The Ship Model Forum

Thank you, all.



Me, too. Right now, I haven't a clue. But, it's gonna be a while because it's not quite done yet.



Done? I'm not as confident that I'm close. Left to do, let's see, off the top of my head:

Deck winches
Refueling hoses
Midships kingposts and booms
large masts and boom
Refueling marker masts
Aft kingpost tripod
Lifeboats and some davits
Refueling line tension log weights
120mm guns, bandstands, ammo boxes, etc.
Collision bumpers
deck lumber
Assorted davits, paravanes
Flatcoat
Rigging (that'll be fun)
Flag

At which point, I'll drop one of them.

They look fantastic, Dan!


Bob Pink.

They look nice Dan!

Or both!

Indeed, that's still a bit of work, especially since you have two ships to work on…
But I guess you're not in a hurry!

Cheers,

Marijn

And, I'm back.

There has been much progress, even though it's been almost six months since I last posted. I've actually covered a fair amount of ground. So, let's get to it.

Returning from the 2016 NATS, I first worked on the refueling hoses. According to a Gakken #37 article, the hoses were typically 120 -150meters in > length, which meant that they were stored in long coils atop the catwalks. Japanese versions were white, or off white, possibly for enhanced visibility. Mine are made out of .01" copper wire and spray painted off white. It took several attempts to get them to nestle properly in place. Some paint touch up was required, as can be seen on the inside of some of the loops seen in the photos.

Tankers are amply supplied with deck winches for moving fuel lines, cargo, and handling mooring lines. I thought that my original deck winches (see p. 8 of this thread) were well done, but it turned out that they were oversized by 25% (sigh), and couldn't fit properly into their allotted spaces on the deck, as it's pretty tight with all the equipment already there. So, I laboriously recreated yet again some new deck winches.

Initially, I went for a small and large drum type on a smaller base, as seen in the first photo, set against the original winch on the right, (in the first 3 photos, actually). After reviewing my references, I decided that large drum was far more appropriate in most cases, so I created a second large drum. These were sent out yet gain for casting (A big thank you to Mr. Anonymous Casting.) In the meantime, I've been working on more components.

Like many tankers of that period, the Kawasaki type ships were typically equipped with a pair of kingposts situated amidships and connected by trusses at the top. As originally built, these kingposts were set much closer to each other and were relatively short in stature. When the tankers were refit for UNREP duty, the kingposts were raised in height and set farther apart so as to enhance their utility in side by side refueling.

The port side post was moved from a spot inboard of the original catwalk to a spot outside the newly widened catwalk. The starboard post was moved an equivalent distance to the outside, and the connecting truss work between them was also widened and strengthened. The booms were also replaced, going from shorter, solid pole type booms to longer, latticework type booms.

There was some variation in details between ships, mostly in the type of truss work and cross braces that connected the kingposts. For instance, Kyokuto Maru's arrangement was simpler in construction than that of the later types such as Kenyo Maru. Hers was also a little larger, and situated farther forward than those of the later groups. So, attention must be paid to the correct configuration for each ship.

Interestingly, and to Fujimi's credit, multiple versions of the kingposts are provided for in the kits. This includes both prewar and wartime versions. Unfortunately, virtually all the kit parts are undersized in terms of height and width, and only short pole type booms are provided. The truss work patterns are correct across all the kit variations, but the construction itself is greatly simplified.

With all this in mind, I scratch-built new kingposts. This turned out to be a bit more challenging than I thought it would be. What I thought would be a one week project stretched out to about eight weeks. I attempted a great many permutations to find an approach to the construction that would be satisfactory in terms of detail. Hampering my efforts was the fact that there are no valid measurements of this detail readily available (at least in English), nor is the kit even dimensionally close. The same is true of the available PE cranes that I intended to use for the booms. So, much of what I did relied on guesstimates gleaned from a variety of photographs and plans.

The first construction photo gives you an idea of the progression of attempts that I made. Changes were continually made in the diameter of the kingposts and the width of the trusses. Bending the trusses was a constant headache. I pretty much drove myself crazy.

I started with 0.10" styrene strip cross-bracing for Kenyo Maru, but I couldn't make it work without warping the strips, despite eventually increasing the thickness of the styrene, first to 0.015", then 0.02". Frustrated, I moved over to fabricate a version for Kyokuto Maru, where the cross braces are solid in several places, just thinner than I have scaled with .02" strip. Also, the width of the Kyokuto Maru catwalk made it impossible to include the "X" cross brace at the bottom of the kingposts, as only hers attached BELOW the catwalk. So, best to just leave it off.

