1/700 Amagi diorama

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks guys!

Very nice and smart idea of handling the piece! Will really be helpful when airbrushing, I guess? BTW, where did you get the brass sheets from? It would do really well when it comes to splinter shields.

Thanks Aop!
It will be very handy for airbrushing, and detailed weathering after that, but also for adding the very fragile details which will come soon.
I don't remember in which I got the brass sheet, but I have seen it in modelling shops and art supply shops (catering also for architectural students in the university town I live in). It is part of a range of brass sheet, rod and tube, but the only label on it is the one in the photo, so I guess the name is K&S. This is their only set with multiple ticknesses, and they are all much thinner (and more useful to us) than their s?gle sheets.

The "double bulkhead" is a wind deflector.

Many thanks Devin! It is always good to know what you are buiding!
My nautical knowledge is rather limited, so much obliged!


Meanwhile, I scratchbuilt the small enclosed platforms under the 5' rangefinderplatform. The kit part is shown for comparison, which is obviously not holow like the prototype and wouldn't enable me to insert the sighting machines in it (after painting)
First I buit it separately:



And then attached it to the island.
I also added support pillars and support beam details under the platforms, added one more platform, and glued some PE sighting machine and 25mm gun attachment points on top of then platforms. The latter came from the Lionroar Unryu set, the sighting machine pints from a PE Flyhawk set with IJN binoculars and sighting machines.







Cheers!

Marijn

[Angeliccypher]

Yep. Back to drooling.......

[Goodwood]

Oh man, that is just....yeah, out of adequate superlatives here...

[ModelMonkey]

Absolutely wonderful.

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks guys!

[LE BOSCO]

HI marijn

I'm definitely admiring of your work ...a real model making , just a little bit of PE , plastic , no 3D ,but a lot of talent
" monsieur chapeau bas "
cheers
Nicolas

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks Nicolas! That's a very nice compliment!

But trust me, I will use anything that will help me make a build better, or just easier: PE, 3D, ...
But unfortunately, as you know very well, for this level of detail usually quite some scratchbuiding is necessary.

Meanwhile I finished the mast and the radar pedestal.
The kit mast is very thin and detailed for a plastic item, but of course still not fine enough for 1/700. It is also a bit too tall. The Lionroar Unryu PE set includes a very nice mast, but it looks too 2D to me and the upper part is also a bit too tall. At least I could canabalise some of the sensors from it...
The Lionroar set includes a beautifull type 13 radar, but I couldn't get it on strait...





Cheers!

Marijn

[Joe Simon]

Oh that's great! Just mail the finished product to me when you're done!

[Aur]

Oh that's great! Just mail the finished product to me when you're done!

You take the island, I'll take the hull... LoL

You are a real master, Marijn!

Aur

[marijn van gils]

Thanks guys!

Meanwhile, I added the last details: some little platforms to the island and the railings. I liked the way Milan attached the pedestals of the binoculars before painting, but the binoculars themselves only after. This seems handy to me, as they can get in the way of the paintbrush but are easy to attach and paint later.

The island is now finished as far as I can here on holiday. I still have to add a couple of vertical ladders, for which I forget to bring enough PE. Also, there are four lamp-like things on each side of the island (any idea what they are?) which I still have to make, but I didn't bring my punch-and-die.












And Joe and Aur, I might send it if I wouldn't be afraid of the insurance costs!

As it is, I prefer to transport it myself. I'm flying back to Belgium tomorrow, and just prepared it for transport. With the lid closed and some cellotape and cellofane wrapped around it, it's ready for the hand luggage!



Wish me luck!

Marijn

[Dan K]

NICE!!!!

Sure hope the Type 13 radar doesn't get bounced around too much.

What kind of holiday was this?

[Aop Aur]

Great way of carrying the fragile pieces! I did the same thing when I took my Tirpitz funnel around the city (you know, I just take it with me to academic classes, to the piano practicing rooms, to the beach, to the bedroom, everywhere!), which is full of handrails and PE. Only my box is much more fit and I glued the piece temporarily on the bottom of the box. Using modeling clay is a really good alternative!


