Russell,

thanks for the kind words

Dave

Hey Everyone,

I have another update.

I have moved on to the forward funnel. So far the parts for the Kagero have worked well. I did have to make some minor modifications to the PE rails around the funnel, but nothing major

Here is the funnel at the start



and here it is at the 90% solution



The issue I will have with the aft funnel is that I do not have the right PE. The IJN Ayanami's fore and aft funnel were identical as opposed to the Kagero's (aft funnel was larger and had a different funnel screen). I am going to have to figure out how to source another funnel set that matches the foreward funnel.


Anyway, the Ayanami is starting to look like a destroyer.

Here she is with sub-assemblies dry fitted



Here is the start of the water base



The two gouges are for the torpedoes that have already been launched. The water base has been primed and I will lay down the initial water this weekend

As a parting shot, here is a photo of the Ayanami in dry dock with the Shokaku



The dock workers are itching to get back to the Shokaku but a deadline is a deadline and the Ayanami comes first!!

Thanks for stopping in and as always any comments, suggestions or criticism is greatly appreciated

Dave

David: I am having a severe attack of inadequacy.

They both look great.

David,

Very nice work on that funnel, the PE really makes it pop. What are you using for the water base?

Putting the Ayanami next to the Shokaku really give you the scale of the two ships.

Mark

Dave the details on the funnel look great. You are a lot braver than I taking on so many builds!

Chuck - thanks for the compliment. The truth is that distance is my friend, covers up all the nasty mistakes and blemishes that are on the model.

Mark - The water base is made from insulation foam, you can buy it in large sheets from Lowe's or Home Depot. I used a dremel tool to rough it up.

Russell - Thanks brother, really appreciate the kind words. I would like to think that I can handle two separate builds but the truth is that the Shokaku is sitting untouched while I finish off the Ayanami. I definitely do not have Si's ability to juggle multiple kits!!

Dave

David: It would be greatly appreciated if you would include in this thread a tutorial on your sea base displays, in as much details you can

I have noticed that you omit shafts, props, struts, and rudders from your builds, as being unnecessary when the model is mounted in a sea base. Can't tell you how many models I have built over the years where these items get broken off in time.

I am particularly interested in following your lead for my in progress Ashanti.

Chuck,

Your right, I do not normally add the screw or prop shafts to my builds. I try to mount them to a water base as much as I can. Some take a bit longer to get to that point but in the end they all make it there.

I will be more than happy to provide the steps that I take to make the water base. I am trying a new process so I am not sure how well it is going to turn out. Just be forewarned it might look like crap.

In that case it will be a tutorial of what not to do!!

Dave

Nice work on the forward funnel Dave,

The water base looks good too, It is always "fun" adapting PE for one vessel to fit another.


Am looking forward to see how you sort out the after funnel.

Cheers

Si

I hear that mate. I've given up trying to juggle more than one kit at once these days. With the limited time I get, I find it akin to trying to drive 2 cars across the desert at the same time

Si, thanks for the support and kind remarks. I will provide the update regarding the funnels here

Russell - I hear you brother, driving two cars at the same time while listening to the misses tell you how to drive while the kids argue and smack each other in the back seat!! Yea, kinda feels like that!! LOL

ok folks so here is the update, sorry for the delay.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of the major differences between a Kagero Class Destroyer and a Fubuki Special Type II Destroyer is that on the Kagero the funnels are different sizes. The front funnel is larger in diameter that the aft funnel.

Not so much on the Fubuki Class Special Type II, on the IJN Ayanami both funnels are the same diameter. So that derailed my ability to use the funnel PE from the Kagero PE Upgrade set.

So to fix the problem I used the Flyhawk IJN Railing PE sheet. The PE sheet includes generic railing and railing for funnels. It is pretty thin and was easy to work with.


Here is the start of the aft funnel.



The top level is done



Not only were the funnels the same diameter but the top funnel screens were also the same. So with that I had a bigger issue than just the railings that went around the funnel.

I really had no choice but to use the kit molded funnel screens. Yes, I could have purchased another Infini set but I couldn't justify the cost just for two parts.

So I removed the PE from the fore funnel top and replaced it with the kit molded screen.

Here are both funnels complete.





I did have to make some cuts to the Flyhawk funnel rail in order to allow the piping to fit. With the Infini set the funnel railing is shaped to allow the piping. I made some cuts and I am happy with the results

My next step was the add the railing around the AA deck. I was going to add the fabric that is on the railing but then I realized I needed to paint it white. I then realized if I added it, painted the whole assembly, then painted the canvas wrapping that the railing would be white. hmmm another conundrum to figure out.

For now I left off the canvas and will figure out that problem later.



Here it is all dry fitted to the hull



Next step was prime and paint

Primed



All painted and dry fitted



So now I continued working on the dio base.

The last update included the primed base.

I then painted it using Tamiya Flat Blue and added some white to add a few highlights



I then added more white for a little more depth and then painted the ships wake, the torpedo wakes and some impact points



Here it is with the ship added





With the torpedoes added



The next step was to cover the entire thing with acrylic gloss varnish.

After letting that sit for a couple of days, I relooked at it and decided it looked like crap.

I started over.

I found some 2 in think insulation foam board at Home Depot. A better choice than the 1/2 blue as it gave me more freedom.

I cut that to size and then retraced the waterline hull to add the ship outline.

From there I realized I could use my Dremel to cut out the shape of the ship instead of using a knife that bent and flexed.

I love using the Dremel



Checking depth with the ship



Once I had the depth correct I took a radial sander to cut out the waves and remove the stencils on the foam.

