VeryFire 1/350 Takao 1944 (高雄)

[marijn van gils]

Great looking linoleum and tiedowns Dan! The deck details look excellent too.

[Dan K]

Thx, Marijn.

Given the identicality between the VF Takao and Atago brass tiedown sets, Martin Quinn was gracious enough to give me the Z photoetch fret from the Atago kit which holds the rearmost section of the brass tie-downs. I’ll hand him back the Takao Z fret when it returns, which will be soon. With the fret in hand, I was able to complete the main deck and add the remaining deck fittings, including hawser reels fore and aft.

[Dan K]

With the deck complete, I mated the deck to the hull and glued it together. There’s a tab on either side of the main deck which fit into slots in the inner hull at deck height, around where those torpedo reload tubes are located. The tabs align the deck with the hull quite well, provided one has test fitted and adjusted the deck before-hand. I glued the middle, let it dry, then worked my way out to the deck ends. This worked out well for me.

There were some seams to fill between the deck and hull, but not many. I was able to fill them with repeated applications of paint.

[Dan K]

The last deck related additions (for now) were the quadruple torpedo tube mounts and the anchor chains. VeryFire provides metal linked chain that appears to have been processed with a nitric acid process to add a dark layer over it. Which looks good but is slowly shedding material. That bothered me less than the size of the links, which I think are too large. I examined a lot of photos and the AOTS Takao book. Supposedly, each link was 300mm long. In 1/350 scale, that works out to approximately 0.85mm. The VF links are more than 1.5mm long. 

After looking through my inventory of chains, it seems that the links that came with the Shipyard Models set for my 1/350 Hiryu were more correctly sized, and I had plenty leftover. (A quick check of my other Shipyard sets all have the same size chains.) Here, the issue is that the chain appears to be copper anodized to create a dark color that's also very glossy.  I repeatedly sanded this chain to take down the gloss, then sprayed it repeatedly with Tamiya XF-84 Dark Iron paint. 

In the photo below, the Shipyard chain is the topmost example, compared to the VF chain and some Tamiya chain, most all sprayed with Dark Iron paint. The Shipyard chain wrapped perfectly around the anchor windlasses. 

[SG1]

Beautiful, neat painting work! Excellent choice to use those chains. Great progress

[Dan K]

Thx! Yeah, those chains really make a difference to me.

I should mention that the TT mounts are pretty nice as well

[Dan K]

At this point, I moved to the funnels, starting with #2 funnel. The funnel should have ventilation holes along the top, not rivets. These were approx. 400mm in diameter. I drilled these out as best I could. (Btw, the Aoshima kit has proper depressions molded in the funnel for the vent holes).

The PE is nice, but there are no indicators as to where exactly they go, and the instructions are not helpful at all in this regard. Ideally, there should be elevation (side) views showing the exact placement of the PE grabrails. A good reference is a must; the AOTS book is excellent in this regard.

I’m ambivalent about all the riveting on the funnel. On one hand, it helps with locating some of the PE. On the other, it makes it near impossible to cleanup any glue overruns or blobs, particularly when using super glue. Fortunately, some careful sanding and a coat of paint render most of the globs invisible.

The funnel grill is 3D printed and very nice. As are the funnel uptake dividers. Mine needed some sanding in order to fit properly inside the funnel.

[MartinJQuinn]

That looks great. Superb work on that PE.

[Dan K]

Thanks, Martin.

I moved to the forefunnel next. I found the instructions even more lacking for this piece. The application of PE grab rails here may be even more challenging than the rear funnel without the proper references. And, placement of various other parts was nebulous.

For instance, the port side auxiliary piping has a specific placement and look. I found that the two kit pipes as labeled did not fit correctly. I actually swapped the pipes to make it work. It makes me wonder if the instructions are labeled incorrectly for those two pieces.

I also attached the rear trestle support at this point. Given how the funnel will be surrounded by AA platforms, and that those platforms may have to be glued in place first, it seemed to make more sense to add it now.

Overall, I think the funnels turned out well, but I was fortunate to have additional references.

Btw, I'm using the 01 deck from Martin's Atago review kit while I wait for the return of my Takao kit deck. The deck is needed to ensure proper placement of the intakes under #1 funnel. Also, the funnel bases do not lie absolutely flat on the deck (or any surface), Some sanding is necessary. Not much, but enough to make the funnel stable.

[marijn van gils]

Great work on both funnels Dan! Very sharp and clean!

[Dan K]

And...........I'm back. Thx, Marijn.

I moved on to assembling the lower bridge structure. The molding is very sharp and detailed, and construction requires the use of internal struts for proper alignment and stiffness. It went together pretty neatly, with a minimum of fuss .

