The Ship Model Forum

Templates. I properly saved the deck print itself this time! Thank you!

Hi Chris!

If I understand correctly-- you mean the printing of the decking?

or

actuallky making the templates to cut the decking...?

intrigued

cheers
JB! :wave_1:

Note: Build is on hold awaiting a deck patter from a friend. I tried making my own patterns with "terrible" and "suck" results. Unfortunately, assuming that basic geometry and squares would facilitate a snug patter utterly ignore that [i]nothing is bloody straight on this stupid hull.[/i] Oh... and the middle of the hull is sagging when view from forward to the aft. Oooof.

Thanks, Kobo-Hiryu.

I'm still going to finish this. I may make a post of some changes. Right now, I'm focusing on getting the Saratoga done.

I like the perseverance and right out swearing of Your approach to this good looking vessel!

well done and good solid--if terribly dull and frustrating progress...

but its a worthy subject!

JB

Thank you. It's been a frustrating [i]prep[/i], let alone build. I barely feel like I've "built" anything. First, note that I took a photo of Kurama with her near-sister IJN Spudkaku.

[attachment=4]Family Picture.jpeg[/attachment]

"Small" update. I've been priming/sanding/filling for days. Thankfully, I'm at a stage where most work is wet sanding, so... close to starting portholes and actual work? Who knows. I'll know more after I prime again this evening. I've dispensed with the terrible vents/other structures around the funnels. I've cut some replacements, re: vents, but I still need to bore them out before placing on the deck. This isn't really where the bulk of my work has been...

Kurama's barbettes are undersized. I've found a myraid of photos showing a turret (with ring) that sits atop a wider barbette. Since I've seen it, I gotta fix it. I first measured the turret and barbette to determine which one was poorly sized. The barbette was off by about one millimeter (and yes, this matters) and the turret by about .25 mm, which whatever. I decided it was best to fix the barbette and, erm, fudge it a little bit.

1) Cut out disks for both barbettes and the base of the turrets. I tested fit. Understand this is before refining the general shape of either barbette or turret ring.

[attachment=3]Adjusted Barbette.jpeg[/attachment]

2) Used Perfect Plastic Putty and Mr. Surfacer 500 to fill and later refine the barbettes. Mind you, I'm still working to make this perfect. I had planned to use Magic Sculpt, but Amazon was a [deleted] and delayed my order.

[attachment=2]Filling.jpeg[/attachment]

[attachment=1]Prep1.jpeg[/attachment]

[attachment=0]Prep2.jpeg[/attachment]

All for now. I plan to refine these a bit more and then add the ventilators once I've refined them to my liking.

Portholes soon? :scratch:

This is a rather challenging build and quite an exotic one, too. That makes it all the more interesting.
I hope you plough ahead despite all the hardships that you will have to endure during the construction of this kit.
When it is ready you will relish the end result much more than with a good kit to start with because it was your input that made a silk purse out of a sow's ear!

[quote="maxim"]Very interesting, I have that kit waiting to be built.

Which brass barrels do you used?[/quote]

MM 1/700 British early 12”/45. Close enough.

Also: turrets may be too large or the barbettes too small. Stay tuned…

Very interesting, I have that kit waiting to be built.

Which brass barrels do you used?

Great progress.

Btw, the aft barbette photo is from the Kure Maritime Museum photo database. That mark is unmistakable.

Small update. I'm in the "fill, sand, fill, re-prime, sand, drink, fill, sand, fill, fill, drink more, sand, re-prime, drink, give up and watch YouTube history videos" phase.

I've labeled each are with shapes.

We'll start with the bowtato.

[b]Green Circle:[/b] This is where the horrible, sunken anchor chains were located. It's now been smoothed over with multiple laters of putty and Mr. Surfacer. I don't need the deck 100% smooth on account that it's going to be covered up with a paper deck, thanks to Jim Baumann. (And thank you, Jim!)

