Hi Michael,

as Si said - very nice progress!! And very nice to see your wonderful New Zealand progressing!!

Cheers,
Jan

In for a late start! I thought I’d finish one of my older projects, in this case the World War One Imperial German Navy light cruiser Emden in 1/2400 scale. Intended to be used as a wargame counter, this tiny metal kit from GHQ is very simple: the less than two inch long model consists of just the hull, bridge, three funnels, and two masts. Even so, the molded-in detail is fantastic!




I bought this little cruiser shortly before my daughter was born in 1994 ...but for some reason I didn’t get much modeling done that year!

I only got as far as attaching the bridge, funnels, and applying a coat of primer.

Hey Tim! You seem to be working in smaller and smaller scales!

How on Earth you can see at that scale beats me

Hi Tim,

What Russ said!

I can't see 1/700th scale any more let alone that little gem.

Good luck,

Cheers

Si

Finally got some more done on the San Diego. ...I'm moving in 2 weeks, but convinced myself that "An hour isn't enough time to really pack anything, so just work on the ship."

DAVE! Thanks for the Master-Model tip! These barrels are a HUGE improvement over the ones from the kit, especially combined with Paper-lab turrets.

Hi Steve,

Nice job with the turrets and guns, look much better than the kit bits,

cheers

Si

Steve,

Those turrets and guns look great! So much better than those massive kit barrels; the more in-scale brass parts really emphasize that graceful yet potent look of the CLAAs.

Tim

Wow Tim - that IS amazing - -!!! The whole model is smaller then many of my individual parts...could take her on board the Hood as an Admirals barge I presume Fantastic - I am looking forward to see what you will do to her!!

Steve, the new turrets and the turned brass barrels are a huge improvement! They really stand out!

Cheers,
Jan

Russ, Si, and Jan, you’re right – I can’t really see this ridiculously tiny model either, but the optivisor helps (and of course, my kids remind me of how very cool I look wearing it!) I figured that it is small enough that I wouldn’t go crazy adding details and might actually finish the thing.

Unfortunately, my plan to build without alterations hit the rocks almost immediately; nicely done as the molded kit details were, the funnel bands seemed a little heavy. They tended to distort the elegant look of Emden’s slim smokestacks, so I filed them smooth (a spare funnel is in the foreground of the second pic).

Very nice microscopic work on the funnels Tim, they look much better and sleeker.

Cheers

Si

Thanks, Si. Those slender funnels were part of what made the Dresden class cruisers so beautiful!

My little Emden will be in pre-World War One “China Station” livery, so after sorting out the funnels, I gave the hull an airbrushed base coat of Floquil Reefer White. The masking tape was to assure a straight line between the white hull and yellow upper works to come.


I applied the rest of the paints by brush:

Floquil SP Armor Yellow upper works, funnels
Model Master Armor Sand wood decks
Model Master Military Brown boat interiors
Model Master (lightened) black funnel tops, ground tackle, bridge windows


She looks pretty but a little toylike at this point! Maybe things will look more realistic once I get the masts fitted.

I am seriously impressed you can handle something that small Tim. I would squash it for sure. Looking forward to you adding the "eyebrows" to the portholes

cheers
Michael

An update on HMS New Zealand. The rear superstructure has been constructed with kit parts and a number of scratch built items. It's dry fitted at the moment before heading to the paint shop and final assembly.



cheers
Michael

Hi Michael,

Your HMS New Zealand is looking seriously nice! It will seem a shame to throw paint all over that lovely brass...

Hi Tim,

Great job on such a tiny gem. Very impressive indeed.

Cheers

Si

After superstructure looking superb Michael,

The 4 inch looks really good.

cheers

Si

I figure you guys thought that i dropped off the face of the earth. I didn't but did have a lot of real life interfering with my IJN Tone build.

First of all I wanted to say how great the Scharnhorst and the Belfast turned out. Great job Si and Jan!!! The other builds are looking great too.

I kept snapping photos as I went along so here is my MEGA UPDATE.

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Here is the smokestack with my attempt at adding the horizontal railings.

Thanks Tim,
I know what you mean. Dull gray just doesn't shine the same way, but it does hide the glue

cheers

Michael

I'm pretty happy the way it turned out and the gun shield was a lot easier in the end than a turret.

thanks

Michael

Here it is test fitted to upper deck. [/url" TARGET="_blank">

Here is the linoleum deck with the brass strips drawn on with a marker
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While fitting the upper deck in the hull I guess it twisted and most of the PE rails popped off.
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Here is the rear deck with drawn on brass strips and tracks re-installed

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The aircraft crane w/ PE.

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one of the twin 5" anti aircraft guns w/ brass barrels and PE turret

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upper deck installed w/ superstructure and funnel
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4 turrets test fitting

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5 Jake's painted and ready for action

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Everything installed. just need railing.

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Here is the completed IJN Tone
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Here it is in my case next to the IJN Fuso.

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Great stuff Greg,

The Tone looks excellent, built her sister Chikuma for the Guadelcanal Campaign, really enjoyed it.

Cheers

Si

With Emden's basic assembly completed and colors applied, it is on to the masts!

The kit parts were not bad; I particularly liked the searchlight platforms with those miniscule lights.

Unfortunately, the kit masts were a little too thick – and too short. I built up new ones with 28 and 26 gauge steel wire. The fore-and-aft mainmast platforms, cut away from the kit part, were then attached to the new mast.


I did the same with the foremast platform, except that these lights were mounted side-by-side.


These assemblies are all held together with cyanoacrylate, so even though they are pretty small, they should be fairly resilient.
Or so I hope!