The Ship Model Forum

Thanks Tony & Dan, yes the Kagero book is great, strange there's errors, you would assume they would have created those CAD drawings using plans? Let me know if you want scanned images from the book.

I have found one more potential error: the lower foremast supports are included in the Hasegawa & Tamiya 1/350 kits (hi-lited yellow from Hasegawa instructions), but these 2 Kagero book CAD images dont show them. Could they have been added later when the mast received upgrades and thus needed reinforcement?

Those supports are there, just thin and low. Have a look.

Thanks for the links.

I have found some IJN railings (including curved railings for the Forecastle) on eBay, and bought about 4 packs of them (since it seems this is something that isn't included in many PE detail sets for the less popular IJN Destroyers). And I am going to need to do quite a few Kagerō-class DDs for the Solomons Campaign ships. I will have to have a look at the Five-Star set. It is for the Yukikaze Late-War outfit, isn't it?

That means I would need to find a new forward Mast (for 1942), and deck detail for the X Turret that was replaced on the Yukikaze late-war... At the very least.

MB

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Working on:


1/700 (All Fall 1942):
HIJMS Nagara
HIJMS Aoba & Kinugasa
USS San Francisco
USS Helena
USS St. Louis
USS Laffey & Farenholt
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 4 - 7
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 13 - 16

Hmm thanks Dan, strange that the Kagero book folks would miss that? Any ideas? Maybe it was a late amendment to a plan drawing or something? Im modeling Yukikaze 1941 fit, so need to know if maybe those supports were a later addition and not present in 1941?

That Maikaze shot is July, 41. The supports were there from the beginning.

I can't speak to why the author/artist didn't include them. He reads this thread occasionally; perhaps he'll share his thinking at some point.

The 1939 Jane's Fighting Ships shows the supports as being present.

The Photo Attachment above (the top one with the images of the ship in it's Pre-1943/44 Outfit, prior to getting the radar on the top mast), shows the ship in the configuration prior to 1943.

So... It had the supports in 1941. At least if it didn't, then they would have had to have removed them, and then added them back in '42.

I just wonder why my 1/700 Kagerō doesn't have them?

And why the Kagerō PE sets are all for the 1944 outfit?

I need one for 1942.

I think there is one that has the pre-43 masts, and Turret handrails. Yeah... Ocean Spirit. But it is made for the Aoshima Yukikaze or Kagerō.

Bummer... I am going to have to buy enough random PE for six different Kagerōs (Amatsukaze, Yukikaze, Hatsukaze, Oyashio, Kurashio, Kagerō) at this point (All as 1942 outfits, save for the Hatsukaze, which is for the 1943 Surface Actions in the Solomons). I need to finish outlining the ships needed for 1943, as I currently only have The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay detailed (for the ships I need - that is the one which has the Agano in it.... I shall have to see if I can redeem her in a miniature war-game battle).

MB

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OMG LOOK! A signature

Working on:


1/700 (All Fall 1942):
HIJMS Nagara
HIJMS Aoba & Kinugasa
USS San Francisco
USS Helena
USS St. Louis
USS Laffey & Farenholt
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 4 - 7
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 13 - 16

The supports were always there and never taken away. The photos have to be clear and at the right angle to see them, because the supports are not as robust as the mast legs. Also present on all official plans. Btw, the Shiratuyu, Asashio, & Yugumo classes have them as well.



Too fine a detail. The Fujimi '45 version part is over scale.



Dimensionally, these kits are so similar that it won't matter. Aoshima once put out a version know as a "Super Detail set) boxed with a Kurushio kit that had a original mast. Very hard to find now. Honestly, the best thing is to replace the masts with brass rod. Again, instead of spending excessive $s on these sets, I'd suggest buying some GMM Ultrafine IJN railing sets, and the Rainbow funnel grills, torpedo beam gantries, 12.7cm barrels, D-C racks, etc.

I have looked at the railing sets, but they do not look like they will work very well for the forecastles of IJN ships, which have a curving sheer to them.

And, knowing PE, it would be a major hassle to try to "curve" straight PE to get them to fit.

What is really strange about the Five Star PE kit, is that it includes Six barrels for the 12.7cm guns, which would indicate it includes the possibility for an Early-War outfit (Like almost ALL of their other PE kits seem to do), yet it contains no masts for the early-war outfit.

I suppose making my own masts is a possibility (since the plastic masts are not very accurate from the looks of them: the V-shaped yardarms should sweep back a bit from the look of the photos, yet they do not in the kits). I just have this fixation on the joints between the mast uprights and the yardarms that would vex me if I did not get them right.

