian

No doubt Mrs Sparks and Mrs Gremlin are of the same mind then! I'm sure it'll look great regardless! I'm excited about USS Pennsylvania being released soon as well! Since my wife is from there, maybe it'll ease the pain a bit! Looking forward to the rest of your build! Take care!

Update September 5th:
As nicely as the poop- and foredeck fitted, as bad natured was the center section of the deck. Fitting it to the aircraft catapult end of the superstructure resulted in three very nasty gaps:





My solution was adding some flat styrene shet to the underside of the deck section so that the filling wouldn't drop straight down to the bilges
I then filled the gaps with some styrene rod and when everything had dried and seemed reasonably solid I filled the remaining gaps with putty. The resulting join will be nearly invisible after painting and a gun tub fits over this location on Port- and Starboard side. Tis is the resulting join:



There could be some problems fitting the bridge superstructure here as the deck has effectivly become about 2 mm longer. I'll take that hurdle when I reach it.
I have finished busying up the portholes, (yes, some of the scuttle covers are on the wrong side I know. They will disappear into the background after painting and weathering and they do add to a slightly busier appearence instead of the kits plain Jane plastic plug like protuberences. I like it and I am leaving 'em





I have started adding the Fujimi PE parts: easy to remove from sheets, nice quality metal but rather fragile so care being taken by me Have added the boat cradles on the main deck:




Have the Haruna sitting pretty in her first coat of grey ground coat, still some gaps to touch up but progress so far so good:





All for now, thanks for letting me bore you guys,
cheers,
Julian

Looking good Julian. I really like the portholes. I had the same problem with the gap in the foredeck. I massaged the joint between the quarterdeck and midships deck to reduce the gap and still ended up with a nasty looking joint between the foredeck and midships deck. The foredeck had to be adjusted to fit the hull with plenty of misalignments and gaps. Fortunately the Fujimi wooden deck covered up the really bad areas. I think that since you are not using the wooden deck, you have gone the correct route. I just hope the deck house does not present too much of a problem. Oh yeah, you are being too kind regarding the Fujimi PE instructions.
Shaun

Thanks Shaun,
cutting the aft tabs off the deckhouse will give some freedom of movement, only have to check that it doesn't cause more problems.
The plans of the PE are dire, I would describe it differently but Mark would boot me off the forum
cheers,
Julian

Wonderful work Julian.

Thank you very much Kenny, still a long way to go but the "foundations" are there.
Cheers,
Julian

Looks really good.... a good fitting deck is indeed a pleasure (the trumpeter kits I have been building so far (USS England, USS San Fransico and DKM Hipper) seem to have worked that part out at least...

Harm

Hi Harm, thanks. Even Revell got the deck fit right on the Tirpitz. I didn't expect a model this expensive to have such a big fault. Still, thats the way it is so I will patch and keep on going
Cheers,
Julian

A quick update for September 12: Hull has been sprayed with red anti-fouling and is drying before weathering washes are applied, (no photos yet ). I have started the superstructure applying the Fujimi PE:




The paravanes benefit enormously from the PE. Then an application of ground paint .







Now for some tidying up before painting.
Cheers,
Julian

Underwater hull is sprayed, weathered and masked, (so you will have to be patient to see how things look ). The main decks are sprayed in Tamiya deck tan, filtered with Mig brown for grey sand and weathered with a raw umber oil wash. In the photos it looks dreadful but will dry up just like I want it .
Superstructure deck is weathered and ammo lockers are being installed.












Cheers,
Julian

Masking with Tamiya tape, spray coat with Tamiya Kure arsenal grey and finally peeling of the tape:













Next step will be some touching up followed by a matt varnish layer. After that a pin wash to make the hatches etc. "pop ".

Cheers,
Julian

Looks really good,

and at such a speed... (I am glad if I get anything done at all)...

What is the eye-popping brown color on the flight deck?

Cheers,

Harm

Hi Harm, thanks, yes, moving fast here. The brown is Vallejo "Cavalry brown". It sort of smacks you in the face at the moment but with a raw umber wash it will become a very civilised Japanese linoleum color .
Cheers,
Julian

Nice work on the decks, I've just taken delivery of a load of real wood strips for the New Jersey

John

Hi John, thank you ! It's not real wood but its passable, ( I bought the Yamato with Eduard PE this summer and have the dragon Independence on pre order so the limits of my budget are being reached). The wood deck will look great on your build of the New Jersey and with all the scratch building you are doing it will be very much worth the extra investment
Cheers,
Julian

So how are you going to afford the USS Gambier Bay as well?? What a terrible problem to face... I have the USS Independence and Gambier Bay reserved so the pension account is going to take a big battering soon..

The problem is even more complex I also have the Revell 1/144 Fletcher in the stash and I need to buy the "Big Ed" PE set for that one too I might end up with the dangly bits in a jam- jar on mrs. Grem's mantlepiece for all this splurging on models
cheers,
Julian

I am hoping someone can help me out with the following question:



Before weathering the upper hull: what exactly are parts a and parts b.
Parts a look like pipes projecting through the hull and curved down, .
b looks some sort of chute to clear the hull, ( garbage chute?).

cheers,
Julian