dave- the maya looks great!- thats what i love about the ijn- they have the 'wackiest' boats of all time- i think its their aesthetic that draws me to them in the first place and keeps me motivated to build more- my next build is going to be the battleship/ carrier ISE- another zany but beautiful beast.

Great etch work Dave,

looking really good.

Si

Gents, as always great stuff coming from this campaign!!!

Even though I'm finished there is still one thing to do on the Hoel and that is the signal flags, postie brought them to me today so hopefully I can get them done on Friday afternoon once I wake up after the night shift. I got two sets so I'll have spares for future projects.

Those look great Luciano!! Gonna have to source some myself soon I think!!

Todd, got them through evilbay from China, about two weeks to arrive.

and here they are applied (still wet) NAN - ABLE- X-RAY - YOKE

Luciano,

Looks great. Love the final touch of the signal flags.

Dave

Hi Dave, your Maya build is coming along quite splendidly. You sure know how to make a very clean build. The Maya looks great!

Hi Luciano, I like how your Hoel turned out. The signal flags are indeed a great touch.

-Joseph

Hello there,

Here are my WIP photos after spraying Vallejo black primer on my Mogami. I proceeded to paint the hull. The instructions called for Tamiya TS33, Dull Red. This color is available only as a rattle can. I was not too keen on using spray paint because personally, I find it hard to control. I was envisioning lots of overspray. I planned on decanting this color. Good thing I started by going on Youtube. Thanks to Hyperscale, I was able to successfully decant paint from the can. Here are the links to the clips that I watched:
Part 1 - https://youtu.be/oteliqdTvgw
Part 2 - https://youtu.be/c2NjMD3AW2A

I learned so much from these clips and I was able to do it successfully with very minimal waste!


I was able to load the paint on to my airbrush and color my Mogami’s hull. Here are pictures of the results. The other colors I added at XF77 IJN Gray (Sasebo Arsenal) and XF79 Linoleum Deck Brown




You can also see here that I have experimented painting the linoleum brass strips. I used an oil based Pentel Pen Gold marker. It was really difficult to maintain an even coat. I ended up re-touching some of the Linoleum Deck Brown paint by brush. I’m sure I’m not the first to confirm that Tamiya paints are not brush application friendly. I’ll just have to accept it. Maybe these will all be hidden if and when I decide to weather the Mogami.



I then dry fitted part of the Pagoda structure, mast and smoke stack. Here’s how they look:




Next move is to attach the photo etch deck for the planes.

Thanks as always,

Joseph

Joe,

Your Mogami is looking incredible. Very nice work on the brass strips. I took the lazy mans way out and purchased the North Star brass strips for the Maya.

Nice trick for decanting the rattle can for the air brush. I hope to use that at some point in the future. I also am not confident in using a rattle can to paint my ships.

Just for future refrence, there is a Tamiya Hull Red which does come in the 23ml bottles and is more in line with the color the IJN used on their hulls.

Looking forward to seeing the flight deck arriving on sight. I am watching with interest as I recently acquired the ISE Battleship / Aircraft carrier so watching your build will give me some insights.

Beautiful work. Looking forward to seeing more as you progress.

Dave

Thanks very much Dave. I thought I was the one being lazy by just painting the molded on strips. I think the brass strips are more labor intensive, so hats off to you!

I am hoping to build a Tamiya Yukikaze someday and I will keep in mind to use the hull red color for it.

Great work on the Mogami Joseph, coming superbly.

A bit more progress on the Indy. The parts for the AA armament.



Another mistake on the instructions. one short on the twin 40s.



The bases assembled.



The mount added, a positive fit for this component would have been nice,



Looking at pictures of the ship, I think the kit components work better than the etched parts from the WEM set.





A few will be need to be painted to match the cammo.

Si

a quick update on the yamashiro- starting to take care of some of the last details- namely the guns- sorry if the pics are a little boring:





i have to say that the rainbow p.e. sets leave a little to be desired. they are so fragile that they fall apart with only a minimal handling. the frets are simple too thin to withstand the bending (at least from my sausage fingers!). a little glue will remedy the situation when i'm feeling up to the task.



i find this part of the build a real challenge to stay enthused about- sooo many tiny pieces to keep track of.

here is another example of the poorly fitted kit parts- a detail of the main mast running through the interior of the pagoda tower. obviously its a little short... nothing a little stretched sprue won't fix though:



more fun shots soon- hopefully with a little paint to provide a little more interest

Kirk

Great looking work. Understand your comments about the small stuff. Not sure anyone really looks forward to them but they do make the model complete. We all must be mad!!

Great progress. Looking forward to seeing some color

Dave

Looking good Kirk, nice work on the light AA.

On with Indy

The Island in place.



A bit more on the twin 40's, the barrels and the sights on, I have passed on the handwheels, after catapulting 3 across the workshop and knocking off the only one I got on.



The radar mount on, and a bit more etched walkway.



trying to work out the WEM railings, it appears from the Dragon instructions they do not provide sufficient and WEM do not provide drawings for all the sections they provide,

I am adding the direct replacement parts, and seeing what I am left with.

