Aoshima 1/700 Maya 1944 � buildus interruptus

[MartinJQuinn]

Sweet. Can't wait to see it in person myself.

[sgtryan13]

I then attached the upper bridgeworks, and the catapults. I believe I've finally rounded the last turn. I can glimpse the finish line ahead, though there's much left to do.

That rigging looks great! I counted 12-14 individual lines put up there, and perfectly! I really like the attention you put to their spacing, bundling 2 close (as 1 actual halyard), then a slightly bigger space before teh next bundle of 2 . real nice touch!

[Dan K]

Thx, Ryan. It's great that you noticed. This version of the foremast, carried by Chokai and Maya, and Takao & Atago before their 1939 refits, carried 11 pulleys per side, each pulley having a paired line that appears as two lines. I wasn't about to replicate pulleys, but I did my best to space the lines and pair them.

Working on small bits now. There's a open latticework frame that holds spare floatplane wing tips that needs to be placed into the boat well aft. According to the Gran Prix Shuppn cruiser volume, this cage handled two sets, or four wing tips, but two is all I can fit into this one. The 12m launches are from the new PitRoad NE-02 IJN accessory set. Best I've seen.

Some better lit photos as well below.

[Atma]

Dan, excellent work as always. I envy you.

[J.F.S.]

Nice work Dan!
Joe

[Devin]

That spare wing assembly is amazing!

-Devin
(posting from Hawaii)

[Dan K]

Thx, gents. Devin, I thought you'd be sleeping in on your vacation.

[D-Boy]

Thx, gents. Devin, I thought you'd be sleeping in on your vacation.

Up early prepping for the Pearl Harbor tour, surely, and just re-familiarizing himself with the combatants...

[Devin]

I'm not quite still on eastern time, but I do wake up around 5 a.m. local. Good to see sunrises and the like.

Kristen and I met up with Tracy White and his wife Robin and went to Pearl and the Arizona memorial on Tuesday. Photos to post once I get home.

[J. Soca]

She looks magnificent Dan and you are pretty close to the finish line i say, any plans to start on a battleship soon?



Jose

[redoctober27]

I agree with j.soca! Awesome job! And yes we should have a battleship build off .... Or a carrier lol

[Quincy]

Great work Dan!!

What color did you use to paint the interior of the lifeboats? And yes, the new Pitroad versions are excellent!





Bob Pink.

[Dan K]

Thank you. Hope I finish soon, I feel like I'm running out of gas/enthusiasm on this one.

What's next? I dunno, I've been puttering around with the two Shiratsuyu DD hulls from the new Fujimi kit, also another DD kitbash but I'm really ready to work on something that's fairly straightforward, like the recent Aikoku Maru kit. The boom rigging and painting would be the challenge there, rather than correcting/detailing plastic.

And yet, I keep pulling out the new Kirishima kit, also the new Taiho/Shokaku-Zuikaku kits to look at. But, then again, I'd have to correct the casemates, or the island, or the flight decks, which leaves me nowhere. We'll just have to see.

Not that I'm going to actually do all of it but the proper paint guide to the open IJN launches is: hull grey - outside hull, gunwhales, and (for 11-12m) inner machinery space; wood - bottom decking and seating; white - inner hull sides. I use Tamiya Desert Yellow for the wood; seems right to me for this scale. FWIW.

[Dan K]

Placement of the spare wingtip assembly in the boat well, also that of the two torpedo warhead adjustment tables atop a wooden grating placed behind the forward 12.7cm AA emplacement on each side. One can also see the wood grating of the AA command position atop the bridge in this view.

I used the same FlyHawk .3mm x.3mm brass mesh for the gratings as I had for the air intake covers in the boat well.

When you enlarge the photo, you can also get a good sense of the inner depth of the FineMolds 110cm searchlights.

[Dan K]

Late in the war, many of the larger ships, the Takao class included, had catwalks added between their bridge and midships AA platforms to ease movement. The AOTS Takao book states that these were wood grated, so I scratchbuilt two catwalks out of brass mesh, rod and railings. Placement was to either side of the foremast, from the rear of the bridge to the AA platform surrounding #1 funnel. I also placed damage control lumber beneath these positions, in open cradles.

[Dan K]

The 25mm AA battery is also ready for placement. I like the FineMolds units so much that I made up some twins for possible replacment of the PE units on my Chokai model.

[MartinJQuinn]

Awesome. Like Keith, you have an eye for the little details that really bring the model to life.

[Dan K]

25mm AA battery installed, also the 9m cutters forward, along with some boat cradles in the aft boat well, and the aircraft trolleys. Maya has subsequently been flatcoated and am working on the rigging.

[MartinJQuinn]

Maya has subsequently been flatcoated and am working on the rigging.

Does this mean she'll be making an appearance on April 7th at MosquitoCon?

[Dan K]

Boy, any opportunity to advertise, eh?

Well, that's the plan. Plenty of personal stuff going on that can derail finishing her, though. Shot this on the run this AM. Main battery, some details & some rigging added last nite.