Kawasaki class oil tankers in 1/700�Kenyo & Kyokuto Maru (F)

[J.F.S.]

Looking good!

[gscott]

Great work as always, Dan. I think you and "dafi" are competing for title of "most obsessive modeler"....not that there's anything wrong with that! Looking forward to additional updates!

[Dan K]

Me, obsessive?

Yeah. I didn't think this project would be this complicated. More detail updates coming this week. Here's a teaser, the current state of Kyokuto Maru:

[Mike C]

Nice boats! Do you think you're close to finishing?

[Dan K]

Thx.

"Close" seems to be a relative term. All I can say is that I'm trying.


Regarding aft kingposts - as built, the Kawasaki types had either a single kingpost placed aft the funnel on the port side, or had a set of twin kingposts also placed aft (Two exceptions were Nippon and Shinkoku Maru, which were built with large tripod type kingposts.) . All had booms for handling lines, cargo, or fuel hoses. There were small variations in details, and in the orientation of their siting.

When refit for UNREP duty, the ships all gained a large tripod kingpost set-up on the port side aft the funnel. Obviously, Nippon and Shinkoku Maru already came so equipped. All retained at least one cargo boom facing aft for handling the fueling lines. (Late in the war, other tankers pressed into service for UNREP duty were not refitted with the large kingpost.) I�ve never really understood why the UNREP ships were fitted with a tall tripod back there. I know the trend to equip such tankers with this specific equipment started with the earlier Erimo/Shiretoko class IJN tankers, which were retrofitted with such in the 1930s. I�m guessing it had to do with a) enhancing their visibility to other ships looking to refuel and b) as a means to help mark and hold position during refueling. But, I really don�t know.

Photos here are predominantly of Kenyo Maru. Note some of the corrected winches in place.

[LE BOSCO]

HI Dan

What a regret the day you will have finish your project.....I like this thread so much
as always un nice work
cheers
Nicolas

[Dan K]

Regrets? Oh, no, I will be more than happy to be done. I do appreciate your following my thread all this time, Nicholas.

Still focusing on the stern, a more unique feature was the heavy lift crane placed aft on Kyokuto Maru�s stern. She was the only IJN tanker to get a crane like that. It seems very odd; way too big and poorly placed just to handle refueling hoses trailing aft. Its purpose has remained unknown, at least to me.

This is another one of those peculiar IJN puzzles, particularly since there are no clear photos of it, only snippets seen of the boom and the large tripod/pyramid base in various photos. Nor is there anything written about it. The Fujimi kit PE version is really not representative of it, either. It�s too simplistic, just based on what can be seen in photos.

I�ve mulled this over for a long time, without any clues. Then, one day not too long ago, I came across some photos of the sub tender Tsurugizaki under conversion to the CVL Shoho at Yokosuka in early 1941 with a heavy lift crane aboard that seems suspiciously similar. It turns out that Kyokuto Maru spent much time in the same Yokosuka yard later in 1941 for her conversion to an UNREP ship. It now seems logical to me that this is where/when Kyoluto Maru picked up her crane.

The question still remains: why? My thinking now is that, given she was the flagship of the supply force, perhaps it was anticipated there would be need to handle floatplanes to scout for the groups she was assigned to refuel. Remember, this is all before radar. A floatplane might also serve well on ASW patrol. Kyokuto and Toa Maru were built with raised deckhouses on the aft superstructure that extended further back aft from the funnel than any of the following ships. It�s possible that with some modifications, a seaplane could be placed on the decking, at least temporarily. Further speculation on this is welcome.

My version is a little simplified compared to what's seen at Yokohama. I've no way of knowing whether or not it was re-installed aboard Kyokuto Maru exactly as configured aboard Tsurugizaki. I can live with this.

Some views attached. More winches are also in place.

[Joe Simon]

Those are very nice Dan!!!!

[Aop Aur]

Incredibly sharp work!

Aop

[Dan K]

Thank you.

The photos of Tsurugizaki above at Yokosuka are mis-dated. Those should read Jan 20, 1941. Here's another one, two months later. The crane has been further disassembled.

[Frank381]

Hi Dan,
very nice Work !
Thx for the Original Pictures

best Frank

[Mike C]

Interesting idea concerning the use of the float plane. Not only would that help when you consider the limitations of radar at the time, but it would also aid in maintaining radio silence.

Your work has been outstanding so far. These are turning into little gems!

[Dan K]

Good point about radio silence. And, thx.

Major frustrations as of right now. I was working to solder up masts and booms, and managed one set without effort, than everything went awry. I struggled for almost two weeks when it occurred to me that my soldering iron was on the fritz. Now out for repair, and I've moved on to other things, but that really killed my momentum. Three weeks wasted right there.

BTW, I am using Five Star tapered brass masts, which are the perfect height for the forward mast. They are wonderful.

[Dan K]

Masts and booms done.

Kyokuto Maru -

[Dan K]

And Kenyo Maru -

[gscott]

Excellent work! I think the end is in sight. Still hard to believe they're both 1/700 scale. May I ask, Dan, how you manufactured/rigged the pulleys?

[Dan K]

Simple. I cheated. I used the pulleys and lines from the GMM IJN Auxiliary Ship fret.

I thought long and hard about the pulleys and rigging. Frankly, doing them properly in 1/700 for a merchant is very intimidating if one is trying to do a decent job of replicating even half of the boom rigging. Those are very complicated set-ups, much more so than a warship.

And to further complicate things, I wanted to show my booms as extended as possible. I did consider gluing some ultra thin brass rod to some PE pulleys, but i had my doubts about pulling it off properly, particularly without bending the cable lines over time, given the amount of handling involved. The same doubts were true of using some rigging materials.

So, the GMM option was easier for me. Truthfully, the stainless steel GMM lines are overscale, but I chose to make the trade off to make it worthwhile for me. L'Arsenal makes some pulley and lines in brass, and now Aoshima does sell some brass PE sets including these kind of lines, but none were long enough for my purposes. HTH.

[Joe Simon]

Dan, those look awesome! My 12 year old daughter concurs! The detail is really intricate and flawlessly executed!

[gscott]

Thanks for the info, Dan. Honestly, I wouldn't have given the scale of the pulleys a second thought if you hadn't mentioned it. I think they look great (certainly much better than those huge pulley blocks on the newer Kamikawa Maru). I'm sure there are quite a few etch details in 1/700 that are overscale; as you said, it's a tradeoff, especially at this small scale. Looking forward to additional updates!

[MartinJQuinn]

These just get better and better with each posting. Fantastic work.

I hate you.