David,

Very nice work removing the molded items and with the clean up.

Mark

Si - Thanks for the feedback concerning the camo. Just wanted to make sure I was reading it correctly. Your right about the brass, it does indeed improve the kit.

Mark - Thanks, Im pretty happy with this round of detail removing. I have had issue in the past of gouging out the base part. Practice definitely improves performance.

More to come soon.

Hi Dave,

just catching up here - very nice work and progress!

Cheers
Jan

Ditto Dave. That is some very nice clean Work you done removing the Moulded Detail.....Cheers mark

Mark / Jan - Thank you!!

I found some time on the bench this weekend. Most of that time was finishing the Triple 25mm AA guns for the Shokaku but there was some time for the Tama.

My curiosity and need to work with the Rainbow P/E won the day. Instead of focusing on the hull like I should have I decided that I was going to work on the rear deck housing located underneath the Aircraft Deck.

I have always wonted to leave hatches open and since I intend to have this ship sitting still in the water I decided this was the kit.

Here is the rear housing finally cleaned of molded detail.



Since I only had a few minutes to work I decided I would start with the aft end of the housing. I drilled and sanded out the doorway and attached the PE hatch.





Looks like I need to remove a little more plastic behind the hatch.

I also want to point out a PE set that I found and love at this point. As you can see in the previous photos I replaced the molded portholes with PE. I found a set from Five Star that does not have link points from the porthole to the PE sheet.

Its great, no cutting and no sanding.



I will admit that I have lost a few due to them popping off into the nether dimension but the sheet has four different sizes and there are plenty of portholes for any kit!!

Another PE set that I found is one for individual ladder rungs. Nit too comes with multiple sizes and has a template to assist in drilling the holes.



So I decided to ry it out. The Tama is becoming my test kit for new techniques.

Here is the template applied



A little crooked but it worked.



and here are the rungs test fitted.





Now to move on the the next three ladders on the hull



One thing I noticed by posting these photos is that I have some cleaning up to do with the port holes. Hmm the magic of micro photos.

Well thats the update for now, hopefully I will get some bench time this week to start applying the portholes to the hull

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

Hi Thomas,

Nice work on the Iron ladders. The etched set looks very interesting. Are the templates self adhesive? I have used upgrades with etched brass templates, which need very careful securing in place.

Cheers

Si

David,

Nice progress, the open doorway looks great and really adds to the detail. I am going to have to get me those hand rails that have the template.

Mark

Si - The template is self adhesive. I looked at ones with the PE template and could not figure out how to make it work with the curve of the hull. I found this set and jumped!! So far it works out pretty good.

Mark - Thanks - Hope to have more of an update this weekend.

Dave

Great work on the portholes/scuttles and ladders Dave.

A very hand version of the ladder template indeed, if it is self adhering.

I am wondering though, how are the portholes held in the PE sheet if there are no links?

Russell,

Thank you! The template is self adhesive and does not leave residue when lifted. It also stays in place when your drilling out the holes.

As far as the port holes, they are sandwiched between two sheets of plastic. I finally cracked the code on removing them, if you lightly burnish them with a toothpick from the rear side it prevents the portholes from flying off into the next dimension.

I was wrong in my earlier description, it comes with five different sizes. Really handy!!

Dave

Hey everyone,

I did get some bench time this weekend so I focused on the Tama's hull. Specifically the port holes on the starboard side.



and now after adding the port holes





mid ship





Some of them look a little wonky but that is because I was not so straight with drill out the holes.

74 done and 99 more to go!!

The next picture is the slot that is supposed to be used for the Jacobs Ladder but since I intent to model this extended I will need to fill this in. More to come on that saga.

Since I had a little bit of time remaining I decided I would finish off the masking and painting of the forward torpedo deck and dry fit the brass strip.



I am using Scale Colors Yokuska Grey for the Tama since that is what the Record Tabular of Movement on the Combined Fleet webpage states she was painted. It does appear a little darker and a tad more blue than I thin the color should be, not sure to be honest.

Anyway, here is the deck with the Rainbow brass strip dry fitted.



