IJN ZUIKAKAU Nichimoco 1:500> Modification & Super-Detailing

[J. Soca]

Thats alot of work.. sigh.. very impressive for that scale i must say keep up the good stuff coming.


Jose

[AC Studio]

Amazin. Are those metal triangular supports?

They are not triangular supports under those catwalks actually, it is a triangular post, same construction to the catwalk below the island of the Junyo as you can see in the photo below:

[AC Studio]

I was busy studying for exams & making other models to enter a competition recently, so I did not touch this Zuikakau for a long time. Finally back into this ship and started making AA gun platforms.

This platform took me a total of 3 months, again scratch-building the understructure, using plastic card & drill holes on each one to make triangular board.

Using 0.4mm copper wire to build the horizontal edges of the platform (what is that called?) & then 0.2mm wire for the vertical brazing.

It looks pretty good so far.

[AC Studio]

Triangular supports built by plastic card

[AC Studio]

Currenty just finished working on the under structure of the two AA guns platforms. This is 3 days of work.

STEP 1 - Original mould at right.... platform on left showing the understruture all cut away.

STEP 2 - Rebulit by individual scratch-built triangular support & bracing between them
Triangular support made of 0.2mm plastic card, individually measure & cut to suit various width, & drill holes on each of them.

STEP 3 - Attached to the hull

[AC Studio]

The overall progress on understructure & the hull so far.... still got a long way to go.

3months of work just on these AA-gun platform understructure

1 week work just on these, the progress is very fast before my back hurting again because I worked on it everynight.

Another 3 months of work on these understructure

[Quincy]

Excellent progress!




Bob Pink.

[Cliffy B]

That's impressive and inspiring, excellent job

[potchip]

Neat and the mere thought of drilling these holes sends pain down my fingertips.
Will I get to see this come next year's Expo? How are you going to make the 1/500 aircrafts? Resin casting?

[MGB185]

Sorry to hijack yr post bro..

I saw the Nichimoco 30cm Kongo battleship at very cheap price. Is it worth buying it? Of cos, I don't expect it to be as good as recent pit road or new Fujimi product.

If its better than old Fujimi 1/700 Kongo, I think will be worth getting it.

Any experience of these kits?

[AC Studio]

Sorry to hijack yr post bro..

I saw the Nichimoco 30cm Kongo battleship at very cheap price. Is it worth buying it? Of cos, I don't expect it to be as good as recent pit road or new Fujimi product.

If its better than old Fujimi 1/700 Kongo, I think will be worth getting it.

Any experience of these kits?

Hi MGB185, it really depends what your expectation is, if you want to just build OOB, simply & quick, then it doesn't really matter which one to get. If you area a serious modeller, and really wanted to make a good model, using photo-etch as well, then it is better getting the best quality one such as Fujimi 1/700 Kongo. It saves you lots of time for modification, the kit is 100 times better than the old Nichimoco kit. I got one myself, and in my opinion, they are the best in the market. The point is you get what you pay for really... The old Nichimoco kit is more for beginners, I used to "play" those models when I was young.

[ajkochev]

Outstanding work!

Going to be a real beauty full of detail when finished.

[AC Studio]

Recent progress:

[JIM BAUMANN]

Your tenacity and willingness to do it the hard ( proper...? ) way is truly commendable!

I shall be watching this ...

Jim B

[AC Studio]

Finally finished all the understructure of the catwalks & AA gun platforms!~ .... (Actually haven't start on the AA gun platform on bow & stern... but at least all understructure is finished on the both side of the hull...yahoo!!!)

Now trying out on detailing the funnels. Two night works so far as shown:

STEP 1 - Original mould at the right, clear/sand out the details as shown left.

STEP 2 - Inserted jack-stay on the funnel & about to make cage at opening. Unfortunlately no photo-etch product on 1/500 funnel, so I have to make it. Takes a while...

[Yuth]

it is not amazing...
it more !

I had this kit years ago, and when I see what you do on it I'm more than impressed.

keep up your fantastic job !

[Dan K]

Just crazy

[AC Studio]

There no photo-etch available for the funnels' cages, I built it using 0.2mm copper wire:

STEP 3 - Insert Vertical bars first

STEP 4 - Insert Horizontal bars afterward, cut the excess ends with scissors.

[AC Studio]

Finally the funnels are finished, after adding stay jacks (railings) and small exhaust pipes.
To be honest I did find the railings very hard to install on curved shapes. This is the first problem I encounter in building this model.

STEP 5A - Completed

STEP 5B - Completed

STEP 5C - Completed
Extreme closeup photo, note the outlet hole in the exhaust pipes.

[AC Studio]

Started working on the bow & stern AA gun platforms. The original platforms are simply too chunky. Even if I modify it would not look good, so scratch built one instead, that would take almost the same time to modify original anyway.

STEP 1 - Cut out platform from plastic card (compared to original mould).

STEP 2 - Insert floor grate photo-etch

STEP 3 - Built the under side strucutures last.