After that I took the Dremel again with a sanding bit and created the small waves.



After that was done I primed using Tamiya Light Grey Rattle Can Primer.



After the primer I followed the same process as the previous dio base.







Here they are in a comparison shot. New one on top, old on bottom.



Someone on facebook actually told me I need to give it a third try. Good times.


I have already added the gloss varnish, the next step is to start adding some Acrylic Medium Gel and add a little bit more white for the ships wake.

As far as the ship, I have started on the Torpedo mounts. a bit of a challenge but I will have an update on that soon.

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

Dave

Great progress Dave and great water feature. I think the torpedo launch is excellent addition to the diorama.

cheers
Michael

Thanks Michael - I will be adding two more torpedoes, one coming out of the tube and one hitting the water.

Looking forward to getting it done

Dave

Hi Dave!

Very nice progress on this fine ship, she looks really good!! And your detailing and PE work is superb, as usual!!

I do like your water base, and in particular the idea with the torpedos very much!! - and there's a reason why I am not using facebook....

Cheers,
Jan

Jan,

thanks for the kind words. I am working on the torpedo mounts now, will provide an update when I am done.

As far as Facebook - yea, it threw me off for a moment but after a few minutes of being irritated I let it go. There are just some out there that have to voice their opinion.

Oh well.

Dave

David: Your water base tutorial has been most helpful to me. Thank you.

Wow Dave!

you've got some serious kahunas attempting that funnel railing!

That's going to be a great diorama too! Keep it going mate!

Great progress Dave.

Loving the Torpedo launch gives a real sense of action, I presume you will have the turrets trained in that direction as well.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers

Si

Chuck - It is a work in progress, glad that you find it helpful. Will have some more updates on the water base soon, trying out a couple of things before I go public.

Russell - thank you, it was a lot easier than it looks, to be honest, after I got over my initial fear I find that it is a little easier to work with than the pre-shaped funnel railing.

Si - Thanks, I do intend to have the torpedo mounts trained out, I will also add a torpedo hitting the water and another just leaving the tube.

With all that, here is a short update.

I began knocking out all the fiddley bits, here they are ready for priming.



The second popsicle stick from the bottom has all the torpedo warheads on it. I like that Fine Molds provided them individually verse the normal practice of lumping them together. Allows you better control on painting and allows you to choose to depict the torpedo tubes empty without having to deconstruct the warhead package.

The next step was starting the torpedo mounts. Fine Molds makes you work to put these together.

Here are the basic parts.



Sorry for the quality of the photo, looked better when I was taking it.

Anyway, you can see that the torpedo tubes have some good detail so I left them alone for the most part.

Here is the basic build prior to deconstruction and PE additions.





Here is the initial destruction of the torpedo housing.



I opened up the view port, figured if they were launching torpedoes they had to see. What I was unable to do was figure out if there were optics inside the housing or was it the MKI eyeball with the direction orders coming from the torpedo direction control located above the ships bridge. I tried to add a figure into the housing but the location of the viewing port would have had him straddling the torpedo tube!!

I used the Infini Kagero set to detail the torpedo mount housing. I had to make some modifications, especially since the Kagero had a quad tube launcher verse the triple launcher on the Ayanami. You can see that I reversed the viewing port cover and removed the excess brass.

All in all I like the out come.

Here are the final pictures before priming





I received a very nice photo from a gentlemen on Facebook that provided clear details for the triple mount. Because of that I had to make some modifications such as the location of the ladders on the housing along with the number of top railings.

Now here are all the fiddley bits and the torpedo housing primed.



I have not gotten a chance to add some color to them yet, been too busy but depending on the weather tomorrow I should be able to get them done.

After all that was done it was time to begin laying down the brass strip.

I tried to use as much of the Kagero set strip as I could, problem is that the Ayanami is a little thinner than the Kagero. So when the pre-cut strips wouldn't work I went back to my trusty calipers and measured out the proper length. I used the North Star Brass strip for that.

Luckily it is not noticeable, but when seen by the naked eye you can clearly see that the North Star strip is thinner than the Infini strip. I think that the North Star strip is closer in scale.

In either case, I think it is coming along nicely.



So as you can see, there is a lot more to go and I only have about a month to get it done!!

Thanks for stopping in and as always, comments, suggestions and criticism are always welcome.

Dave

It's appropriate today to mark the fact on this particular thread, that it was 76 years ago that Second Guadalcanal took place, and a lot of good men on both sides were lost.

Now David, if you are open for suggestions, how about a diorama of Chevalier ramming a sinking Strong to rescue survivors under fire, during the Battle of Kula Gulf.

Nice progress on the TT's Dave,

The etch on those looks real fun to put on.

Cheers

Si

Dave,

The torpedo housing looks awesome with the added PE. Looks like you are making great progress with the rest of assemblies. She is really going to be a sweet looking ship with all the detail you been putting into her.

Mark

Chuck, that's a great point - it was 76 years ago that the Battle occurred and the Ayanami was sunk. Thanks for pointing that out.

Si / Mark - Thank you for the comments. The PE was a real pain in the to put on. I do believe I removed it four or five times before I got it where I wanted it to be.


So another quick snapshot. Here she is with some painted fiddly bits attached and in here natural element.



I have to re-approach the water base. You can see in the front center that there is some area that is whiteish, that is actually the medium acrylic gel. For some reason it did not dry clear. Trying to figure out how to fix without rebuilding the base.

I am running our of time, only a month to go before I have to have it done!!

Dave

Wow Dave!

Really nice progress! The water base and torpedoes look great!

Thanks Russell. I am going to make some modifications to it today and clean up some of my mistakes.

Dave