The Ship Model Forum

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?

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- Greg

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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