The Ship Model Forum

After nearly a year and a half of work, I've placed my current Kawasaki tanker project on hiatus while I wait for my project enthusiasm to return. To help that along, I’ve chosen to work on yet another DD, this time the just released PitRoad 1/700 Shimakaze kit. This is an all new tooling, only the second such 1/700 kit in the last 40 years, and most welcome, as the venerable Tamiya kit shows its age in comparison to newer 1/700 kits released over the last decade or so. As I stated in my in-box review of the kit back in February (see: http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/sh ... /index.htm ), it appears to be a high quality kit, given the quality and accuracy of most of the details.

This kit is hopefully just the tonic for reviving my modeling energies as it would seem to require a minimum of corrections and detailing. There are some problematic areas but, I would hope to do far less research and far more straight-forward building. It will be interesting to contrast the reality of this kit with the expectations raised by my in-box review.

One aspect that will need to be addressed is backdating the kit from its 1944 fit to its 1943 fit, much like her appearance in her well known May, 1943 trials photo.

I started with the hull. The kit offers you a full hull or waterline option, but no waterline plate. It is designed to lay flat at the waterline should one choose that option, though mine had the slightest upward bow in the middle. I insist on having my models lie flat, so I chose to add a waterline plate made of .020” styrene sheet, along with an extra waterline weight glued to the plate for added stiffness. It worked. I also took care to ensure that the slope of the stern remained constant.

The forecastle, main, and aft decks are molded separately, taking care to separate at the margins where the linoleum (or treaded decking) meets the spurnwater that marks the boundary of the deck edge. So, the linoleum covered portions can be painted separately and cleanly, then glued in place. I took advantage of this arrangement and sprayed them with Tamiya XF-79 linoleum deck brown paint before gluing them in place.

Truthfully, the fit of the main deck was not quite right; it needed some sanding along the edges and the underside to get a proper, flat fit. The same must be said about the very aft end of the forecastle deck. Neither fit was troublesome, just not great right out of the box.

I left the stern portion of the decking off for the time being. In order to retro fit the kit to 1943, this small area would require the most work, and I plan to address that later on in the build. One point that I omitted in my review is that the hull retains all of its porthole apertures. No porthole is covered by a scuttle cover, as some should be for 1944. That’s a correction for anyone looking to build the kit in 1944 fit, but a bonus for me as I don’t have to do anything for 1943.

The kit is nicely detailed but, I chose to enhance a few items. Though it will remain partially hidden, I added a brass mesh screen to a prominent air intake that sits aft funnel #2 and that will be covered by the original midships AA platform. I also replaced several of the prominent molded on deck vents with properly shaped brass mushroom vents. Elsewhere, I drilled out other vents but, given that these are located in linoleum covered areas, the replacement vents will be added later, after much of the painting is done.

The funnels came next, and were a pleasure to work on. They are beautifully and crisply molded, with the bonus of internal baffle plates within the funnel top. Only some external detailing using Rainbow funnel grills (same as Yugumo or Kagero versions), some PE access ladders, and tertiary auxiliary piping made from thin brass rod was required. I also drilled out some of the kit’s auxiliary piping openings. I then prepped them for black paint.

After the funnel painting, I prepped the midships AA platform by cutting off the molded siding and replacing them with rails. I also added an access ladder, rangefinder and an additional auxiliary pipe for #2 funnel.

Nice! Glad to see you back at something Dan!

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Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Thanks for detailing this build, Dan: I've been waiting patiently to see this kit. Off to a great start, as usual. Looks like it's going to be another epic IJN DD build.

Question: do you always attach your railings to the outside (rather than topside) of the platforms, or just the ones which will eventually be canvas-covered?

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- Greg

HI Dan

very nice start it's very small ....a real challenge
good luck
cheers
Nicolas

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https://ladiagonaledubosco.blogspot.fr/

Excellent start Dan!

And a good choice of subject for your modeling spirits. Those small ships are perfect for reaching a high level of detail without spending too much time on a project, especially if the starting point is an excellent kit.

I'll be following this with great attention!

Cheers,

Marijn

Suscribed already...
Your WIP always brings a lot of useful knowledge
Keep watching...

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...in my shipyard...

Looks good.

Scott

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K494 HMCS Arnprior
Royal Canadian Navy

Excellent choice Dan with all those torpedoes it was a terrifying class..




Jose

Thank you, Gentlemen. It's nice to be working on something that does not require a nightly hissy fit and headbanging session.

I forgot to point out that I added some 25mm ammo boxes around funnel #2.



That's really a very good question, with two answers. In all cases, I try to follow the actual practice.