Eventually, I managed to finish both versions. Bottom line is that, yes, photo etch would work, oh, so much better for all the cross-bracing , but there is none available in the proper size. I've tried them all. And, yes, the lattice booms should be tapered at the ends. There seemed to be properly shaped ones available from Rainbow in their CL crane fret, but they were very difficult to assemble and way too short. Ultimately, I had to settle for some booms from the venerable GMM Cruiser/Destroyer fret, as only they were long enough.

In the end, I have opted for under engineering the details of the upper trusses. I just couldn't replicate it to a fully satisfactory level in 1/700, and was driving myself up a wall with frustration. While not an exact replica. I do feel the end result does convey the overall feeling of the units. And, it is more subtle when painted.

Pictured is the placement on Kyokuto Maru. It turned out that I could not glue these units into place until I have the deck winches in place, first. So, on to more components (to be posted tomorrow).

Painted but not placed.

Fantastic work, Dan. The workmanship is outstanding. Well done.

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Great work Dan!

Those are no easy structures to get straight and symmetric indeed!

But wouldn't it be great to show one of the ships in the middle of UNREP? I'm sure you have already another model ready you could combine it with for such a diorama.
Just teasing...

Many thanks also for the detailed write-up. Always a pleasure to read!

Cheers,

Marijn

Those look great Dan! Look forward to seeing them in person.

Very nice work.

_________________
We like our history sanitized and theme-parked and self-congratulatory, not bloody and angry and unflattering. - Jonathan Yardley

Thank you all.

Here's a photo to give you an idea of what I have to use to get an idea of height for masts, kingposts, cranes and booms, etc. There aren't many photos of these ships that give you a decent beam angle so as not to distort the angles of these structures.

All of the tankers requisitioned for the UNREP role were armed, typically with the Japanese Navy’s ubiquitous mount for smaller escorts and secondary batteries, the 12cm 45cal 10th Year Type gun. The mount was unshielded, and considered very reliable. Some of the Kawasaki Type oilers have been alleged to have carried heavier, shielded mounts, but I have yet to see any definitive documentation on those.

There are a preponderance of 12cm guns in 1/700 scale, mostly from various Pit-Road kits over the years. They are all overscale and under detailed, save for one recent addition. Five Star has also recently introduced a set of 12cm brass barrels. After reviewing all the options, I chose to go with the newest injection version, from the Pit-Road NE03 IJN Equipment Set. This particular version happens to be of the shielded variety as seen on heavy cruisers such as the Furutakas, Aobas, early Myokos and Takaos, and the wartime Chokai and Maya (before her AA conversion.) In this guise, the mount for the gun is inappropriate, so I used a mount from 14cm gun that is part of the WL consortium Light Vessel ordinance set. The finished 12cm gun is second from the bottom, and painted.

I did consider the Five Star brass barrels, but after some thought, felt that the Pit-Road version was actually better scaled (and a little less work). The example in the photo has been placed in a drilled out mounting of the aforementioned 14cm weapon, but I didn’t rework anything. I just wanted to see what it would look like. Despite the nice flare of the brass barrel, the Pit-Road version is closer to the 1/700 scaled size of 0.0067 inch diameter for the barrel.

The kit provided bandstands for the main armament are arguably borderline small in width (particularly for Kyokuto Maru), and rather plain. Plus, they lack an area at the rear for the ready ammunition boxes. While I did think about scratch-building them, I ultimately chose to use the kit supplied units that come with a Pit-Road Kamikawa Maru kit, with some alterations to the base. The photos demonstrate the work better than I can describe.

It was also at this point that I installed the large timbers used in what I believe is a tension device, or counterweight, used to help keep the refueling lines from kinking, mostly from the bow stations. At least, that’s what I believe they are used for. The timbers are cut from styrene strip, and wood colored. I also added an additional pair of gooseneck intakes to each tanker at the base of the platform.

Believe me, I've considered it. I'm content to finish these two straight up. However, I've produced enough spare parts, including a full bridge, to build a third tanker without a great deal more trouble. If I do, I'm likely to build it with a more dynamic appearance in terms of the booms and fuel lines, though I don't see it in a diorama.

Geez Dan! Do you have a bunch of 1/700 little elves helping you out? Fantastic detailed work!



Bob Pink.

HI Dan

realy a great job ..i like it
I wish I could do the same
cheers
Nicolas

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