The Ship Model Forum

I just received my 1/350 Zuikaku wooden deck and pe from Shipyard works in China. I love it. Very good deal as it comes with pe for 42' Shakaku, anchor chain to scale, arresting wires, a mask for Zuikaku camo deck 44', and the brass pe is super easy to work with. I will post pics of a complete build of my 1/350 Zuikaku with plated over porthole covers, AV gas protection plates on the hull, and rocket launchers moved up a deck from the aft AC engine testing area near the aft boat deck soon. Thanks to this forum and Dan Kaplan for the technical info.

You're welcome, and looking forward to your photos. Yes, the Shipyard sets are impressive, particularly for the cost. I have a review of the Hiryu set (which is basically the same) which I hope will post next month.

For those who do use the Shipyard deck sets I would suggest using a spray adhesive to put a light coat on before tacking down, otherwise a few air pockets can pop up. I had a couple of them and had to carefully lance and get a lil diluted PVA glue in there and clamp down. The detail and brass is soo good and I used 3M Super 77 spray adhesive to secure the brass on the deck and is holding very well.

If covering the port holes on the Zuikaku would the molded on eyebrows be removed?


Was also looking at the camo and was wondering if this would be more correct?


Colorized from B@W.


Drawing from the Maru 8 (?). I would guess this was envisioned from the original B@W photo.

The eyebrows were removed. The Junyo photo below shows this particularly well, with good contrast between the open and sealed portholes.

The camo color plate from Maru Special #6 is probably close, though the green too bright and the brown flight deck too dark, IMHO. There are countless interpretations; another is below. (The turret outlines had mostly disappeared by the time of Leyte Gulf.) Fyi, the original film clip is in b&w; this cell has been colorized.

Something in the works?

I have the Fujimi 1/350 Zuikaku. I never built anything that big and really don't where to start. Going to test the waters by covering port holes and adding doors to the hull. I have been working the front deck and may start a WIP thread at some point.

I'm not sure that it's any more complicated than the Hikawa Maru kit. You seem to be doing fine with that.

While we have some very nice 1/350 builds in the gallery, we don't have a W-I-P for a 1/350 version yet. You could Google that. There was at least one on Modelshipwrights. Some Japanese and S.Korean sites/blogs have some builds, too.

Hi,
I am needing a high resolution scan of Shokaku as a waterline drawing---line drawing or in gray scale.

If anyone has the Fujimi Shokaku model (1972 model ship) in 1/700 scale, this would have the very waterline drawing that I need to cover a project. Of course, Tamiya's instructions with the 1/700 scale Shokaku can help me cover this task.

Thanks
~ Rod

Love to post pics of my 1/350 Zuikaku but keep having problems with the 400 pixel limit. I've been on the form and read the different options but still a lil too big.

The maximum parameters are a pixel width or height of 1199, and a maximum file size of 400KB. All can be adjusted in an image editing program, say, like Photoshop.

Thanks Dan, I have a MacBook from 2006 and a new more reliable internet provider so hopefully I can post some. I have been ordering various 1/350 PE sets from Ebay as well as receiving the Gakken vol. 13 (wow great book, wish I knew how to read Japanese but still a great help with Zuikaku pics). I don't know if anyone came to the conclusion on which Flyhawk mast set works for Shokaku class but it is set Roman numeral III FH 350138.

Hey there everyone, first time posting here. I'm working on a Fujimi 1/700 Shokaku with the PE upgrade set. Question about the accomomdation ladders. Are they down all the time, or were they stowed during operations? If stowed, where & how? Also are there supporting cables/pulleys for them?

Thanks!

Thx for that info, Gary. Much appreciated.



The ladders were stowed during operations on either side of the upper boat deck. I think these photos of the 1/100 Zuikaku 1942 in the Gakken dlxe volume does a good job of illustrating their usage and stowage accommodation. A stowed ladder can be seen aboard Shokaku on the previous page of this thread.

For people interested in the 1/350 Fujimi kit: I started a build + review at http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=306607&p=915774#p915774. I will be using the Premium ship kit, Shipyard deck, Aber 127mm's, Infiniti 25mm's and Veteran Models rocket launchers. Planes will be Hasegawa and figures North Star (pilots and judo tournament sets). For reference I use Gakken 13 and Morskie. A lot of these things I learned about in this thread!

What sets of photoetched do you recommend for the Fujimi 600048 Zuikaku 1944 1/350?
Many thanks.

That's a tough one because all of the Fujimi dedicated PE sets are OOP as of the moment. A couple of years ago, Fujimi did release its latest PE set, but it sold out quickly. As of right now, no one else makes a comprehensive alternative set. Fujimi seems to prefer selling bundled sets. (see here for a list of all the various Zuikaku 1/350 kits and PE sets: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/search?typ1_ ... le=1%2f350 )

I'm in the same situation. If you haven't already purchased the kit, you're probably better off purchasing the premium version, SKU # 600321, which comes with the PE set included.

Sadly I just have the kit without the PE.
Well I guess that I´ll have to wait till some brand like Flyhawk or Gold medal or anyone came in our help.
Many thanks for your answer.

Hi Dan,
One question regarding the different versions of Fujimi Shokaku: what is the difference between 600093 (DX version) and 600314 (Premium version)? If one looks at the Hobby search pages, it looks like the 600093 has more PE frets but 600314 has the flight deck masking sheet. Is this correct? I can get 600314 here in Finland but 600093 have to be ordered from Japan.

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10160873?utm ... arketplace
https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10330155?utm ... arketplace

Hi, Karih -

I think your assessment is correct, that the Deluxe version has more of the PE included. Though, I don't see the railings fret. That fret used to purchased separately with this kit. It's now out-of-production, but it's the terrible type of railings anyway, with no bottom bar and just footers. Might also be stainless steel, IIRC.

IMHO, you're better off with a generic IJN railing set from Infini, anyway, even though you will have to custom cut/fit the railings. Their railing set is also relief-etched.

(Wood) Hunter makes a 1/350 flight deck paint mask for Shokaku. I like their masks, and they're not expensive.

Hi Dan,

Once again, my very best thanks for your useful tips ! I will anyhow need to purchase that generic railings set (as a backup for any destroyed ones), so that is good. Will need to check that Hunter mask if I can find it somewhere.

Have a nice weekend !