The Ship Model Forum

Excellent work as always Dan!
Glad to see you have been modelling as usual. Thanks for posting the process now!

I also added maneuvering signals for the main mast. Not that I didn't mix up the colors at first.

Continuing on, the kingposts were next. Along with fuel transfer hoses, winches, pulleys, main armament (FineMolds 12cm mounts with shields and triple 25mm AA), and rigging for all the above

Life's continued to be busy, but I had a nanosecond or two to post something new.

As an aside, digital photography brought out several irregular surfaces, and I slowly corrected many of them as time allowed.

Next came the masts. I used Five Star tapered masts plus brass rod and a kit tripod and kit PE crane assembly. I added some signal lights as well. With little actual data, I made the assumption that these masts would be as tall as those aboard the Kawasaki type tankers.

Thx, Joe. She'll be there.

Greg, it turns out I used Micron tape that is 1.5mm wide for the strakes.


Next came the catwalks. Note that these were not quite the same lengths as those carried on the Kawasaki class. The front catwalk is shorter while the aft walk is longer.

I used the Fujimi trestles from one of their Kawasaki class kits, plus V grooved styrene for the extended walkway and U-shaped styrene for the base of the original pathway. There was enough railings to do line some of the catwalks, but more had to be sourced from the GMMM IJN railing set. The forward section required some trimming of the trestle footers to fit properly. It might be possible to use the catwalks from the Tom’s PE set for the Kawasaki type tankers, but adjustments would have to be made, particularly for the aft catwalk.

Description and drawings indicate that these catwalks were much like those on the Kawasaki types after their conversions to UNREP capabilities. As opposed to the following 1TL tankers, which utilized only an aft section and the basic catwalk structure with no outer walkway addition.

Great work Dan! Look forward to seeing her at Hampton.

Hey, Greg -

Strakes - Hmm. Probably 2.0mm or 2.5mm tape. I'm out of town, so I will measure when I get home.

Kit cowl vents. Drilled them out slightly.

Bending rod - I'm embarrassed to say that it never even occurred to me to heat the rod slightly. Bent slowly by hand. I don't recall the diameter, either, but I can measure that as well.

Looks great as always, Dan. Couple quick questions:

1. What size tape are you using to simulate the hull strakes? 6mm?

2. Are those cowl vents after market or stock kit parts?

3. How do you bend the plastic rod so precisely for the oil feeder pipes on the deck? Do you heat the plastic first?

Lovely as always, Dan

And a couple of views of the completed, painted bridge, forward bandstand, anchor windlass, etc. Some touch-up were needed at this point, particularly for the pump house.

I also needed to scratch-build access hatches for the oil storage tanks, the oil transfer pipes, and the aft pumphouse. It’s not known if the access hatches were rectangular like the prewar tankers or oval-shaped like most of the war-built tankers. Given when Kazahaya was laid down, I opted for a rectangular look. Likewise, Kazahaya’s exact transfer piping layout is unknown. Mine is based on the that of the following 1TL class, but I included a steam line as well for the pumps and winches.

The pump house was semi-scratch built using the unfinished version from the Hayasui kit as a base. Aoshima left it unfinished probably because it was hidden under the aircraft handling platform where it was barely visible. The finished pump house approximates those found on the 1TL class ships.

Also included at this stage was the assembly and painting a resin cast anchor windlass based on a prototype created during the Kawasaki tanker builds. I have a number of spares left from the castings by Mike C. The anchor chain is a 3D printed set from Shelf Oddity. Their IJN BB set worked perfectly here. Better views of this windless will appear later in the build. Some small deck hatches were added as well.

Moving along............

Prior to adding railings, I used Tamiya tape to mark off some hull plating lines. Doing so would allow for the buildup of different paint layers, showing some differentiation to mimic hull plating. It worked reasonably well on the Kawasaki tankers, so I repeated it here. I also improved on (IMHO) the small, kit bow sponson used for feeding out refueling lines when the tanker trailed its client vessel. I scratch-built a larger version similar to that seen on the Kawasaki type ships.

I then added railings to all the main decks using the railings from Aoshima’s comprehensive Hayasui PE set. Reconfiguring the kit hull to replicate Kazahaya just meant using the existing railings cut to different lengths. This set’s railings are a bit thicker in depth at .006” (scale 4.2”) then optimum for proper scale, but it’s by no mean unusable. It does make for a stiffer rail which is easier to handle, yet it still allows for a decent approximation of scale for the horizontal rails.