The deck has a bowed effect so the brass strip is not sitting flush. The plan is to use thin strips of Tamiya Masking tape to sit it flush and then secure using CA. Hopefully when I remove the tape it will not pull the brass strip off the deck. That will have to wait until later this week.

OK, well that's it for this week. Thanks for stopping by and as always, suggestions, comments, and criticism are always welcome.

Looks great so far

David,

Those rain guards are a pain to install but really adds to the hull detail, nice work so far.

Mark

Thomas - Thanks

Mark - your are spot on, they are very tedious but worth the effort in the end.

David

Thanks for the info, will look that set out, could come in handy.

Nice progress too mate, hope the tape comes of the brass strip OK.

Cheers

Si

Si - Thanks, hoping to have time to test that theory here in a couple of days.

Dave

Lovely work Dave

I don't envy you those 99 portholes though

Russell - Thanks, I did get some time on the bench yesterday so the starboard side is now complete. Not looking forward to completing the port side.

Dave

Hey Everyone - First off Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope that the gods of plastic were good to you all.

Now for the weekly update. With everything going on this week my bench time was quite limited. However I did find enough time to attach the brass strip to the forward torpedo deck and complete the starboard side port holes.

So I went with using Tamiya masking tape to secure the brass strip to the deck.



It resulted in slight gaps on the sides but that will be butted up against the hull so I was not worried about it.

After taping I used CA glue applied with a sewing needle. It held while removing the tape and left little residue behind. I figure that the clear coat followed by the dull coat will blend those spots in really nice.



The next step was filling in the mounting slot for the Jacobs Ladders. I mentioned before that I intend to have the Jacobs ladder extended so the slot needed to disappear.

here it is masked.



Simple Tamiya masking tape applied. I then used Model Master contouring putty to fill the gap.



Here is where I failed to take follow on pictures. Needles to say the masking worked and I was left with a filled slot with no overflow. When it was dried to a harder consistency I applied thin CA to seal it. Once that was dry I ran a sanding stick over the top to make it flush with the hull.

Next was completing the portholes for the starboard side.

here is the final picture.



Not as aligned along the top of each porthole as I would have liked but I think that can be overlooked.

Now for the overhead shot of the starboard side of the hull.



Now to repeat for the port side.

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

David,

Nice progress. What thickness of CA did you use to hold down the PE?

Mark

Mark - Thanks. I used white glue for the portholes, that way I had some time to work them into position. I will go back and apply thin CA before applying the primer.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Good to see the etch on the deck worked out well. Nice progress on the hull too.

Cheers

Si

Si - Thanks, I'm looking for ward to having the portholes completed so that I can move on to more attractive sections.

Dave

Looking good Dave!

Yes, clear coats hide all sorts of glue spots and so on

Russell - thanks for looking in and confirming my suspicions. It will push me forward with the brass strip.

I again was lucky enough to get some quality bench time this week. With that being said please bear with me on my repetitive updates as I am trying to be better in keeping everyone updated.

Since I finished the starboard side last week I moved on to applying the portholes to the port side this week.

The bow section before



and after



the mid portion of the ship before



and after



Finally the stern before



and after



Next I filled the jacob ladder slot but I will save you from having to view that particular picture.

Once the port side was done I still had some available time. So after looking at the multitude of instruction I decided to move on the the step ladders on the starboard side.

This was fun but a little difficult at times cause of unfocused eyes and the shine from the brass. I was able to overcome and attached all of the step ladder rungs to the starboard side.













The first set was a little crooked but the second appears pretty straight. A learning point was to try and set a guide point before drilling the microscopic hole for the ladder. Appears that the drill bit slipped a little bit on a few of them.

In either case, while they loo crooked to on the micro lens to the naked eye they look pretty straight. I am not completely happy with it but satisfied enough that I am not going to try and fill the holes and try it again.

Now that the starboard side is done the port side will be next. Once that is done it will be time to put the hull together.

Well that's it for now, thanks for stopping in and as always comments, suggestion, and criticism are always welcome.