1/700 Taiho (??) 1944 - Fujimi

[Vladi]

Very nice, Dan. For me, 1/700 aircraft are really difficult to make, and especially in large numbers. Yours look really good, fingers crossed!

[gscott]

The aircraft look great so far, Dan. I can't wait to see the finished product. Ya know, if you build only post-Philippine Sea carriers then you don't need to build any aircraft...

[Dan K]

Ya know, if you build only post-Philippine Sea carriers then you don't need to build any aircraft.

All too true.

Since the last posting, the aircraft have been painted, gloss-coated, and decals applied, save for the tail codes. I've used the Hobby Elements 1/700 decal set for IJN late war aircraft, and it's an amazingly comprehensive set. Of course, applying the decals has been very pain-staking and time consuming. Just adding 18 sets of yellow ID bands on the 18 B6N2 Tenzans took more than two hours. Which is an interval I rarely get.

There is some variance about white outlines surrounding the red fuselage rondels for Taiho's aircraft. Some depictions show none, others substitute black for the white. Still other sources show a mix. I've gone with the traditional white.

One of three Vals has been eliminated, and one Zero will be set aside, leaving nine.

Tail codes in the next post.

[blacman]

as I wrote in Jim thread:
I love your and Dan threads. They are always bringing package of finest modelcraftship and usefull information about history and technoglogy�

this I love a bit more - its IJN !!

[Devin]

That's a lot of tiny decals! Nice work.

[marijn van gils]

Very precise and sharp. Great job!

It's a lot of work, but I feel PE canopies look better than any other way to do cockpits in this scale.
Are you planning on glazing them with Kristal Klear?
And will you add wire antenna's?
Not trying to push you into even more work or anything...

[MartinJQuinn]

And will you add wire antenna's?
Not trying to push you into even more work or anything...

Haha! I told him he'd lose his modeling card if he didn't rig them.

[Dan K]

Thx, folks.

It's a lot of work, but I feel PE canopies look better than any other way to do cockpits in this scale.

I agree, but, man, it is a lot of work.

Are you planning on glazing them with Kristal Klear?

LMAO

And will you add wire antenna's?

Realistically, it seems unlikely. I have the 1/700 Infini Lycra but, I don't know. The CA glue alone could be overscale.

Why am I even considering this now? Marijn, don't you want me to finish? While alive?

[Dan K]

By 1944, Japanese carrier air groups were no longer assigned to individual carriers, but to a given carrier division as a whole. In the late spring of 1944, the 1st Car Div was composed of Taiho, Shokaku and Zuikaku, and based primarily out of the Lingga Roads anchorage southeast of Singapore. There, they conducted training of their collective air group, designated the 311th AG. By mid-May, the fleet had relocated east to the Tawi-Tawi anchorage off northwest Borneo to be adjacent to the oil fields for quick and accessible fueling. Training of the air group continued, but it was now re-designated the 601st AG.

Tail codes of this timeframe were composed of six digits and seven places (a dash separated two sets of three numbers). The first set of three digits indicated the air group and and the second set indicated the type of aircraft and its number within those similar type aircraft. So, Taiho's fighters = 601-1xx, her dive bombers = 601-2xx, and her attack aircraft = 601-3xx. It was the same for Shokaku and Zuikaku. Hobby Elements provides these detailed tail codes. In the case of Taiho, they also provide them in yellow as well as white. As I am not aware of any such color differentiation in the literature, I again opted to stick with white.

The thing about a tail code this long is that it is extremely hard to replicate in 1/700 while remaining legible. Understandably, the ones used here are probably a hair oversized, which meant that their placement on the vertical stabilizer is lower than it probably should be in order to make them fit. In the case of the B6N1 Tenzans, the vertical stabilizer is even narrower, which required lopping off the 6 of the 601 as well as part of the clear surround of the decal. Having examined a ton of references, it seems like this was not unheard of, so I'm fine with it.

In one last twist, Hobby Elements only supplies 16 tail codes for the Tenzans, and I have 18 Tenzans. While I'm likely to stick at least one on a hangar deck with the tail plane out of sight, I still felt I needed to complete the series. I ended up using two codes from one of Zuikaku's 1943 air groups, using only the last four digits. Another compromise, but these are hard to tell apart without looking VERY closely (last photo).

[Dan K]

With the 76th anniversary of the Battle of the Philippine Sea looming tomorrow, I�ve refocused on the air group so as to get it done.

Aerial torpedoes were pretty straightforward. I had planned on using at least some of the fine looking 1/700 brass versions from Adler's Nest, but there are no attachment points provided. That would have meant creating my own, which I just didn�t feel like doing. So, I opted for the styrene versions that come with the Lion Roar aircraft. They are well formed and correctly sized, with two prongs that can be glued to the underside of the fuselage.

[Dan K]

Propellers and spinner/hubs took a little more work. The Lion Roar spinners all come with a small extension that can theoretically be inserted into the open ring of the propeller. I found it almost impossible to do in actuality. They are not all formed narrow enough to insert. So, I substituted 0.15� rod, inserted them, and glued one rod end to the hubs. After painting, the shaft was cut down and inserted into a drilled out hole in the nose of each aircraft.

Btw, late war propellers tended to be brown, dark green or black. Spinners seems to be just about any color. I chose brown for both, to ease things up. Tips were painted yellow and everything was flat-coated.

To Marijn�s suggestion about adding aerial wires, I did experiment with Infini lycra rigging and the one unused Val. While not as difficult to create as I had thought, the rigging did seem overscale. I reviewed a bunch of photos and I think that aircraft aerial rigging is just not as thick as ship aerial rigging. I think that the rigging becomes nearly invisible more than an aircraft length or two away. Plus, my CA glue is getting old and not so easily spread out, so it leaves a noticeable anchor point. I have chosen not to do the aerials.

[Dan K]

Here are some folded wing Tenzans. I may re-work these with some Rainbow PE folding wing trusses. I may also convert a few more.

[MartinJQuinn]

Nice. I especially like the folded wing versions.

[Devin]

Spiffy looking airgroup. Nice work.

[Joe Simon]

Very nice Dan!

[kurusu]

Outstanding work.

[Dan K]

Thx, folks.

Reworked folding wings with Rainbow PE. Shoulda done this in the first place.

[Dan K]

OK, 6 Tenzans with folded wings, and the aircraft spotted on deck for show. Yes, the masts should be down for actual launch operations. Funny how the flight deck still looks crowded. Removing the two Vals helps a little. Aircraft posed with and without Vals.

I tried placing one Tenzan on a hangar deck, but it gets lost in the shadows. So, it's posed on the aft elevator, down in the well.

Gallery photos to come, but this one can be put to bed.

[MartinJQuinn]

Spectacular work. Did she carry the 2 Vals at Philippine Sea?

[Dan K]

Thank you.

Yes to the Vals, though actually three, for ASW work. They were actually D3Y2s, which were improved models with a full spinner cone, longer canopy, and a longer dorsal fin leading up to the vertical stabilizer. No one makes those in 1/700, though.