The Ship Model Forum

I physically started this build as my 1/700 Taiho build was winding down. I wanted to take advantage of my learning curve with regard to Taiho’s scratch-built deck before it started to fade into memory. I especially wanted to try and avoid some of the pitfalls I encountered.

Conceptually, this build started years earlier, when Fujimi released its 1/350 Shokaku and Zuikaku class kits in 2011-12. I really wanted to build one of these sisters, but I hated the kit’s flight deck, just as I did with the Taiho kit and most of the other 1/700 & 1/350 Fujimi CV kits. Properly scaled planking seemed to have escaped Fujimi’s attention. (At this point, I would imagine that just about everyone knows this is a major sore point of for me.) I also intend to waterline the hull.

A 1/350 Fujimi Shokaku and Hiryu kit languished in the stash while I pondered and rejected various approached to correcting those decks. Truth be told, it was Gabriel’s (Angeliccypher) own 1/350 Hiryu W-I-P thread that really started my wheels turning on how to accomplish such a fix (see: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=162876 ). His work on the kit flight deck, (with side input from Mark Senna), led me to the solution I eventually chose for Taiho, and now Hiryu.

Frankly, I find the warts and all W-I-Ps such as his utterly invaluable, and a major benefit of being a member of this community. So, thank you, Gabriel!! I appreciate your willingness to post a real life build. And, I hope to see you post more of your Hiryu progress soon.

With the Hiryu kit, the same truism applies as with my Taiho project: If I can’t make the flight deck work, then the likelihood of my completing the project is low. One of the attractive points of using Hiryu as a test bed is that her flight deck is only about 60% planked. This is as opposed to the Shokakus, whose flight decks are probably 90% planked.

I used Evergreen 2025 V-Groove polystyrene sheet for the planking. Doing so yielded planks of a scale 7.5 inches wide. I also decided I would use the recent Shipyard Works PE flight deck set for Hiryu. However, this time, I am choosing to retain all of the PE flight decking, and not just the treaded metal deck edging. Separating the metal treading from the metal portion of the flight deck surfaces has proven to be very problematic. I don’t feel that I can’t do so without jeopardizing the clean finish of the PE. In turn, this means that tie-down holes must be applied to the custom built flight deck.

In addition to the Shipyard set, I also purchased the Fujimi PE set for this kit.

I’ll start by posting a photo reflecting the current status of the build. In fact, at this point, I’m actually stopping the project for the time being so that I can work on another set of projects that are underway. I expect to periodically resume and post progress to this W-I-P.

For the record, this is my first 1/350 build. There won’t be many in the future, as there isn’t much display room in my city apartment.

I’ll also let the photo record be as self-explanatory as possible. I’ll try to point out steps that were of interest or posed challenges.

As with Taiho, the planking was cut to size. The flight deck was cut into three pieces, to allow me to sand down the planked portion of the kit flight deck. Then, I used the wood sticker from the Shipyard set to mark the tie-down holes by aligning it on the V Groove flight deck and spray painting it with gray. The marked tiedowns were then debossed using a simple punch tool I have. The deck was then washed with a burnt umber oil pigment. Channels were etched crosswise into the grooving for the crash barrier cables. The planking was then glued to the kit flight deck.

The elevator well aprons were cut from the kit supplied elevator wells. Grooves were then cut cross-wise into the flight deck planking to allow for styrene inserts for the deck expansion joints.

The elevators were again scratch-built. One new detail that the larger scale enabled was the addition of the elevator counter-weight cables on either side of the elevator.

Elevator well and hangar deck construction was greatly limited by the crosswise rods used by Fujimi to stiffen and stabilize the hull. I had to cut out two rods in order to enable any sort of lower hangar deck. (Those two rods will be re-positioned within the hull. I’m also going to have to stiffen and reinforce the rigidity of the hull considerable before I get around to water-lining the hull). Space considerations and tight fit tolerances meant constant refitting, particularly for the forward elevator/hangar deck assembly.

stay tuned.

