Calling all Japanese pre-war/wartime Merchant Marine fans

[Quincy]

Welcome back Motoyuki San and thanks for your input regarding Argentina & Brasil marus' armament.

I have to say Bob was quite right . I had another look at the photo and enlarged it on my pc. It seems to me the two 4.7" were on a platform around the fore mast. Where would be the MGs (13,2mm or 25mm) ?

cheers
Gilbert

This is good news for myself. I am not often right.

For the light MGs I would guess around the forward portion of the funnels deck. It would give them a better arc of fire up there.


Bob Pink.

[Gilbert]

Today, on the gallery, a very nice 1/700 Hikawa maru Hasegawa kit by Brian Mac Leish

[Quincy]

Today, on the gallery, a very nice 1/700 Hikawa maru Hasegawa kit by Brian Mac Leish

A very nice build indeed.



I started on my Brasil Maru kit yesterday and it has a pretty good fit overall . The one exception so far is piece H3, the forward deck. There is a a gap at the bow that will need addressing with either plastic card or putty to seal it.


Bob Pink.

[Gilbert]

Hi Bob,

did you buy the Fujimi PE fret ? I have ordered it from HLJ but did not get it so far. If you have it, any comments ?

cheers

Gilbert

[Dan K]

Good to hear from you, Motyuki-san. What issue of Model Graphix will your fleet appear in? And, I saw your comparison on your website a few weeks back on the 1/350 Yukikazes. In your opinion, which version is more exact to scale, the Hasegawa or Tamaiya version? Thx, Dan

[Quincy]

Hi Bob,

did you buy the Fujimi PE fret ? I have ordered it from HLJ but did not get it so far. If you have it, any comments ?

cheers

Gilbert

Hi Gilbert:

I have not ordered the photoetch fret. I'll probably get it at some point in the near future.


Bob Pink.

[Gilbert]

Thanks Bob, when I'll get mine, I will tell you how it is.

cheers

Gilbert


PS - Can't wait to see the FM 25mm shielded guns from Finemolds

[Motoyuki Iwashige]

Hello everyone,

Glibert san,
According to the website below, Gengoro S, Toda�s database, Argentina maru had shipped 7.7mm MGs. The information seems to be quoted from official log. He writes that Brasil maru had 13mm but I don�t know where it came from.
http://www.geocities.jp/tokusetsukansen/J/index.html

Dan san,
The visual guide of Japanese wartime merchant ships is special issue i.e. author Tashiro Iwashige.
Tamiya�s Yukikaze is much better than Hasegawa�s. The latter is a bit larger than desirable dimension as 1/350. To build the former, though, it might be better to make some alteration. I applied only a few points but will write more points when sending photos to Modelwarship gallery.

Motoyuki Iwashige

[Gilbert]

Hello Motoyuki san

Thanks for the info regarding Argentina & Brasil marus light AA.

I am looking forward to the release of the visual guide of Japanese wartime merchant ships special issue by author Tashiro Iwashige.

cheers

Gilbert

[Quincy]

Thank you Motoyuki San for the clarification. I'm looking forward to your upcoming Merchant issue as well.



Bob Pink.

[Quincy]

I forgot to ask Dan/Gilbert: how about those 1/700 resin Merchant ships from Frog Foot Models? I'm on the fence right now, but they sure look tempting.


Bob Pink.

[Gilbert]

Well Bob, to be honest with you, I have never seen the kits. What you see on their website is just resin hulls. Motoyuki san said the following :

Probably I heard about Frog Foot somewhere many years ago, but have never saw in shop or even in all other media. Many of those models in the website are easily estimated design source, on the other hand there are some poor investigations, for example �Mayayama maru�, misreading to Mayasan maru. It suggests that the webmaster might not know my serial in Model Graphix, or he ended activity well before. Of course I don�t hope to order those model kits .

Therefore, I will wait for some additional information from others before stating any comment on them

Gilbert

[Quincy]

Good point.



Bob Pink.

[janschu]

Hello everyone,

since i have found Motoyuki san�s wonderul website i also have been infected with the IJN merchant ship virus!
Inspired by his build ups here are some of my ships. I am sorry but i had to reduce the pictures to make them fit.
One thing that makes me angry is that i forgot to make "in progress" photos of the Kamoi! Furthermore i have decided
to leave the Seria Maru unpainted in order to show that this model is "selfmade". The other type 2TL tankers that i
will build in the future will be painted of course!