Aop

[marijn van gils]

Thanks guys!

Since my wife is Turkish, and we have three small children (boy of 5 years and twin girls of 3 years old), my annual holiday is about 4 weeks in a rented house at the seaside in Turkey with my wife's sister and mother. So next to a lot of family time, there is plenty of hobby time left when my wife is having quality time with her mother and/or sister (like right now ), and I always bring some modelling stuff.

I actually made that little box last year, to tranport the three small ships back home I made that holiday ( viewtopic.php?f=59&t=159615&start=20 ), so that's why it is a bit too big.

That stuff is not modelling clay but Blue Tack, a kind of kneadible glue which leaves no residue. It is very popular with figure modellers to fix figures (on bases) into a carrying box, so that's were I got the idea. Normally, the island should be completely immobile when fixed this way, and stay put even when held upside down and shaken strongly.

The radar attachment looks terribly weak indeed! It would come of easily when touched, but since the radar itself is very light (it is only about 5 or 6 mm long), the attachment point should be sufficiently strong to withstand travelling. I like to take my finished models to shows too, so always glue everything as strongly as I can (models tremble a lot too when transported by car...). So after I glue a piece, I usually go back to it and add as much liquid superglue as possible to the invisible or least visible side. And this joint certainly received extra attention in this deparment.
But probably now I jinxed myself and I will find it in the box next to the island tomorrow night...

Cheers,

Marijn

[GewoonWouter]

Wow, glad I discovered this astonishing build. I already knew you are amongst Belgiums finest modelers, but didn't know you were good at ship building as well. That is some sick building and amazing one can achieve this sense of detail in such a small scale. Great stuff Marijn!

Cheers

[LE BOSCO]

HI Marijin

especially do not abandon your box in an airport.....the verification procedures of abandoned luggage by deminers are not of softer more seriously ,always a great job
cheers
Nicolas

[Kometa]

Great, great, great, work. Absolutely fantastic.

[dafi]

Simply absolutely marijn

What a treat!

XXXDAn

[Milan Kuliffay]

Marijn, the island is excellent.
Very good and precise work.
Cross our fingers to continue in successful building your model.

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks guys!

Thanks Wouter! I'm relatively new at ships indeed (if you don't count my childhood years ). This is only my second project, having finished only this one yet: http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... n-700-mvg/
But I'm always a diorama modeler at heart, whatever the subject! Besides, I find that many of the skills and techniques of other subjects and scales are transferable and can even be very enriching. They just have to be adapted properly to the different scale and subject matter.

Nicolas:
I'm just glad I'm not flying to the USA� I id that a couple of times with a box of models, and it's always nerve-wrecking!

Many thanks Milan! Your build is a big inspiration and set the bar for me!


Meanwhile, the island came out of the box completely unharmed, and I added the last details.

One last step-by-step:
I often see vertical ladders against masts, and they bring great detail. But with small and thin masts they can look overscale, and moreover the photo's show a staggered ladder (without verticals at the side) on Amagi's and Katsuragi's masts.
Greg Moczko's (Blackman) great Kirishima inspired me to have a go at this: http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... /index.htm
But he custom-designed PE for this ( viewtopic.php?f=59&t=155082&hilit=kirishima&start=180 ), which I am unable to do.

So I decided to cut it from PE mesh. I chose stainless steel mesh for rigidity, and first cut a strip from it.
Then I cut away every other 'step' on each side, creating the staggered 'steps'.



I first of bending the ends of each 'step' upwards, but it was just too tiny� For that effect, PE would be needed.
But after straitening and gluing to the mast, the effect looks sufficiently like I wanted, and certainly a lot more in-scale than a generic 'full' ladder:



And the last photo's of the finished island:





And one more to show the actual size:


Cheers!

Marijn

[Aop Aur]

AND

I think the island is pretty satisfied with the trip! Look at how he smiles!
Aop