That is looking very nice and good, especially your elevators are awesome. I’ll certainly check this one up hoping for updates

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Under construction: KMS Bismarck 1/350

Dan , you are the MASTER of scratch-built elevator wells!

Q: do you work from a set of blueprints/plans, or "eye it" based on pictures and other references materials?

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- Greg

This will be a pleasure to follow!!!

It already is now...
Great job on the deck and elevator wells!

In case you are not looking forward to waterlining: what about keeping the full hull but embedding it in a seascape?

Thanks for the comments, guys.



Yes to both. The contours and confines of the hull drives what can actually be done. In Taiho's case, the elevators were placed at either end of the the hangar deck, and the contours of the kit hull followed the plans well enough to make the wells and hangar decks close to accurate for what I did.

The Hiryu kit makes this a little more challenging. As you can see from the schematic below, the elevator well itself is pretty straightforward. Wrapping a hangar deck around either side of an elevator accurately was far more challenging, and required far more eyeballing, particularly for the lower level. I went more for overall effect rather than absolute accuracy. Btw, I'm not planning on opening the aft elevator well. Two is enough.



A good idea, but I just don't have room for the display that would entail. Waterlining it allows me to just place the ship on a shelf with other builds. I'm going to go with the hidden waterline plate approach, instead of killing myself to fair a waterline plate to the hull.

Good idea! Getting rid of such a long seam seems much harder indeed than fitting the waterline plate inside the hull halves. And seams like that have a way of becoming visible again after the model is finished through shrinkage of the filler. Ask any aircraft modeller...

And lack of space is of course a real issue. Even a slow builder like me accumulates enough finished models over the years tof force me to decide which ones to keep on display and which ones to store in boxes...
I also live in a (small) city, but I'm sure New York housing offers even much less space to spare.
Anyway, waterline models look great on a clean surface too!

Well... I didn't saw this coming!
Dan is working in 1/350... you will have the chance to put double the amount of detail you usualy place in your masterpieces!

Following with interest!
Cheers,
Rui

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Ship Modelers of the World UNITE

1/350 Scale. Uh oh! Looking great Dan!

Haha. Right? He needs to stay in his own lane!

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Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

A quick update:

My family and I finally got to take a vacation (actually a staycation in another location) and I took the Hiryu hull with me. I figured there would be plenty of time to do the messy grunt work.

The upper hull was stiffened with old Revell display stands used as inserts (very effective) and was then waterlined using a hobby saw. There’s a plating line on the hull that conveniently approximates the waterline and I left myself a little room for error. Some fine-tuning of the actual waterline has been done using a file and all the portholes have been drilled out, though these photos don’t show all of that.

Obviously, I just had to test fit the hull with the hangars and flight deck.

The next step will be to ensure the hull lies completely flat and install a hidden waterline plate/bottom for stability.

Hey 'Dan K', your Build Looks GREAT!!!!

I hear you about building a 350 scale, is quite Intense!! I plan to build four (4) 350 scale FF/FFG that I served onboard....maybe after I build my Asian fleet (JMSDF and PLAN carriers). I only have a few of those bigger models, so where do you "display them" do you place on shelf, curio??

Curious, with ALL That Work on those elevators, and by the way....that is Excellent looking scratchbuilding , but will you Do This??!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOjZ0wDhlf8

I think that it is small enough for me to build on possible 700 scale ship.

M.

Restocked popcorn supply, enjoying the show.

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Thx, M!



Just a couple of shelves with dust covers. I'll have to take a photo later.



Yowsa! Wow. That's impressive, and unexpected. A neat piece of model engineering, for sure. That's very cool but, no, I won't be doing that. I'm not even sure I could shoehorn the mechanism into a waterlined hull.



Free entertainment!

Glad to see progress on this one!

Although I have absolutely nothing against full-hull models, I love the look of IJN carriers waterlined.
If only there would be a 1/350 scale Soryu kit... That would be one of only that might make me do a carrier in 1/350.
Meanwhile, I'll watch your build and learn!