The Ship Model Forum

Noted and understood.

Drats, it looks like superdetailing this kit would be a more involved project than I have expected.

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Assessing the impact of new area rug under modeling table.

Searchlight hatch on Shokaku deck - The rendering on the instruction sheet that comes with the kit, and in Tamiya's random details of IJN warship, shows the search light hatch on Shokaku's deck to be round and opens by raising slightly and then pivot off to one side. But the actual kit depicts it as a square hatch that appears to slide open on tracks. Which is right?

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Assessing the impact of new area rug under modeling table.

Shokaku class had 3 square hatches that slid fore and aft on rails. Prior classes had round hatch covers that pivoted off a single axis. Pic is of Shokaku in Oct 1942. The square on the upper right is the hatch cover to #1 searchlight. This hatch is in the closed position and opens forward. The other two open towards the stern. So, it's molded correctly on the deck.

As I mentioned in another post, it would be nice to show one in the open position with a raised searchlight.

Not relevant but the arrow points to the relocated Type 94HA director off the top of the island and set aft of the original director on the port side. HTH.

Photo credit Gakken #13

One correction: all 3 hatches slide forward to the bow in order to open. The deck is molded correctly.

Hmmm, the bridge of Shokaku is unbelievably small for a 34000 ton warship, smaller than on a typical Japanese DD, and about the same size as on a Japanese DE. I wonder on whose toes the Admiral stands. Anyway, 3 questions:

1. Fujimi depicts the back of this phone booth of a bridge to be closed off by a bulkhead with narrow doors leading to the walkway on either side of the superstructure. We know the bridge on IJN DE, DD, and even Takao class CA are not actually closed off in the back by any steel partition. Instead it is left structurally open, with maybe a canvas closure for bad weather. So the question is should the back of the Shokaku's bridge also be open?

2. The various chest-high bulwarks around the various external platforms and walkways on Shokaku's superstructure are depicted commendably thin. But it also goes stright up and then terminates abruptly. Detailed drawings and photos of these bulwarks around the various external superstructure platforms and walkways on other IJN ships show their tops are usually bent outwards to form presumably something of a wind break against draft deflected upwards by the motion of the ship. SO should the top edge of these bulwarks on the Shokaku bridge also be bent outwards?

3. What is the purpose of the small balcony right in front of the compass bridge window? This balcony seems strange because there is apparently no access to to except by climbing out of the compass bridge window. Had Fujimi made a mistake, and this balcony should instead be a set of airfoil baffles similar to those carried on many other IJN warships for the purpose of deflecting the draft away from the bridge windows?

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The bridge is small, Isn't it? I always wondered why, at the very least, they did not go with the extra deck (5) as used by Hiryu. I find it hard to believe that top weight was that much of a concern for an extra island deck. Probably more of a concern with reducing flight deck obstructions. That priority obviously changed with all the designs that followed.

To respond to your 3 questions:

1) Open, though I've always thought an oversized hatchway a possibility. See first pic of Zuikau 1942, credit Gakken #13

2) As the photo illustrates, the bulkworks are straight upright, excepting the front of the bridge.

3) The balcony is there, as it is on Soryu and Hiryu, though it is not a balcony. I believe it is a form of wind baffle. See 2nd photo form the Gakken Deluxe volume on Zuikaku. This is Zuikaku's bridge front, circa 1943. I think that's the captain posing in fornt of the bridge. What cannot be seen is the upper protion of the bridge fron with a proper set of wind baffles. You can see the side of them in the first pic. Also in the 3rd pic of Zuikaku's island 1943, though not very clearly. Credit Maru Special #102. More clearly seen in pic #4, the cover of the Gakken Deluxe volume on Zuikaku

Has anyone seen the accessory PE, metal barrel and wooden flight deck kits from Fujimi for the 350 Shokaku? How's it?

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These three sets have been released in Japan today. You can see some photos on 1999.co.jp and Fujimi site. They look quite good.

Comprehensive, certainly. Good remains to be seen. T-G GMM has released 1/350 railings - I much prefer them to anything else I've seen.

