A proper 1/700 Yugumo class DD

[Dan K]

Speeding............well, not so much right now.

The kit supplied forward torpedo reload stowage compartments are decently shaped, but are shorter than they should be, show too many hatches on top, and lack side detail, particularly with regard to the structural support members and lightening holes. The midships photo of Makinami 1943 below shows off the starboard torpedo stowage nicely, albeit with some damage from a near miss. (I�ll be referring to this photo for several things over time. For instance, also notice the forecastle deck extensions, shape of the hull side wall, and the new type davit, all on the right side.)

The PE versions provide the lacking detail, along with better definition of the forward ends. OTOH, there are some seam gaps produced by the PE folds, which may be unavoidable if I cannot easily fill those with glue or something. The PE versions do not fit easily into the area. The kit pieces sit upon a molded base which has to be cut away. That was a little more work than expected.

There is also a prominent air intake hood located just ahead of the forward ends of the torpedo stowage and just aft the forecastle break. When the bridge is in position, the hood abuts the support trestle of the aft end of the bridge structure. It was all but impossible to hollow out the opening to the intake and fit a screen formed from brass mesh so, I added a small strip of styrene over the end of the intake to provide a lip for the mesh grill. The extra styrene will be all but undetectable once the bridge and tripod foremast are in place over it.

I added several other air intakes, including two small hoods that sit to either side of #1 funnel. These do not appear on any of the 1/700 Yugumo kits, and only on the 1/700 Fujimi Kagero class kit, as well as the two 1/350 Kagero class kits. It is misshapen on all the kits, though, admittedly, it�s really hard to make out in most photos & plans. You can just make it out at the base of the funnel in the Kazegumo bridge photo, as well as in postwar Yukikaze photos.

[Dan K]

I never realized until now, by contrasting the postwar photo of Yukikaze with that of Kazegumo above, that the Kazegumo shot (taken on her commissioning day) shows Kazegumo WITHOUT her forward TT reload compartments yet installed. How unusual.

The next step was the installation and detailling of the auxiliary steering station, located aft funnel #2. The top of the upper compartment will serve as the base for the 90cm searchlight and the RDF loop antenna. What's not seen here is a small grill placed under the overhang, as well as a porthole facing aft on the upper compartment.

Some interim shots as well with #1 funnel base and bridge in place. When taken, the small hoods to either side #1 funnnel had not yet been added.

[Devin]

Nice work, although I still don't understand how you completely build and PE your models and THEN paint them. Insane!

[Dan K]

They're not completely assembled, just large assemblies for painting. It's all about the railings. Too many coats = too thick and overscale appearance.

Anyway, one thing that has grown to bother me about the full hull kit is the overscaled treading for the metal portion of its main deck, and the way it obscures the lightly molded tracks for the torpedo reload trolleys. As can be seen in the photos above of the torpedo reload compartment comparisons, and again below, the original waterline kit shows both the rails and the treading to much better effect, and scale. Anybody see the warning lights going off? No? Me, neither.

[Dan K]

Too late. And so, dear friends, I descended yet again into madness, a.k.a. �project scope creep�. It seemed simple enough; just convert a waterline Aoshima Kagero class hull to the same spec. Then, I would use the new hull as my early fit Yugumo while using the original hull as a midwar/1943 version.

Three of the early Yugumo class ships � Yugumo, Naganami & Kazegumo, gained a revised foremast with a Type 22 radar, a radar room under the aft compass deck and a twin 25mm AA mount on a platform in front of the bridge by early to mid 1943. Though Yugumo was sunk shortly after her refit, the other two sisters gained a second set of triple 25mm mounts on platforms to either side of funnel #1, much like the later Yugumo classes ships. My feeling is that the extra equipment will help obscure & distract from noticing the weak trolley rails, so I believe the first hull will likely turn out satisfactorily in 1943 fit.

I ran into problems almost immediately with the new waterline hull. The stern extension fix was easy but, the waterline version requires the insertion of a piece of treaded metal decking into the very nose of the bow (as seen in the photo above). It�s not a good fit, so I added some styrene strip and shaped the piece a bit. Unfortunately, one side sank down in the hull after gluing. It was noticeable, and bothersome, to me. I attempted to score the piece with a blade so as to remove it and re-glue it, but I ended up slicing right thru the side of the bow. It was bad enough to be virtually un-repairable.

However, I was not about to rework yet another entire hull. So, after some abortive efforts to cut the bow off with a fine saw, I used a hot razor blade to slice thru the bow. Now, the plan is to graft on another bow. Fingers crossed.

[DanCinSD]

Or..... change the build to a torpedoed ship build..... Did any of them lose their bow to a sub torpedo??

[moomoon]

Argh... Anyway I'm sure you'll fixt it Dan K sama, gambatte kudasai!

