The Ship Model Forum

Hello all! I'm posting this for Richard as he is having trouble setting up an FTP for himself. He'll add his own text below the photos. Enjoy!!

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Waldorf Productions / Museum Quality Model Warships
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Looking remarkably well, Bill. Tell Richard that Takao is looking quite good. Very good references he haves there. I see that Takao already haves three four leg "fans"!!!!!

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"Build few and build fast,
Each one better than the last"
John Fisher

Thank you Bill for helping me with thread
A friend showed me the book " The Heavy Cruiser Takao " by Janusz Skulski and it was love at first sight .What an impressive looking cruiser with a distinct bow , sloping stern , sculptured pagoda bridge and swept back funnel . This class of heavy cruiser had ten eight inch guns and the extra sting of twenty-four inch Long Lance torpedos.

I went to modelwarships.com and asked where I could find some plans of Takao. Art in New Zealand referred me to Mr Huruo Takami in Japan and after a couple of weeks they arrived in 1/200 scale . These were scaled up to 1/96 scale.

Takao was 203.759 m long x 20.422 m which will make the model 83.562 x 8.375 .After enlargment the plans were right on .

Takao had three sisters " Chokai , Maya , and Atago . Takao was laid down on 28 April 1927 and launched on 12 May 1930 . She was commissioned on 31 May 1932 . Takao was moderinized in 1939 and went through changes throughout her career . I decided to build her as she appeared in 1937 . I will make a plug for a fiberglass hull .

I would like to thank Auther Buckland for all his tech help on this project and Bill for helping me with this thread .

The Photo's
# 1 Reference material
#2 Mr Takami's plans
#3 Stantions laid out on 12 mm ply
#4 Keel cut from profile view
#5 Body lines glued to 12 mm rectangular ply . These are cut on a table saw and are exactly the same
#6 A fence was set up on the ban saw to cut a notch out . When one side was cut , then flip them over and cut the other side, Then remove the middle .
# 7 A jig was set up to drill 3/8 holes in the frames , then flip them over and drill the other side . Now all the frames are all exactly on center to one another .
# 8 Because the fiberglass hull will be 1/8 inch in thickness , I decided to remove 1/8 from all the frames . If you are sheating a model with thin sheating this is not nessary but in my case the hull would be 1/4 inch to wide .I had to remove 1/8 inch from the bottom of the keel also .
# 9 Keel notched
# 10 Frames dry fit on keel . Note my helpers,I have nineteen of them
#11 Frames dry fit
# 12 Solid basswood piece glued to stern , This will be carved to shape
# 13 Same as # 12
I hope you enjoy Takao as much as I have enjoyed all thr builds on yhis sight
Richard

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Fantastic subject and great work!

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-Steve L.

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Another lovely build in the making . Super subject, please keep the pictures coming.
Dave Wooley

hi Richard,

A wonderfull ship indeed, it was for me also love at first sight , when I bought the book , but I have had that feeling also with IJN Fuso and IJN Yamato books. What wonderfull ships these japanese made. I really looking forward to your build. Keep those photos coming. Great job

regards,

Ludwig

Nice Takao to come.
I like very much Takao with massive and complex bridges.

Waiting for other pics ...

Have pleasure to built her



Jef

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Current 1/700 WL
HMS Repulse

Hi Nice subject, I will be able to watch this one closely, looking at my AOT SHIP TAKAO which I have had for years, ARH

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Simple but effective.

Hi I am back but I still can't figure out the how to post photos so Mike our fearless leader from my model club did it for me .

Photo 1 The solid piece cut out with a ban saw for the bow


Photo 2 This one is out of sequence but shows the spray foam used to fill in .Dont use this if you have thin frames,it will break them when it expands

Photo 3 The foam is all shaped up

Photo 4 12 mm cut out of the center then both sides glued to the keel , the stern was done the same way

Photo 5 A jig was set up to work on the frames and to shapp the bow and stern . All frames must be beveled

Photo 6 A template is made to shape the stern and another two for the bow . These have 1/8th added to them to get the right shape taking into consideration the thickness of the fiberglass thickness

Photo 7 Shaping the port side

Photo 8 Bow shaped

Photo 9 A machinest square is put up against the keel to make it ninty degrees to the table then all the frames are measured both hight and width to be sure they are correct .If they aren't you can add a shim to raise it our to widen one .I had one low frame .

Photo 10 Foam is installed between frames

Photo 11 Sanding the foam to shape

Hi Guys,
Richard,
You are a true ship modeler!
Great step by step presentation! You make it look like time well spent.
Fare thee well!
Nice job!
Tony Bunch

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The rest of the photo's starting from the bottom

The foam has to be at least 1/8th inch below the frames otherwise the resin will destroy it

A british or Russian aircraft carrier ? No its Takao with a piece of formica screwed to the top .This will catch the resen ,it wont stick to formica,I hope

First coat of plaster

It takes three days for each coat of plaster to dry.I was in a plug making mood so I decided to make a plug of the IJN Heavy Cruiser TONE. Alot of the fittings I have to make can be used for her to .She is not as attactive as Takao but she was unique in that she was a trus scout cruiser and carried six to eight scout planes.All four of her gun turrets were forward.The lonf strip is the 1/8th inch removed from the bottom of the keel

Frames are dry fit for Tone ,Takao is drying

Frames are glued in position for Tone

Jig set up to bevel the frames

Tone is wider in the stern to accomadate the extra scout planes,she carried six to eight

Both hulls taking shape

Note the below the water line belts on on Takao .This is why I wanted to model her before the 1939 modernazation when these belts were covered over with bigger and flatter ones that rose above the water line . They offered better protection but I think these look better. When I get the hull off the plug I should be able to add the bigger belts to the plug and make a late war hull

Thank you for all your comments

Richard

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If you are not living on the edge then you are taking up to much space

Hello Richard Good to see your Takao taking form. Excellent subject and an interesting method of build. Looking forward to more posts.
Dave Wooley

Can't wait to see it done, Takao and Tone are my favorite heavy cruisers

Hi Everyone
Takao is ready for a coat of resin. That will make the plug alot stronger. Stand by .
Richard

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If you are not living on the edge then you are taking up to much space

Hi everyone. I did some work on Takao.Here is were I am at .
I put a coat of resin on the plug .The resin when dry, showed some low spots so I filled them in with more plaster. Then when I started to sand I almost droped it and when I went to grab it my hand made a hole in the plug . That has been patched and I will put another coat of resin on .

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If you are not living on the edge then you are taking up to much space

Hi Everyone
These are the photos that are missing













Richard

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If you are not living on the edge then you are taking up to much space

When comparing Skulski vs Miyukikai, which one is more accurate? I know Skulski is far heavier on details, but is there anything specific in the Miyukikai drawings that Skulsi missed or vice versa?