In the near future i will do masters of the hulls of the type 2TL tanker und the type 2A freighter. A collegue will then do resin castings
for me, so i can build several sister ships.

Concerning Frog Foot Models, two other forum members and me, we have "joined forces" and will do a test order in order to see how the
quality of these kits is. When we will get our kits we will inform you about them.

Greetings from Germany, Jan Schulz, IG-Waterline

[Dan K]

Stunning builds, Jan! Especially the Kawasaki tankers. I'm hoping to do a couple myself soon.

Motoyuki-san, thx for the feedback. You must let us know which Model Graphix special volume it will be and when it goes on sale. I want it!

[Quincy]

Beautiful work Jan. Thank you for sharing it with us.



Bob Pink.

[reigels]

Very interested to see the "standard" tanker above.

For several months I have been working on a scratchbuilt Type 2A standard freighter, with the intention of creating a limited number of resin copies for friends or for sale. This is my first attempt at creating a "garage kit" and would welcome your feedback.

If I may, I would like to invite you to critique my work below and advise if you note any serious errors.

Very little is glued down at this point so it is easy to make changes.

Two concerns I have are that I believe the cargo hatches are too wide, and should probably only be about 1/3 the width of the hull. Also, It is not clear to me what the area between the four large vents on the aft deck house looks like. I have guessed and placed a skylight there however that may be incorrect.

Much thanks in advance for any feedback you may be able to provide.



http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd74 ... ter004.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd74 ... ter006.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd74 ... ter007.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd74 ... ter008.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd74 ... ter010.jpg

[janschu]

@Dan K & Quincy, thanks for the compliments! I think i have the same fun building them than you have building yours.

@reigels, your type 2A freighter looks really convincing! Concerning the cargo hatches you are right, but i think this
can be corrected easily. The skylight on the aft deck house is quite reasonable because several other ships like the Kawasaki
tankers show the same feature. By the way, have you used the pictures of Motoyuki san�s build ups as reference?
For my type 2A freighter master i will do a different approach. I will do a lower freeboard to show a fully loaded condition.
However, at least one of my type 2A freighters will receive a lower hull portion like provided in the Fujimi tanker kits to show
how the ships looked when empty.

It might not be apparent in the pictures i have posted, but i will do the Hirokawa Maru and Sado Maru again. This has two
reasons.
First, since i will make masters for the two ships classes (Kamikawa, Kimikawa, Kiyokawa, Kunikawa, Hirokawa Maru / Sado, Sagami,
Sagara, Sakito, Sakura, Sanuki and Sasako Maru)
Second, because i have used the original Pitroad Kamikawa Maru hulls and later found out that this hull has one big error! The
hull shape is ok, but it is way too short! So,for the Kamikawa Maru class (5 ships) the hull has to be lengthen by 15mm and for
the Sado Maru class (7 ships) by 12mm!

Greetings fronm Germany, Jan Schulz, IG-Waterline

[Gilbert]

Concerning Frog Foot Models, two other forum members and me, we have "joined forces" and will do a test order in order to see how the
quality of these kits is. When we will get our kits we will inform you about them.

Greetings from Germany, Jan Schulz, IG-Waterline

Hello Jan,

First, congratulations for your very fine models.

We will look forward to your opinion on Frog Foot Models

cheers

Gilbert

[Gilbert]

since i will make masters for the two ships classes (Kamikawa, Kimikawa, Kiyokawa, Kunikawa, Hirokawa Maru / Sado, Sagami,
Sagara, Sakito, Sakura, Sanuki and Sasako Maru)
Second, because i have used the original Pitroad Kamikawa Maru hulls and later found out that this hull has one big error! The
hull shape is ok, but it is way too short! So,for the Kamikawa Maru class (5 ships) the hull has to be lengthen by 15mm and for
the Sado Maru class (7 ships) by 12mm!

Greetings fronm Germany, Jan Schulz, IG-Waterline

Jan,

If you make masters of the above, would you consider to sell the related corrected hulls. I will be very interested by some

cheers

Gilbert