[Dan K]

Argh... Anyway I'm sure you'll fix it

I'm gonna take a deep breath before I dive in

Did any of them lose their bow to a sub torpedo?

Several, in fact, though usually the entire forecastle. Interestingly, there is another Yugumo type that has similar damage, Hayashimo

[Dan K]

Like several other board members, it�s taken a little while for me to recover from the NATS, and some modeling burnout.

I�ve decided to switch gears for the time being, and to work on the bridge superstructures. I need two of them, an early war version, and mid-war variant based on an early war bridge.

The bridge parts from the PitRoad Yugumo kit serve as the basis for the bridge. The PitRoad bridge shape is close to what it should be, but the kit supplied bridge requires fine-tuning, mostly in the radii of the corners (the kit�s are too small).

The Yugumo bridge structure had greater streamlining than earlier IJN DD bridge forms. If the base of the bridge were to be viewed from above, it�s closer in shape to a squat teardrop or oval, whereas the earlier Asashio/Kagero form is closer to a square with large, rounded corners. The rear of the Yugumo bridge changed to a more squared off shape in the late war ships as it was enlarged to internally accommodate more equipment and personnel: i.e. radar. The side view illustration below nicely demonstrated the subtle difference in silhouette.

[Dan K]

The PitRoad kit bridge tries to serve both early war and late war versions, but truthfully, it does not do for either, successfully. An early war version requires more curve at the rear, whereas the rear bridge of a late war version needs to be closer to a filled out square with curved corners. The Makinami bridge photo at the top of this page shows off the shape of the early war version to good effect (particularly the rear of the bridge, which was supported by a semi open trestle in back of the forecastle break). That photo contrasts nicely with that of the late war bridge of Okinami below (also supported by a trestle).

[Dan K]

Anyway, a lot more sanding and shaping of all the corners is required, particularly for an early war version.

Now that I find myself building two ships, I needed a second bridge. Fortunately, I had 15+ year old, OOB PitRoad Asashimo sitting around so, she, too, was sacrificed on the altar of AMS.

[Dan K]

The glued parts came apart with only a little difficulty, and the painted stripped off after repeated soakings in alcohol.

I did not take close-ups of the first bridge that I shaped, the one seen in the beginning of this build thread. Fortunately, the starting point and the basic shaping work is the same for both versions. Both received PE windows. The original version received PE framing cut from GMM 1/350 ladder. This posted version received Joe World PE bridge windows that exactly matched the Yugumo class window framing.

Some of the early Yugumo class, including Kazegumo, Naganami, and Onami, received a lower bridge facing that included 5 portholes placed in a horizontal row, as did the previous round bridge Shiratsuyu, Asashio, and Kagero classes. Later Yugumos had only three such portholes in that position. As the PitRoad kit came with five portholes molded in, I kept the pattern and drilled them out.

[Dan K]

Both received bridge wing supports, navigation lights, a PE hatch, railings, an rail for anchoring sun awnings, side portholes, and replaced a molded-on navigational rangefinder with a scratch-built unit in its own, recessed position in front of the bridge mounted main director. The compass bridge decks received some 1/700 binoculars and a column meant to represent the compass binnacle.

[Dan K]

It looks better than the grainy closeups convey.

[Devin]

Say, that looks spiffy.

[MartinJQuinn]

Say, that looks spiffy.

It certainly does

[Dan K]

I like spiffy.

The 1943 mid war bridge configuration is basically an early war bridge fitted with an extended compartment aft, under the extended bridge compass deck, in the manner of earlier IJN DD classes. As I mentioned earlier, this arrangement was used on early war Yugumos when refit with revised foremasts carrying Type 22 radars, as well as new Yugumos entering service in the first half of 1943, as best exemplified by Hayanami, below.

They also gained a twin 25mm mount and platform in front of the bridge. These are the first IJN DD �bandstands� to be enclosed by metal splinter shielding, unlike the canvas covered railings that appeared with all the proceeding classes. Instead of using stock styrene for the ammo boxes, I broke down and used ammo boxes from the new PitRoad NE01 IJN Equipment Set. Nice.

[Devin]

Nice. I know I've asked before, but I've forgotten: what type of soldering setup do you have to do your masts?

[Dan K]

A portable Iso-Tip with a very fine tip, and silver soldering paste. Works pretty well, now that I'm using new paste. There's always some excess solder, which I file down as much as possible. Unfortunately, in this scale, if too much is filed away,the soldering weld loses strength, which is necessary for the rigged yardarms and such. Otherwise, they come off. So, it can never be perfectly neat. It would be relatively less noticeable in a larger scale.

That said, I can see some areas here that might benefit from a little more filing.

[ajkochev]

Looking good Dan.

Just a question, are you ever tempted to add PE railings to the torpedo tracks on your destroyers? I've thought about it but never have, seems like aircraft track PE is far to big.