Great update Dave.

Those Alliance triples are a vast improvement on the kit parts.

Russ

Lots of good stuff going on Dave,

The Work on the funnels will really add depth when she is done.

by the by and went and did it at Southern Expo, picked up the Ironclad 1/350 Haguro.

Si

gentlemen,

thak you for the kind comments. I must admit that replacing the baffles in the stacks was becoming tedius and a little aggrivating. I know in the end I will be glad that I took the steps to improve them.

After dry fitting I noticed how tight the space is for the boat deck so I started working on the life boats last night. Will provde an update here in a day or two.

I also found that Profile Morskie has 1/350 Line Drawings for the IJN Maya so work on the main body will be delayed until I can get my hands on those. I want to make sure I don't take her so far that I can fix something.

Thanks again for the comments and Si, you found a rare gem in the Haguro, very hard to find.

Dave

Great work here as well, Dave!

You are building a magnificent Maya, looking forward to your updates

Cheers,

Jan

Jan

Thanks for the comments. I recently received Profile More kids line drawings for the Maya and have identified some required fixes. She is on hold for a little bit till I get the required AM kits

More to follow though so everyone stand by

Dave

Hi all,

Small update on the Maya. As I mentioned earlier I received the Profile Morskie line drawing plans of the Maya. It definitely was worth the money as it helped me identify some weak areas on the Maya.

So this update is targeted on the improvements made to the bridge as I was missing a lot of stuff.















I know the railings are not perfect but Im happy with them.

Also you can see in the pictures I updated the Observation equipment and the lights. Four 30cm deck lights were added to the bridge along with a 60cm searchlight on both sides.

I have used something from every AM kit I have on this build.

The FlyHawk kit is good but it misses quite a bit of what I consider essential detail.

Also the Anatomy of a Warship, IJN Takao is good but without the Profile Morskie line drawings depicting an accurate Maya will be next to impossible.

Looking to lay down the primer coat on the Bridge sections this week so stand by.

thanks for looking in and as always comments, suggestions, and criticism are always welcome and encouraged.

thanks

Dave

That is some serious etch Dave,

Absolutely superb, nothing more I can say.

Si

Some more excellent work Dave!! The bridge keeps getting better and better!! Keep at it!

Great update Dave.

Good to see this one back on the docks!

Russ

Gentlemen,

thanks for the comments. It is a lot of PE and looking at the sheets I am about half way done.

I have a few fiddly bits to add to the bridge and then she is ready for a primer coat. Hope to get that done this week.

Dave

Fantastic work Dave!!

Half way done - and now hitting the small stuff - keep up your spirit, that's the time when it can become tough...but your Maya is looking marvelous so far!!

Looking forward to your next updates and see your Maya progress, it's a highly interesting build!!

Cheers,

Jan

Jan, thanks for the encouragement. Between real life events and hitting the small stuff my progress has slowed quite considerably.

I was able to get some more done with the bridge and finally gave it some color.

Primed with black







and covered with Tamiya Sasebo Grey:





Some light details to add and then it is on to putting the entire bridge together.

My little IJN crew is ready to man the bridge.

Sorry for the delay in providing updates, I will try and do better.

thanks for looking in and as always comments, suggestions and criticism are always welcome.

Dave

Hi Dave!

Tell me something about real life and stuff....I know exactly what you mean!! Now worries about your delay, I'll have to stop my work on Belfast here for a couple of weeks soon...I'm still following!

Color makes so much of a difference!! Binds everything together. Your bridge really looks superb!!

Cheers,

Jan

Good to see an update Dave,

Really coming to life with some colour on,


Si

Gents

Thanks for the comments. More updates soon. Seeing the bridge painted I couldn't leave it alone so the crew is added and the layers are building. Will have more soon


Dave

Hi Dave, the bridge looks great-the paint has really tied everything together.