But.... from adding up the cost of everything, the Five Star kit seems to be the bargain.

The cost of a set of metal barrels; the GMM Railings; and the Rainbow Funnel Grills, Torpedo gantries, Torpedo Rails, D-C Racks, and Handrails would be about $10 to $20 more than the Five Star Models PE kit (which contains all of these things, but lacks a few parts for the masts and X Turret (I would need to count again, it may include the turret detail itself, but lack the deck detail).

MB

Edit:

After checking, it DOES contain all of the PE for all three turrets, as well as brass barrels for all three turrets.

And it contains the PE for the correct Bridge outfit, but simply lacks some deck detailing for the deckhouse roof/deck mounting the X-turret. That is trivial... And, the Five-star kit is for the Pit-Road kit, which is slightly nicer than the Aoshima (I think I have two of the Aoshima kits, and two Pit-Road, but will be getting two more Pit-Road to fill out the required five Kagerō-class ships I need/want to fill out the Solomons Campaign).

_________________
OMG LOOK! A signature

Working on:


1/700 (All Fall 1942):
HIJMS Nagara
HIJMS Aoba & Kinugasa
USS San Francisco
USS Helena
USS St. Louis
USS Laffey & Farenholt
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 4 - 7
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 13 - 16

Just fyi, the only IJN DD with a sweeping upward curve to the forecastle is Shimakaze. All the others are a straight angle. Which is why the GMM set works so well, as it has rails section formed to both angle and curves for the forecastle.

The yardarm joints vex me as well. While I happen to prefer soldering, many use CA glue instead. Certainly cleaner, and probably just as effective. In fact, I use CA for all the cross-bracing within the mast. For your consideration.

Aside from the aforementioned Aoshima Super Detail kits with the PE masts, no one else provides them for the Kagero classes.

The ships themselves might have had a straight forecastle deck, but the models certainly do not.

As for the masts.... I can probably find a way to create the masts I need.

MB

_________________
OMG LOOK! A signature

Working on:


1/700 (All Fall 1942):
HIJMS Nagara
HIJMS Aoba & Kinugasa
USS San Francisco
USS Helena
USS St. Louis
USS Laffey & Farenholt
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 4 - 7
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 13 - 16

Which Aoshimas do you have - original tooling (curved forecastle) or retooled (straight angle)?

I haven't yet got them (just ordered them a few weeks ago), but the Pit-Road kits look to be curved.... Checking..........

On second look, they aren't exactly "curved," but look to have a sort of "break" in the forecastle, where the rise increases in angle. I will need to take a straightedge to it to see if each section is actually "flat."

MB

_________________
OMG LOOK! A signature

Working on:


1/700 (All Fall 1942):
HIJMS Nagara
HIJMS Aoba & Kinugasa
USS San Francisco
USS Helena
USS St. Louis
USS Laffey & Farenholt
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 4 - 7
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 13 - 16

It is. I've built it. This is why the GMM IJN Ultrafine railing set is invaluable.


From a Japanese builder and website known as Kansen:

Tamiya's 1/350 early war Kagero is now in stock in Japan. A list of images from HobbySearch Japan: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10343524/10/0

Question guys.. I know for sure Dan k can help lol but I'm kinda wanting to do a 1945 build of Amatsukaze at the time of her loss.. now I know she was in a dismal condition and while I found only one photo of her under attack, acording to Amatsukaze's trom, both the editor and Tully mentioned that there are multiple photos taken of her. Does any one else know where these other photos can be found or uploaded??

There are several photos of Amatsukaze under attack in her last configuration. I have at least three in hi rez, plus one other, below.

I don't have time right now to resize and post any. MASMS #30, p. 50 has one view, plus a nice line drawing of that configuration.

Wow.. thank you Dan! It's a wonder the anyone survives such attacks....

Post your email in PM. I'll send what I've got.

Hello, this is my first post here. I have a question regarding the Yukikaze, specifically her colour scheme under the ROCN. Did she keep the Sasebo Arsenal hull colour or get painted something else?

That's a good question. While she may have been transferred to ROCN service in Sasebo Grey, it is a certainty that, over time, she took on ROCN colors. What those are, I'm not quite familiar with. Your best bet may be to contact Jeff Lin, accomplished ROCN modeler, who built a wonderful conversion of the Tamiya kit to Tan Yang. That gallery is here: http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html