Another point worth mentioning is that these railings are solid horizontal two-bar railings, as opposed to the three (or four) bar railings used on pre-war built merchant ships like the Kawasaki type oilers. While two bar railings were more typical of IJN warships and purpose-built auxiliaries, the few photos of Kazahaya also show solid two bar railings in use on her forecastle. However, these were all rigid bars, not the drooped chain links used by regular IJN vessels. So, my guess is that Harima Shipbuilding simplified the railing type for the war-built tankers. The one existing plan of Hayasui also shows horizontal, two-bar railings.

Thx, Rui.

This build wasn’t exactly linear, so work on the bridge superstructure was intermittent. I’ll lay out the basics now.

You’ll note that the first level (01/bridge deck) is wood planked liked the aft boat deck, as opposed to a metal deck. This is strictly my call and not because of any solid reference, because there aren't any that I’m aware of. My feeling is that it’s primarily a merchant design being constructed by a private shipbuilder whose tanker designs typically utilize wood on this deck. Opinions may differ.

The upper portion was specifically designed for naval applications and is essentially the same as the Hayasui version. I’ve tweaked it with details that apply to IJN design. The proximity of the searchlight platform to the RDF antenna are typical for the IJN and reversed from what was Hayasui’s layout. Why Hayasui had these two positions reversed is anyone’s guess. Maybe it had something to do with the closeness of her foremast.

While most of the PE is from the dedicated Hayasui PE set, the searchlight platform is scratch-built from spares, along with a 90cm FineMolds searchlight. Forward, the kit provides what appears to be 3.5m rangefinder for the main battery. I installed a low railing around it and an access ladder. The Hayasui kit bridge top just provided some generic raised columns in front of that. I cut those off and placed a 2m navigation rangefinder in front of that, then a 25mm gun director at the fore (for the triple 25mm AA mounts to either side of the bridge). My reasoning here is that a naval auxiliary gets navy grade equipment whenever possible. Later during the build, after the bridge was painted, I added a custom shaped wooden grating topped by two 12cm search binoculars in that open space in front of the 25mm director.

I also speculated about linoleum decking on the compass bridge deck and placement of additional 12cm search binoculars and the navigation lights. What I chose made sense to me.

The 25mm AA bandstands have proper 25mm ammo boxes in place as well.

Hi Dan!

As said before: EPIC!
As usual, I like your sharp work and methodology thru the build.
Raillings damage: you're not alone

Thank you
Rui

While tempted to add railings at this point, I thought it wiser to do some basic superstructure construction to minimize messing up the railings (something I’m a little too good at). I focused on the aft superstructure.

This utilizes the central housing of the Hayasui kit (and standard 1TL versions) and adds outer compartments. These were crew accommodations. I chose to utilize styrene V groove to represent wood planked decking for the boat deck above. The wood is somewhat speculative, but this was the practice for the merchant tanker designs. It would have also cut down on heat absorption on the deck above the living quarters.

I also experimented with two in-line bandstands astern for two 12cm mounts, per some depictions and descriptions. However, I ultimately opted for a different configuration, given the 1943 time frame of her completion and the trend toward more AA. Eventually, there will be a 25mm AA mount and bandstand on a superimposed platform. Again, this is speculative but not unreasonable for such an important fleet asset.

Unusually for me, I opted to not replace the funnel’s molded on ladders with PE versions. The molded-on ladders are pretty good; I judged that replacements wouldn’t gain me much. Other opinions may differ.

Other bitts were also added to the stern deck along with solid rails for the aft refueling sponson.

Eventually, I decided to advance the completion of the aft superstructure to a standalone module for later placement.

Thx, Greg. Yep, another rabbit hole. Maybe not so deep this time around.



The details are mostly extrapolated from what hard information and visuals are available for Kazahaya, Hayasui, the 1TL ships, and Harima Shipbuilding as well as assumptions about circumstances in 1943. My result doesn't seem too much different from the few builds I've seen out there, just differing in certain details. To a certain extent, there's some reverse engineering of Hayasui, as Hayasui was modified from the Kazahaya design.



Mostly my trusty handsaw and a razor blade. All hand powered.

Also, gotta ask: what are you using to make significant cuts in the hull? Hand saw? Power tool?

Time to go down the rabbit hole once again with another epic DanK build. Dan, the final version looks great. Did you just make a lot of assumptions based off other Japanese ships or were you able to find some data to help with the construction?

After completing some additional work on the stern deck, I masked off the main decks for painting. This occurred at an earlier stage than with my Kawasaki tanker builds, to take advantage of the mostly unobstructed decks.

Thx, guys. I'm glad it's been found interesting.

I then prepped the forecastle and stern decks, as well as add the mounts for the main oil transfer line to the main deck, along with bollards. Initially, I thought I might be able to retain much of the molded on detail, but that proved to not be the case.