So, for the bandstand type platforms that hold the 25mm AA, the practice was to attach the railings to the outside edge (ex. below). The canvas was stretched over the railing rungs, usually over both the upper and lower "rows" of the railing, sometimes just the bottom set of rungs. I guess it depended on weather/sea/comfort conditions. The canvas didn't always cover the very bottom of the platform evenly.

You have to remember that the modeling manufacturers are actually trying to replicate the covered canvas portions with their solid moldings.

Btw, during the war, mesh (probably rope) was attached between all the rungs of the lower portion of the railing. I believe this was to maximize the retention and capture of the 25mm shell casings, as all material was scarce and valuable. In some of the newer classes, it appears that the uppermost portion of the railing enclosure had drooped chain and could even be removed.

The same practice can be applied to searchlight platforms, and certain bridge levels, like the aft portion of the compass bridge decks of DDs.

In most other cases, secondary railings on top of upper decks were attached to the top of the platform at its outermost edge.

Next, I tackled the searchlight & RDF antenna tower. By 1944, two raised bandstand type emplacements, each supporting a 25mm triple mount, had been fitted to either side of the tower. In the kit, part C11 represents the bandstands, while part C12 corresponds to the actual top of the platform that held the 90cm searchlight and RDF antenna. C12 fits on top of C11. In order to get the right height of the tower when eliminating C12 for a 1943 fit, I had to substitute some styrene strip. Not visible in the photo are some supporting triangular braces underneath the curved portion of the platform.

It was at this point, shortly after completing the tower, that my now mandatory Oops! moment per model occurred. I no longer remember exactly what I was doing at the time but, somehow, I managed to knock off the back railing of the tower, the RDF antenna (which remained undamaged and whole, T-G!), and crushed a portion of the railing surrounding the 25mm platform surrounding #2 funnel. It’s amazing how consistent I’ve been on damaging each of my builds. I managed to resurrect the crushed portion of railing, and have left off the back railing until later in the build, which is why it will be absent in some subsequent photos.

Did Imperial Navy design enough destroyers for Mr. Dan K? Like this new one very much, thank you to share

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Someone, somewhere, is making money...

Hi Dan,
Love the subject you have selected.I am always used
to you building in pairs.
Joe

Looking good so far. I anticipate seeing her on the table in Columbus this July!

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We like our history sanitized and theme-parked and self-congratulatory, not bloody and angry and unflattering. - Jonathan Yardley

Thx, guys.


As am I. Does puttering around with other DDs on the side count?


An optimist, I see. It would be nice. I would think that she would be done by then.


I’m going to post out of construction order here. I worked on the bridge next but, it’s obviously the most involved substructure, and it does have one obvious error that needs correcting. Hence, the write-up is taking a little more time to craft. In the meantime, here is the aft deckhouse and mainmast.

Details are a little harder to come by as there is no clear photo of this area, only some plan sets that aren’t always in agreement on some details (Hara Shobo vs. Nihon no Gunkan). I suppose that the Miyukikai plan set may have better detailing, particularly for the port side, but I didn’t feel it necessary for me to purchase. As it is, Pit-Road has done a very nice job of molding the structure all away around. The mast is scratch-built brass rod. While some soldering of joints was used, this time, I chose to use CA glue for attaching the rear legs to the foreleg, as well as mounting many of the smaller pieces, to try and keep it as clean as possible.

Speaking of details - I was feeling very proud of myself as I had soldered a single yardarm to the mast foreleg perfectly, with minimal solder, when I had a moment of disquiet. I must have picked up something subliminally; something wasn't right. I consulted all my references and realized that Shimikaze had the more complicated set of twin cross-braced yardarms as sported by the later Yugumos and all the Akizuki class. It was not a happy moment for me but, it seems to have worked out ok.
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The only details missing at this point are life preservers to be mounted after painting, #2 turret, and possibly, adding an open rack for storing flotation/damage control lumber. Various storage racks were used as part of IJN standard practice but here, there’s just no details at all given in any of the plans, nor is it visible in her trials photo as that area is sort of fuzzy on details. It could also have been mounted on her port side, which is hidden from sight.

Great progress so far



Jose

The bridge is beautifully molded with a nice amount of sharp detail. The wind deflector is nicely scaled and finely molded. However, there is an issue with a large gap between the wind deflector and the rest of the compass bridge deck level (molded as a separate piece) behind it. They don’t meet up at all and there is a VERY noticeable gap between them, as seen in Pit-Road’s very own photo of the assembled bridge. The beauty shot seems to minimize the gap; I think it looks worse in person.

On the actual ship, the front of the compass bridge deck was set back from the front of the facing below it to make room for the deflector. However, note that the deflector was attached directly to the front of the compass deck bulwark. There was no gap. This may be the most onerous error of the kit. Fortunately, it is an easy fix.