However, this is where an unexpected construction order question comes into play. It isn’t obvious until one tries to fit the pieces together, but it’s not possible to permanently set either the forward funnel or the bridge onto the 01 deck unless the funnel is first fitted into rear of the superstructure. The funnel has to be carefully threaded into position, given the narrowness of the rear bridge aperture and a specific cutout for one of the auxiliary pipes. While this approach might make for a nice fit between the pieces, this is, IMHO, very impractical given the handling complexity of all the added photoetch and small pieces.

For my purposes, which will eventually require me to paint linoleum coverings and brass tie-downs along portions of the 01 deck, it will be far easier to manage by gluing the funnel in place first, then eventually sliding the lower bridge structure back over it. At which point I will also be able to eliminate seams from the fairings that cover the front face of the bridge where it meets the 01 deck.

So, I chose to widen the back of the bridge opening by trimming away the area that would normally wraparound the underside of the funnel. The cuts are hardly noticeable on their own and will eventually be covered by numerous AA platforms. I also drilled out portholes, blocked them off, and started adding PE grills and supports.

[Dan K]

I then began adding the 3D printed directors and their bases. The 3D printed parts are great, but they have to go on perfectly the first time – there’s no time for adjustments with the superglue I use. Veryfire did not provide low railings for the 60cm signal light platforms, so I used 1/700 railing around those.

I also added voice tubes to all the directors, made from brass rod.

[Dan K]

I forgot to mention the addition of ammo boxes on this level, a detail not specified in the VF instructions.

I moved on to the next level, the compass bridge deck . Here, I installed the bridge window frames, wind deflection vane, railings, ladders and various search binoculars. Note that the kit specified binoculars are not necessarily correct by size and location; I varied them as per the AOTS book. I also added some styrene to mimic infrared signal cannisters on one pair and formed brass enclosures for the rearmost search binocular positions.

More importantly, I scratch-built lookout platforms that the kit does not provide (note: a simplistic kit part is provided for in the Aoshima kit).

[Dan K]

Finally, I added styrene voice tubes, clear styrene 30cm searchlights from FineMolds and scratch brass tripods to anchor aerials on the compass bridge deck level. The 30cm lights and tripods are on the outside of the bulkheads .

Finally, I painted the interior white and added a wood grating that comes as part of the kit PE. I also painted the outside of the bridge, excepting the front facing. More work will happen here later on.

[Joelle]

That looks absolutely wonderful, Dan.

[marijn van gils]

Fantastic work Dan! So sharp and precise!

[SG1]

This is amazing Dan. The finish left me speechless. Acrylics on primer?

[Dan K]

Thank you, all.

Acrylics on primer?

Nope, no primer. I just clean the kit surfaces and spray with Tamiya acrylics. I would prime larger brass surfaces, though.

The next bridge level up was referred to as the Sokuteki deck. Basically, a large optical instrument (Type 92 Sokutekiban) was used for calculating a target ship’s speed and course to help feed a fire control solution for the ship’s main battery. Additional search binoculars assisted this task. Aft was another platform devoted to the four 110cm searchlight directors.

By late war, in front of the enclosure holding the Sokutekiban, the roof of the compass bridge (navigation deck) below had been converted to an AA command post with many search binoculars and a relocated RDF antenna loop from the foremast. The searchlight director platform was subsequently extended around to hold yet more search binoculars and some radio equipment. Twin Type 22 radars were installed just above this level on the sides of the bridge tower and below the main battery director and rangefinder.

Hopefully, the construction photos mostly speak for themselves. The kit pieces were fine, but there were a few issues. For one, the flooring of the Sokutekiban compartment doesn’t extend far enough back to either side of the tower base to clear the hatches on either side, so this needed a styrene extension. (Can’t have crewman step out into thin air.) . Then, I had to swap out the kit PE ladders (oversized and wrong) for some simple steps.

It also turned out that the PE railing for the searchlight director platform could not fit correctly as designed. Or, at least for me. So, I had to break it into sections. I may cover it with canvas at the end.

I purposely sourced a Type 92 Sokutekiban from a Bunker Studio instrument set, as the kit only provides binoculars (which are extremely nice 3D printed versions.) I also added voice tubes, a couple of grab railings, some radio equipment boxes made from styrene strip to place on the platform extensions to either side, and replaced some other kit pieces with styrene strip because that was easier than cleaning up the kit pieces. I installed three very small tow lights on small styrene outriggers on various forward facing surfaces as seen in the AOTS book. I then painted everything, including a roof and upper railings for the compartment as a prelude to installing another wood grating on the AA command deck.

I’ll further compliment the kit 3D printed 6m rangefinder and main director. They are really nice. I did substitute brass rod for the kit’s flat PE version of a voice tube on top of that director.

[Dan K]

One other thing that I did was fill the top of the kit plastic wind baffles to either side of the 3D printed baffle with black paint, then sprayed gray paint from below to cover any overruns, It blends nicely with the printed front baffle and preserves the illusion that those are open baffles. (In my eyes, anyway. )

[SG1]

very nice trick!