Stbd side aft.



port side aft, including the safety net below the LSO platform.



starting to get the support structure under the platforms between the funnels.



Si

More on the Indy,

Railings going on round the flighdeck catwalks.



The fo'c's'le



and the poop.



One thing neither Dragon nor WEM provide is the railings for quad or twin 40mm, some left over single bar may not be 100% but it will pass muster.





More soon.

Si

si,
some slick work! i love having to improvise (as per your railings). 100% accuracy is overrated. i feel strongly that models are an interpretation of the real thing as much as a reproduction. once i settled on this philosophy my modelling improved and the amount i produce has increased immeasurably.
your ship is looking fantastic and those little itty bitty guns are awesome.

Thanks Kirk,

I am quite pleased with the improvisation. Thinking about it you are right, we can get caught up striving accuracy and lose sight of the enjoyment of the project,

It is minor disappointment that with all the etch Dragon provide they missed those rails, and I did not want to chuck any more cash at the project.

Cheers

Si

On with the light AA.

The single 20mm.

Looks like these can be built up on the sprue, the barrels being added to the cradle.



The shields going on.



This is where it stared to go wrong, the magazines have a nasty tendency to ping out of the tweezers, the etch for the sights and shoulder rests are tricky to say the least. Also in in getting two shields on I dropped on and broke another getting off the fret.

Plan B, an unopened set of L'Arsenal single 20mm.



Look good and I can xope with them.

One real problem I could do with help with, for some reason the larger rub downs, particularly the "22" on the bow en of the flight deck.



any suggestions for a cure would be gratefully received.

Si

Hi Si.
That's a real shame about the decals!
I usually only follow along in the background on these campaigns so I hope you don't mind me butting in?
Can I ask if you gloss coated (clear) the deck before applying the rub down? This will help adhesion of decals etc.
For this one though, perhaps try some decal setting solution? Try it on a piece of off cut & left over rub down first though as it may make things worse?

If that doesn't work, you may need to remove them & replace with AM numbers.
Russ

Si I'd go along with Russell's suggestion but another option may be to try some very thinned down PVA or Gator Grip very sparingly brushed on/under, in both cases once fixed and dry apply a coat of varnish to seal the decal down.

Si, your Indy is looking good. Sorry to see that the dry transfers are pulling up. I think Russell and Luciano's suggestions sound good. A coat of gloss finish sealing it down would probably help.

So it has been a bit since I provided an update on the Dace so here it is.

Finished adding modifying the Gato to the Dace with a little scratch building and brass rod. The rear 5" ready rack is probably a tad overscaled but by the time I noticed it, fixing it would have caused problems.







The anchor, rudder, and rear dive planes are from 3d printed.

So with all finally added it was time to prime her.









and the pose that has become my favorite: The Hunter and the Hunted.



I have done some more weathering to the Maya but as I mentioned earlier I am delaying further work until I clear the deck of a couple other projects.

The other problem is I finally received the Profile Morskie plans for the 1944 Maya and there are some corrections I need to make. But there will be more updates soon.

Everyones build is looking great. Looking forward to seeing more updates.

Dave

Hi Russ,

No I don't mind at all. I did not put a coat of gloss on first, it did not occur to me using rub downs to be honest. Will see what I have got in the way of setting solution.

Thanks Luciano,

If the setting solution does not work on the test will have a go with thinned PVA, and then another matt coat.

Thanks Dave, these things happen, and will be solved (I hope).Great progress on the Dace, looking excellent.

Thanks guys appreciate the assist, hope for better update latter today.

Si

Hi Si

yep, I always seal all my wooden decks with an appropriate gloss coat (both sides if the deck is not self adhesive) before laying them down on deck. This reason for this is twofold: first, it stops moisture being absorbed by the timber over time and turning it grey; second, the gloss allows adhesives (decals included) to adhere that much better, a bonus if the deck is not self adhesive. I would even recommend it on coloured decks. Later on down the track you can seal the whole lot up with a dull cote to tie the whole vessel together.

Be careful with the PVA glue if you try it thinned down with water as the timber will want to suck it right up, and end up being ruined-ask me how i know

Definitely seal in all your decals at the end of the build-or even during using a clear coat. Sometimes I will gloss coat first to even out all the lumps and bumps then matt coat last of all depending on the situation. Don't be afraid to do this during the build too if you're worried about decals or damage to the paint itself.

Dave, the Dace is coming along in leaps and bounds-good to see!

Enough from me guys-I'll go back to being a silent observer! Good luck everyone, great builds going on here!

Thanks for sharing!
Russ

Thanks Russell,

This is the first deck I have had to use decals on of any type, will remember your tips for future use.

The spare rub downs fid not react well to either micro set or Humbrol decal set, next plan I think will be to get the rest of the deck detail down, gloss the deck and use the waterslide no.s that come in the kit, then Matt down,

thanks for the help mate, much appreciated.

Si