PS. I too, know what you mean about real life

Russ

hey all,

Well the bridge is finally built and dry fitted to the Maya. What I have found is that 1/350 scale is not uniform between kit makers. The IJN Sailors are from Fujimi and had to have some surgery in order to get them to not interfere with the fit of the bridge levels.

They were a little too tall so they lost their feet. In the end you cant see it so no worries. I also found that the Veteran Binoculars were a little tall and interfered with the bridge levels so a little modification was required in that area.

Here is the second level with the deck officer.



the third with some watches posted.



and the final level.





Here are some photos showing all the personnel and observation devices installed.



and now dry fitted to the ship.





Pretty happy with the look. Now to move on to the next major assembly which is finishing the funnels so I can mount the bridge to the ship.

There are a lot of fiddly parts that need to be added to the bridge but I will add those later so that they do not go pinging around the house.

Still a long ways to go but stay tuned.

thanks for looking in and as always, comments, suggestions, and criticism are welcome.

thanks

Dave

I have to go with 'WOW'!! LOL!! I was sold on the black primer...'cause it's just Hot!! But you are hitting this one out of the park with that bridge work! Keep it going!

What Todd said,

Impressive stuff Dave, more temptation with Japanese Cruisers.

Si

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the kind remarks. After looking at the pictures again I see that I need to work on my glue management some more as you can see the clumps oozing out from under parts.

I will have another short update this evening..

Dave

It's getting there Dave, nice work on the bridge and it's now starting to look like a ship.

Oh nice touch with the wee crewmen.

Great progress Dave

Nice to see this major component completed and shipped.

Looking forward to your next update!

Russ

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the kind comments. I noticed that I missed providing a picture of the first level of the bridge with the Captain.



There are actually two "wee men" on the bridge.

Also I had to put one down by the torpedoes.



When I initially worked on the crew I did not notice the mold flash, but after painting them white it became quite apparent. I let it go as they are definitely a challenge to work with.

Now that is posted the missing pictures I thought I would give you a preview of the next update.

I now have to turn this



Into this



I am not sure how I am going to approach this yet but will work on that this week.

I do love the FlyHawk set but the instructions are lacking a few critical areas. This is one of those areas. So keep your fingers crossed.

More to come this weekend.

thanks for looking in.

Dave

Hi all,

Well thankfully this weekend provided me with some bench time. I began the constructions of the AA platform by destroying the kit AA Platform.

Here are the two pieces of etch that compose the AA Platform base.



I used PVA to glue them together and then secured it to my cutting mat with tape for a good 18 hours. With the amount of handling I knew they would go through I wanted to make sure the glue was cured.

Here it is with the rails removed and the shields folded.



I will fold the rails and reattach them at a later date, probably just before it receives paint.

On a side note, all of those bright rectangle areas are for the 25mm ammunition boxes. Quite a few...

Well to build the AA Platform the FlyHawk kit calls for the destructions of kit platform, here is the beginning of the destruction



All of the supports, the large square boxes and the half round areas are required for the platform.

Once I was able to dry fit the platform it became quite obvious that I needed to get the funnels done before the AA Platform could be mounted, so I put the platform to the side and worked on the funnels.

The top funnel grates were a significant challenge but I was able to bend them enough the get them mounted. As you can see in the picture I still have some adjustments to make.



Since I do not want to run into the same problems I had painting the Musashi funnels the plan is to apply a layer of primer, mask, and then paint the funnels.

At the same time I will prime and paint the PE rails and ladders that go on the funnel still on the sprues then add them to the funnels. Should only need some touch up.

Anyway, I wanted to provide a teaser so here are a few shots with everything dry fitted.









Now she is starting to look like the sleek Heavy Cruiser she was before being sunk. More to come soon.

thanks for looking in and as always comments, suggestions, and criticism are always welcome.

Dave

Looking good Dave,

Like the "wee men".

The etched deck section looks great down, wll worth the effort.

Cheers.

Si