[b]Red Circle:[/b] You can see that there's still a LOT of smoothing and sanding. You can also see the multitude of small air holes from the absolutely atrocious quality of the kit. Note that the larger holes on the lower hull are guide points for the torpedo net booms and shel. I also need to clean up around the hawse, if not replace it completely once the hull's actually decent.

[attachment=2]Bowtato.jpeg[/attachment]

Sterntato? Same issues. Again, I'm less concerned about how pretty the deck is, so long as it's level enough not to show under a paper deck.

[b]Red Circle:[/b]Notice the glorious pitting on this barbette. I'm going to try to seal/sand with some Mr Surfacer 500 or some Perfect Plastic Putty. The two portholes on the aft superstrucutre are some of the few I left drilled. They're of the appropriate height and location. The biggest issue here? Look at how wonderfully cast that bulkhead is behind the barbette. Yes, it'll be mostly hidden. I'm still going to do some correction. I swear this kit was scupled with a wet finger and excessive whiskey.

[attachment=1]Sterntato.jpeg[/attachment]

....and now for the fun part. Midships looks like Kurama engaged with some 3" and 4" pop guns or suffered severe rusting issues. Ugh. See circles.

[b]Blue Circle:[/b] Better angle on the wonderful barbette. FML

[b]Green Circle:[/b] Note that a lot of these deck blobs suck at being anything but a pain. I'm likely going to ragesand these, and almost all other such details, off the ship. They suck. I can do better. The only thing that could make this worse is some good resin outfit deciding to troll me and announce a decent Kurama. I think I'd literally set this thing on fire with my hatred alone.

[b]Red Circle:[/b] These were once solid cylinders that are supposed to be vents. The posted finished ship above has them done right. I'm going to fix them. With science. Or madness. Or whiskey. I don't know yet.

[attachment=0]Swiss Cheese.jpeg[/attachment]

I'm not sure when I'll again with progress given that the photos will simply be repeats of the above steps. I'm getting to the point where I'm wondering if the effort is worth the additional sharpness in the hull. There are still some low- to intermediate-hanging fruit, so I'll trudge ahead.

Pieter: Thank you. I've gone back and forth with cutting them off. They're about the only detail I still have on board from my previous reconstruction. I'm just been stubborn.

Looks like you are starting to make this into a proper ex-potato. Very nice, though maybe you should also remove the ash chutes on the hull sides as they will be paint-and-filler traps later on. If you are going replace that deck detail, Starling is currently bringing out a series of deck fittings. I have received their bollards last week and they look very nice. Better than what is left of my BFM stash.

Jim: Thank you. Responded. I'm not 100% sure if our dinosaur printer could manage the resolution needed for a pretty deck. It's worth a try, though.

Frank: Good LORD that's a beautiful build out of a potato. I love that they even got the trashcan ventilators correct. I'll build mine once the appropriate plastic stock gets here.

So, I've managed to get myself pretty sick to the point where excessive Red Bull isn't helping me kid-with-a-helmet through the day. Consequently, I've decided to stand down from planned modification(s) to my car and focused on sanding, sanding, sanding.

Achievement unlocked: Kurama is now a milk cow and far less potato. I'm debating another coat of primer today, but that requires me to crawl out to the garage, clear car bits off my workbench, and pull both cars out of the garage, because airborne primer and an obsession with keeping my cars immaculate.

Next step? I'm removing offending deck detail and sanding it smooth. I'll putty the problem areas, re-sand, re-prime, and maybe actually add some bloody details.... after I drill new portholes. Again. I may also take a break from this to get back to Saratoga. I just got Shelf Oddity's brilliant 40mm bofors and various rangefinders. I honestly cannot sing blancman's praise enough.

[attachment=0]Mooo.jpg[/attachment]

Hello my friends,
Chris,have fun building your Kurama. Kobo-Hyriu models are a heavy challenge

...if interested, this is a resin model from Kobo-Hiryu
Armored cruiser Tsukuba.

beste Grüße Frank

ahoi Petrol gator--
great subject-- challenging starting point....

