The Ship Model Forum

Hi all,

This is my first post here on the forum. Have seen some great masterpieces here on the site. I have been making models for more than 15 years mainly doing AFV and airplanes and only got into ship modelling two years ago. Gradually building up the IJN fleet in 1/700 scale full hull configuration.

Here is a recent project I am working on, a 1/700 Suzutsuki. As both the Pitroad and the Aoshima kits of the subject are unsatisfactory, I decided to do a conversion using the Fujimi kit as the base. The characteristic of the angular bridge is entirely scratch built based on the photo record of the ship. The resin bridge conversion included in the five start PE set has errors. in shape and detail. The masts are made from plastic rods and generic PE sets. The deck at the stern is complete reworked. Linoleum tie downs were made from thin plastic stripes (still needs some work). Major conversion and detailing were also done to the funnel and the deck housing at the back. The Gakken Vol 23 and the various Maru books were used as reference for this conversion project.

Still a bit of work needs to be done including detailing the gun turrets.

I don't own a digital camera so all images are taken with my phone. Please excuse the low quality pictures.

Please be gentle with your comments as I am new here. But, any comments are welcomed.

Seriously,

Don't know how you y'all do it in 1/700. Keep it up and looking forward to more!

_________________
In the yards right now:
USS Utah AG-16
On Hold
1/350 USS Portland CA-33 1942
1/350 Trumpeter Texas with a twist

Great job on that bridge, and also the scratchbuilt masts look very fine!
The replaced bulwarks will also add a lot to the feel of finesse.
I love it when modellers don't just add a detail-set to their model, but instead use whatever available and then add scratchbuilding to get the best possible results.

Cheers,

Marijn

Exquisite work, and I appreciate the devotion to accuracy and detail. I have been contemplating a similar conversion on and off for some time. FWIW, I still think the Pit-Road turrets might be better shaped, but it's close.

That's some fine scratch-building work there! Keep the photos coming!

Happy holidays!
Aop

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On the way:
--1/350 Tamiya DKM Tirpitz Nov 1944

--1/350 scratch-build HMS Lion never built battleship (1938)

And our artworks!

Hi guys, many thanks for your warm comments. This gives me a lot of motivation to continue with the project. I will slowly upload more images as the project goes on, but it will be a long process as I only get about 30 minutes modelling time a day. It already took me around 8 months to get to the stage as shown in the pictures.




I totally agree with you marijn. And this is exactly the philosophy I used on this project. I don't particularly like the idea of simply using a detail-set to solve the problem. This takes out the fun from modelling. It also means putting complete trust in the accuracy and fidelity of the set manufacture's research which I always had non-positive experiences with.



Hi Dan, many thanks for your kind words. This project actually started up as a quick conversion job crossbreeding Fujimi with pit-road and ended up now as a full blown scratchbuild work as I found the pit-road angular bridge is a total nightmare to correct. So maybe you can get the motivation to start the conversion by first viewing it as a quick kit bashing work

Personally, I prefer the Fujimi turret as like you said the shapes are very close between the two but I think Fujimi's detail is more crispy than PR

oops. Looks like I accidentally post my reply as a guest

Progress on the project is going very slowly as I am only able to squeeze out about halif an hour to modelling. A bit of more progress on the suzutsuki. Rigging on the forward mast is done except for two lines where signal flags will be applied.







Detailing on the main guns are also done. strengthening ribs were done using strechted sprue. and the handles from the generic hand railing set









The ship is almost done with the railings, scratched build splinter shield and 25mm single mounts.

Great to see progress, and masterful detailing at that. Even I've never attempted the three light necklace from a yardarm. Very well done.

Really nice.

Fantastic work! Top notch detailing!
That rigging will require a lot of care while painting…

Cheers,

Marijn

Many thanks for the encouragement guys. Hopefully this one is ready for the paint shop in the next couple of months



This is my first time attemping to do the light on the yardarm wire as well. It turns out not as daunting as I thought. I used a needle patiently applying superglue layer after layer to build up the shape of the lights.

Smart.

Very nice conversion, I love it

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Battle of Savo Island Collection (all 1/700)
Recently completed: USS Wilson DD-408
At works: USS Astoria CA-34 | USS Patterson DD-392 & USS Bagley DD-386
Prep stage: USS Vincennes CA-44 | HMAS Australia | Yubari | Kako

Great work on this!

very slow but steady progress on the build. Almost ready for the paint shop

Great work. Do you mean to paint the halyards?

Thanks Dan. Yes, I am planning to spray the topside with the grey and pick out the halyards with a paint brush.