Wow, Huck, so sorry to hear about your grandfather. My sincere condolences. I am glad that he got to see your work and that he knows that his service is not forgotten. Gave me goose bumps hearing that he passed away a couple of days after his birthday. It's almost like he waited to see his ship again, even in small scale. Thanks for sharing the photo.

Joseph

huck,
way to go. what an awesome story- you should be proud of yourself. of course loss is difficult, but what a fantastic parting gift. thanks for sharing the journey man.
kirk

Thanks friends for the kind thoughts. Trying to embrace the suck.

I started last night on a 1/350 Samuel B. Roberts. My great uncle was aboard and survived her sinking. I'll post a photo with a date time group and see if I can turn her by the end of October.

H

Huck,

Wow, sounds like you have had the opportunity to talk to a great many heros from WWII. The Samuel B. Roberts is an extreme story of heroism. I also have plans to build the Roberts soon. What kit are you going to use?

Dave

Hi Dave, the kit is the Iron Shipworks Rudderow. A very kind modeller here locally gave it to me after we talked in another forum. As I understand it the Butler and Rudderow classes differed only in teir plant; the dimensions and layout were otherwise identical.

If you've ever read For Crew and Country or Voices from Leyte Gulf my great uncle was S2C Robert "Mel" Harden. Both are fantastic works and well worth a read.

H

Hey there Huck, you have some pretty impressive lineage! I will add your book recommendations on my must read.

Here are my latest WIP photos for my Mogami. Boats and planes are almost ready for painting.



Flight deck is pretty much completed. Here's how it looks top view.



Plus a detail shot to show the railings. This is what makes me a big fan of airbrush. I shudder at the thought of brush painting this with Tamiya paint! Also note that the screws have been painted with Alclad Pale Gold and affixed.


All the structure pieces on this picture are now glued permanently. No more dry-fitting!



Blast bags have been painted as well.


Lastly, here is an overall view.


Getting there! It is pretty cool to see this ship being "fleshed out". Thanks for looking!

Joseph,

beautiful work. This versio ofthe Mogami is defintely on my wish list. My only comment I can make is that while there are lots of example of IJN Blast bags being white they were actually a brownish tan. White was used during peacetime with brown being for wartime.

In either case, you have done a phenominal job with this build. Look forward to seeing more as the squardon is added.

I hope when my time comes to build this that I can do as good a job as you have.

Dave

Thank you Dave for your compliment! Thanks too for the insight about the blast bag colors. I actually used Vallejo's Offwhite color paint for these thinking that pure white might be too garish. But, offwhite still popped out because of the dark linoleum and IJN gray colors.

I saw from your build thread that you Maya is coming along fabulously. What is the latest with your USS Dace? My Mogami should not go through the Palawan Passage unmolested, right?

Joseph,

The USS Dace is in dry dock waiting installment of the conning tower equipment along with the AA guns and the main gun. All equipment is on hand, time is what is lacking at the moment.

I am looking to focus on those installments within the next couple of weeks. She will be ready and prowling the straights when your Mogami cruises through.

LOL

Dave

well I have returned my Torp plane is still where it was when i had to bow out for a bit hope to make some headway today

Ironowl

Sascha,

That's great news. Welcome back. Looking forward to seeing your work

Dave

hello all- appologies for the long absence. time is ticking away and the campaign has nearly run its' course. i have recently (and unexpectedly) moved my house- and with a 4 year old, new school and the luxuries of being self employed (HA)- i have had absolutely no time to model. i wanted to check in to reassure all that i am going to dedicate a couple of weeks to finish off (as best as possible) my yamashiro build. i can't believe it has been a year already- wowsers!! i'm trying to meet that deadline and should have a pile of new pics in early october.
everyones' work looks fantastic. its been great participating with you all in this campaign.

Hello everyone,

Happy Friday! Just wanted to shout out that I'm still alive and working on my contribution for this campaign! Count down time is ticking. I hope I can make it to the deadline. Here's the latest on my progress.

I completed painting and applying decals on my Mogami squadron. I used AK Interactive's WW2 IJN Aircraft Colours set. They sprayed beautifully even at this scale. I decided to paint the engine black. May not be accurate but I like the look.

Boy, applying those decals are very tedious! Took me two four hour nights! So glad I'm over that hump! Here are the results:




And here they are dry fitted to the deck. Coming up next are the trolleys!


I realized too late that the yellow strips are supposed to be on the front edge of the wing, between the top and bottom part. I should've looked at references before I started. Oh well, I'm stuck with these. At least they all look symmetrical, right?

Thanks for looking as always,

Joseph

Joeseph,

Your Mogami air fleet looks great. I do not envy the amount of time that it ook to apply those decals.

All in all your IJN Mogami looks the part and is almost ready to begin steaming down strait to the largets naval battle in the pacific.

Dave

Joseph,

Those aircraft are little jewels. Great job.

those little planes are beautiful. accuracy aside (who needs or is truly capable of perfection) you should be proud of the fantastic work you have done. great inspiration for me to carry on!

Hi All,

I wanted to see if anyone out there needs me to extend the dureation of the campaign. I know I could use one myself as I am a few days behind in finishing the Maya. The Dace however is going to be a little later.

So is there anyone out there who would like to extend this campaign a month?

Dave

yes- please extend the campaign! i'm still recovering from my move/ work / 5 year old kiddo and on and on- would love the extra couple of weeks. thanks dave!

Hey Fellas!!

First...some fantastic work all around!

Second...You asked...so we answered. The end date for this campaign has now been extended. The new end date is now November 26th, 2015. I think that will give a number of you to comfortably finish your builds!!

Have fun!!

So glad date has been extended! Thanks very much! I really need it as well. Life took over and got busy with other stuff. I will try to post update pictures soon.

Joseph,

Glad to hear the extension helped out. Can't wait to see your updated photos.

Dave

hi all- i finally have a new update! i have been swabbing the decks all weekend. plastic decking is notoriously difficult to turn into wood. all in all i am happy with the results. hope you all agree

here she is afloat! its a good feeling to finally get her on her base. this will be inserted into a proper oak base in due time. now on to all the details yet to be added! i will take some better shots- these i snapped off on my phone.

Kirk,

Looking good my friend. Great job on the decking. Looks the part and really makes the ship pop. Your seascape looks great too, a nice calm sea before the storm

Keep her coming

Dave

Having just finished the Fuso for the Mighty battleship campaign I was supposed to complete the IJN Tone for this campaign./ As there is only a month left for this campaign I am going to shift the Tone to the cruiser campaign so I could possibly get it done by the deadline. I am such a slow builder