\( LOL-- !! --its just how I like it too
--looks OK at first...- then needs almost completely re-engineering !!

Last night sent you a PM ref wood decks

checking you received and digested?|
I can help with the wood or paper decks if you wish
as per PM

Cheers
JB

[quote="PetrolGator"]the sadist who cast this hull.[/quote]
LOL! Nice work, though you may have wanted to eased yourself back into the hobby with something, I dunno, less daunting?

[quote="PetrolGator"]I have a friend who has the book. Getting my own copy would cost me north of a grand WHEN they show up on the market. I wish.

Thank ya.[/quote]

That's a good friend to have. If it makes it easier, [i]Kurama[/i] is on pages 6-9, and [i]Kawachi[/i] on p10-11. Here's hoping you're someday fortunate enough to find one at an affordable price. I lucked into picking up the 1998 reprint when I was over there (so it only cost the arm, without taking the leg, too).

Happy to help.

I have a friend who has the book. Getting my own copy would cost me north of a grand WHEN they show up on the market. I wish.

Thank ya.

Very nice work on the potato there. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

[quote="PetrolGator"]
Oh. I also have a [i]Settsu[/i] and [i]Kawachi[/i] on the way. Both will require similar work and scratch built superstructures. If any of you have decent plans or drawings, I'd appreciate the assist. The same goes for [i]Kurama[/i], outside of what's present in the 1992 Warships book.[/quote]

There are plans for both [i]Kawachi[/i] and [i]Kurama[/i] in "Nippon Kaigun Kantei Zumenshuu (Showa Zousenshi Bessatsu)" [Plans of Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy History of Shipbuilding in Shouwa Era Supplement].

日本海軍艦艇図面集
(昭和造船史別冊)

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-4562026906

I assume these are at least bigger than those in Warship 1992, if not more detailed. I'm missing that volume. If you can get a hold of this book (say via inter-liberary loan), these may be what you're looking for [i]Kurama[/i] has 4 pages (fold-out) 12"x27", and [i]Kawachi[/i] has 2 of these.
Or drop me a pm/email.

George

...now for the current state of this thing.

I've removed all the photo etch detail. I've re-sanded the hull. I've decided to cut down every deck detail (minus barbettes) to utterly rebuild embarrassingly poor casting. Now, here's where I need help from the gallery. This is my plan:

* Sand it all down. Burn it all down. Remove every bit of offending hoodoo that exists on the wooden deck(s).
* Use tracing paper to produce part of the paper templates. I'll transfer this to paper and then measure the remaining boundaries at the superstructure, etc.
* Match templates to the deck and trim as necessary.
* Make a few copies of the temples, because I'm an engineer and redundancy.
* Place the templates on generic Wood Hunter Deck
* Attach new deck to the ship and add scratch built mushroom vents, hatches, anchor bits, etc.
* Mask and begin working on the rest of the ship.

As stated earlier, I'm also overhauling all the portholes. I hate them. I can do better. I plan to use two strips of masking tape: one above and one below. I figure that'll give me a better chance at fully level portholes. Help and tips here would be appreciated.

Note: I'll be addressing the soft cylinder "vents" abreast of the funnels. Based on plans, these ventilators are some gooft "we ripped off the endcap of a diesel engine" design that'll be represented by new plastic cylinder stock and scratched caps. Gross.

Kit, as of today. I'm off tomorrow, so I'll likely sand this *expletive* down tonight and start puttying for a level surface. Note the extreme bow has a noticable depression. This was a substantial factor to doing the full near-scratch work. Apologies for the fuzzy imagine. Honestly, you're not missing much.

[attachment=0]LeeeeroyJenkins.jpg[/attachment]

Oh. I also have a [i]Settsu[/i] and [i]Kawachi[/i] on the way. Both will require similar work and scratch built superstructures. If any of you have decent plans or drawings, I'd appreciate the assist. The same goes for [i]Kurama[/i], outside of what's present in the 1992 Warships book.

I've never done anything like this. Ever. Still, it's thoroughly enjoyable because I'm clinically insane.