I ordered and received all the PE & wood decking. Quality does seem to be very,very good. Certainly comprehensive; you can replace every triangular catwalk and sponson support if you like.

2 criticisms:

I bought the wood decking on a whim as I am partial to painting the plastic deck. It looks very nice, even the color tone is closer than I expected to the orange-tan of the bei matsu wood, though it still needs some sort of additional staining. The planks are the same 1mm wide as is the plastic deck - way overscale at 2x the actual width. Shoulde scale out to 6-7 inches wide, not 13-14 wide. Of course, 95% of the folks who buy this kit will never realize that. The wood decking does have the planks end at intervals. There are also tie-downs, but these are better executed on the plastic deck.

A nice addition are wooden decks for the covered launches.

The PE, all brass, does include 2 types of door/hatches, but no indication on the instructions as to which goes where. Of course, had the molding been a bit sharper, more like Akagi, than these doors would have been unnecessary, not to mention cutting down some of the expense. The brass doors are very nicely shaped and detailed, though.

I still hate the kit provided railings. GMM's new IJN 1/350 railing set is definitely the way to go.

One question: How thick is the wooden deck and is it thin enough to avoid having to deal with the fact that the wooden deck surface need to be flush with steel deck ends and deck edge, elevator apron, expansion joints, and search light hatches? If not, then I will not buy it, and will instead built up the metal portion of the deck with 0.3mm styrene sheets and PE tread plates, and lay North East Scale Lumber strips by hand, which are available in widths much closer to correct scale width.

BTW, The expansion joints on the plastic deck is so overdone that if magnified 350 times, they would probably rip the wheels off of any planes attempting to land or take off on these decks. The height of search light hatch is also excessive and would at least blow tires on planes rolling over them.

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Assessing the impact of new area rug under modeling table.

The wood deck seems reasonably thin, like thick copy paper stock. Also comes with an adhesive backing so I do not believe you need glue. Will it be flush? Very close, though not absolutely so. I can't recall if there's a molded lip to the interface between the molded planking and the steel decking. If there is, it will hide the edge.

Agreed about the expansion joints - it must be filled in with styrene.

PE includes 3 searchlight hatch covers. Might be a little thinner than the plastic.

There molded planking and molded steel deck are flush without any lips demarcating the boundary. The wood would have to be quite thin for the edge to not show.

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Assessing the impact of new area rug under modeling table.

I'll look again tonite at the decking.

Hmm, once the backing comes off, it looks thin. Maybe akin to a regular sheet of copy paper. If the end is affixed securely, I don't know that the resulting border would require the extra buildup of PE plating around it to hide it.

In absolute terms, there will be a raised border but literally, paper thin. It's a tough call, Chuck.

I am leaning towards planking the deck myself. I think on a essentially new ship like the Shokaku, any difference in color from plank to plank would be much more subtle than what I see in photos of the Fujimi wooden deck. I suspect the real wooden deck when viewed from scale distance would be essentially uniform in color. I've never yet seen any photos of any wooden deck on any operational ship that shows otherwise.

I do intend to build up the metal portions of the deck using PE tread strips and styrene sheets to ensure flush deck surface. I will also remove the what is often called drainage holes that rim the flight deck and replace them with PE. BTW, I suspect these are not drainage holes because in close up photos, there appear to be no drainage channels underneath them to receive the water. Instead, they appear to just be horizontal hand rails for some unknown purpose.

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Assessing the impact of new area rug under modeling table.

I completely agree that coloration would not be so clearly defined from plank to plank when viewed from any distance. That why I favoring just working the deck as I did on my 1/700 versions.

The rain gutters are, in fact, rain gutters. Runoff pipes are clearly visible at the bow and stern. There's no doubt. Also, the front endpiece of the Gakken deluxe volume on Zuikaku has a page with detail features and a legend on it, including a designation for rain gutters.

Dan:

Does the accessory kits come with the folding aerial towers on the deck edge?

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Yes, see this link . Towers at bottom to left of oars, tops at upper left. http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10089815a2/20/2

Looks small to me but I may be biased due to overfamiliarity to overscale 1/700 versions.