Started building this when I learnt about the news of the Fujimi's upcoming re-tool. Interestingly unlike Akagi, there are not a lot of builds of Kaga on the net. The kit itself is on-par with the old Akagi - it fits fairly well (in fact, one of the best hull/waterline plate fit in any kit I've ever built) and has decent amount of details.

The flight deck is the weakest link, and ajkochev has a feature on scratching the flight deck from evergreen sheets. This time, I opted to re-scribe the kit deck, as I do not plan to replace under-deck truss with PE, it is the easier option.

After removing all the raised details except the anti-skid plates on the rims, using a trusty Tamiya scriber and ruler, I set about scribing 0.5 mm width planks. Being the deck being largely constant width, alignment was not a big issue. It took about 40 minutes and was in fact easier than I expected (the removal of the raised detail took a lot longer in fact). Then the non-wooden parts also got the scribing treatment where required. Finally, I drilled some tie-downs on sections that are not scribed.

The deck after a couple coats of paint and washes. Recessed lines do bring out the details nicely.




The rest of the ship being built:

Very nice !
Julian

Deck marking painted. Recently bought a set of IJN carrier markings stencil from a relatively new PE company 'sea spirt' or 'ocean spirit?'. Decent, but in a way not that much different to masking and need to be more careful about paint runs. The circular marking is very useful however.

A shot taken at similar angle to the box art of the Fujimi Kaga.

Beautiful work Jim, especially on the deck.

It's great to see a Model of the Kaga underway and you are doing a very nice of her Jim. I have the Akagi with the Lion Roar set on Backburner while I am doing the Hood. Looks like you have made my mind up to do her next.....Cheers Mark

Hey Mark, you better join the party soon given a new tool Kaga is coming!

Thank you for the comments everyone. Expecting to be done this weekend.

A hastily built air group is now added. I did achieve one objective - was able to trial some aircraft marking (serial on the vertical stabaliser) decals that I printed from a normal office laser printer a while ago at somewhere around 0.6 sized font. 4 squad leaders received this added 'treatment'. The decal turned out to be usable with reasonable resolution and now I have the full serials for the midway operation!

Hi Jim

Congratulations on a very nice IJN Kaga!
I like the challenge of building one of these old kits, and your effort was a worthy one
I have to challenge you to make a water base for it, sorry!!

Cheers,
Rui

Beautifully done Jim. I will have to pull my Finger out at this rate, but will wait for the Hood......Cheers Mark

nicely done!