Calling all IJN Takao-class (高雄型) fans

[Mutsuo Sasaki]

thanks,Dan. I came to find something new, as usual.
Chokai is worth retrying anyway.

BR
mucho

[Mike C]

Excellent progress on your Chokai. It looks like you handled the complex geometry of the superstructure quite well. I'm looking forward to when you will be able to post a progress update.

[Mutsuo Sasaki]

hi, Mike, yeah, understanding of complexity of Chokai�s bridge form was so compelling to the build.
Have so far made 3 Takao class cruisers,I didn�t recollect it�s form well, I had to do it from the start,spent the entire 4 months for this.
Making of the outer steel plates and opening of port holes were just begun, will come to spend the rest of months of this year for the hull. I know it�s so time-taking that I�m estimating it will require 7 years or even 10 years to build her on this scale. Perhaps I will need to spring over making places which become invisible from outside...

br
mucho,

[Richard OMalley]

Working on Chokai [ no blister ] and Takao [ with blister ] 1/96

[Dan K]

A super scale two-fer project. Nice.

[ModelMonkey]

Love it.

[ijnfleetadmiral]

Some work in progress in the Chokai build 1/100.
13 months have elapsed since start of this build...

BR
mucho,

Wow, Mucho...your photography skills are excellent! Once the build is completed and you found the right background and put her in water (or did a waterline scene), those up-close shots could very well pass for fake actual photos!

[Mutsuo Sasaki]

Wow, Mucho...your photography skills are excellent! Once the build is completed and you found the right background and put her in water (or did a waterline scene), those up-close shots could very well pass for fake actual photos!
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Am not quite determined to do so yet. By the time the model becomes finished,i get into a flame-out,no more guts to go on,taking a long pause,used to hand models over to younger generation modeller(s). I hope they or he might be able to make the scene.

Make of many items is still missing to the 20cm gun turrets.
br
mucho

[Mike C]

Those turrets look awesome. Sometimes slow and steady is the best solution. I hope you find some kind of obscure revelation that will inspire you to finish. If it's mostly the small guns, make one of each and install it so seeing it unfinished will drive you crazy. Just joking, of course, but the final reveal should be worth the wait. Best wishes.

[Mutsuo Sasaki]

Those turrets look awesome. Sometimes slow and steady is the best solution. I hope you find some kind of obscure revelation that will inspire you to finish. If it's mostly the small guns, make one of each and install it so seeing it unfinished will drive you crazy. Just joking, of course, but the final reveal should be worth the wait. Best wishes.

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hi, Mike, Hope I�m not the only one who get nuts.( there�re several crazy modellers in my modelling cirle. )
Had a little work-in-progress over the weekend. Having been checking the amount of 25mm AA Mg tubs for Chokai. Blackbird wakes me up 3 a.m.
br
mucho

[Dan K]

Nice! Keep on truckin', Mucho.

[Mike C]

Looking good! Do those tubs usually have anti-skid on the bottoms of the tubs? Did Japanese shipyards use standard sized tubs like those found in the USN?

[Atma]

Yes for the anti-skid, with some rare exceptions. Not sure about size, but I guess if it will be a standard size it will be the British size and style, if any.

[Mutsuo Sasaki]

Nice! Keep on truckin', Mucho.

hi, Dan, As I wrote to Navy Yard assoc. journal june, Chokai had ca. 60 x 25 mm mgs, almost the same numbers as Maya,1944. I recken mr. Fukui Shizuo must have been kind of mischievous ( info from his file is 38 x 25 mm guns only)when he was asked to report to the 2nd repatriatoin bureau. :)d

yea Mike,the mg tubs were of quite simplified model as shown on the models. It was a war-time solution for dockyards to curtail working hours to make them as such. IJN also made it a rule to use anti-skid metal strips, it was 2-go type used for gun tubs( 25 cm in length type)

br
mucho

[Mike C]

Thanks for the info.

[Dan K]

So, does that mean that Chokai '44 had AA platform layouts between the funnels similar to Maya? I can't envision any other arrangement.

[Atma]

I always thought she will have this AA disposition in 1944.

"similar to Maya?"

Do you mean also in shape ? The base, I mean the gun tubs. As far as I know there is no 100% hard evidence of how IJN Chokai's 1944 AA disposition was. And I guess too the gun tubs, at least the "1944" ones are all fictitious in shape(and size), IJN Maya's too.Shipyards plans (if any post 1943 exist ) might be different of what actually was put in service like size and shape of an AA gun tub and in some rare occasion might the number of the AA actually change too without that getting reflected in the original shipyard plans.

[Dan K]

I meant the platform layouts, and number of triple mounts. I'm trying to account for the increase in AA as Mucho cites. Those are not all singles.

[Mutsuo Sasaki]

So, does that mean that Chokai '44 had AA platform layouts between the funnels similar to Maya? I can't envision any other arrangement.

no, Dan,those dual barrelled 25mm mgs and number of the gun tubs between the funnels are intact on Chokai.
Obviously not similar in this area.
But i can still count the overall numbers of the AA guns up to ca.54 for her, as of May,2018.
( surey I did count single 25 mm mg not as 12, but 24 in all from another source of info)
Hoping to find some more,so it may come up to 56-57 or even 60.
I think 54-56 would be quite ok to satisfy the demand of Chokai�s AA gunnery commanding officer(s).:d


mucho,

[Duke]

Hi guys,

I�m struggling real hard with the brass strips on the linoleum deck, and am looking for some advice...

I�m working on the Fujimi 1/700 Atago, and this is my first stab at �advanced� techniques... or maybe it's more accurate to say that this is a practice model for said techniques.

Anyway, I know that the takao-class had brass strips on the deck to hold the linoleum, and in my research, I naively thought I could just simply stick on Flyhawk brass strips onto the deck, paint over it, and then scrape away at the paint to get the brass color to show through.

Boy, how wrong I was in thinking how simple this might be. I spent many, many hours sticking on each brass strips to the deck, and they came out looking just terrible. It was really difficult to keep these strips straight AND properly glued onto the deck. Too many times they would come unpeeled on the edges because of my poor handling.

But in my frustration and exhaustion with this, I decided I�ll just move in and go ahead and paint over it. Once I began the scraping process, though, I noticed that the brass color hardly even shows through; what little does show through, it just doesn�t even look good. I feel utterly defeated with this, and am beginning to think I quite possibly wasted too many hours sticking in these strips in the first place...

Here is what I'm working with Is this still salvageable? I�ve seen some of the 1/700 Takao/Maya builds in the gallery, and a lot of them have really nice, straight brass strips along the deck. How is this achieved? What could I do to produce similar results, what techniques/parts were used? I did find that Flyhawk offers this really nice looking PE deck for the Takao, and I'm not actually certain this could be used on the Atago deck. It seems like the rectangular molding just in front of the A turret is slightly different (and some deck vents/ammo box layout, but these can be easily worked around).
Still, even if this Takao PE deck could be used on the Atago, how can I get the brass strips to show through? As stated above, I'm not having much luck with scraping the paint off..

Thank you guys!