The Ship Model Forum

Thx, all. David, I experimented with a few barrel-like objects. It turns out that a tool like this, with 1/4" diameter shaft, works best to produce those radii. A 1/4" drill bit would work just as well, I imagine.

Excellent Dan don't pay attention at the time you have spent, pay attention to the quality work you have accomplished!



Jose

Clearly a skilled modeller at work here! How did I miss this thread? Your attention to detail is second to none Dan!
Update please!...and looking forward to seeing it!

Cheers, Tim

Thank you. Give up, no, but this project is currently on hiatus. I�ve hit a wall of sorts, and lost my tanker jones for the time being.

I�d been applying the rest of the 3 bar railings to the ship. I eventually reached the port side of the forecastle, where, earlier in this W-I-P thread, I'd mentioned that in lieu of a specialized sponson for refueling, it appeared (to me) that Kyokuto Maru had a moveable bulwark. That turned out not to be the case.

There was no moveable bulkhead, only a couple of special uprights that acted as a guide for the fuel hoses when they were played out forward of the bow. What was removable was the railings. I surmised that in this immediate location, simple IJN style drooping two bar chain was used. To replicate it, I used that type chain from GMM, in Ultra Fine, which is what I typically use on my IJN warships.

It was at this point that I realized how much thicker the 3 three bar railings were. Truthfully, as fine as these railings are, their overscale aspect had been bothering me throughout this portion of the build. Even though I�d already researched the available 3 bar railing options, I chose to do so yet again.

This time, I choose to obtain the other, non-IJN version of Ultrafine railings from GMM, which happened to be of the solid 3 bar variety. The difference between the two brands was shocking to me. The GMM versions must be half the diameter of what I�d been using. I made the painful decision to remove all the railing work I�d done and replace it with the new railings.

Clean-up was time-consuming. Even more difficult was installing the new railing. While easier to manipulate, these railings are even more delicate than the IJN versions I�m used to. These bend and crumple easily. After a good deal of false starts and frustration, I blocked off each finished section with some stiff paperboard to block any accidental brush with the railings. I made it as far as the stern where I am currently stalled by the specter of removing the railings that lie inboard of the styrene stanchions support the aft boat decks. I have yet to muster the courage, fortitude and patience needed to replace these sections.

So, to relieve my anxiety and frustration, I started another project � the new Shimakaze kit. I�ll probably continue to work on this until I�m ready to return to the tankers. Shimakaze W-I-P coming soon.

That's serious dedication. I love the cardboard rail protectors. I'm always banging into PE as I do finishing work on a project, fortunately the Gator Glue I've been using to attach railings is a lot sturdier and a LOT more forgiving/flexible than CA glue.

Looking forward to the new DD!

Dan K wrote:This time, I choose to obtain the other, non-IJN version of Ultrafine railings from GMM, which happened to be of the solid 3 bar variety. The difference between the two brands was shocking to me. The GMM versions must be half the diameter of what I�d been using. I made the painful decision to remove all the railing work I�d done and replace it with the new railings.

I got a bit lost in all that. So your GMM IJN ultrafine is thicker than your GMM ultrafine? I have both and neither look like the 3 bar on the left of your pic. Are you sure thats IJN ultrafine? It just look like generic railing to me.


Looking forward to that Shimakase build ++

Allow me to clarify. After my initial round of research (and expenditures), I started with Tom's #704 3 bar railing set. That's what you see on the left in the comparison photo. It's actually a very nice set, and probably easier to work with than the GMM ultrafine because it has more give and is not as fragile. The GMM sets just happen to be more to scale, and is therefore thinner.

Now, between the GMM Ultrafine IJN (2 bar) version, and the standard version (3 bar, shown above with the Tom's), I happen to find the IJN easier to work with. I think that is because the 3 bar set is even thinner than the IJN 2 bar set. I wasn't expecting that, particularly as the 3 bar has an additional crossbar (for rigidity) and is itself representative of a rigid railing, not a drooped chain railing like the IJN versions.

Of course, it could be that I'm more clumsy than I realize. With drooped chain railing, accidental bends and folds can be reworked easily. It's just got to droop. Rigid railings are supposed to look rigid and straight. So, if I'm constantly banging into the railing, it's tough to keep everything rigid and straight.

I hope that's more clear.

Behold the resurrection!

It�s time to come off the tanker hiatus. Working on other projects has allowed me to regain my enthusiasm for this one. I was also fortunate enough to obtain new photographic references, most of them courtesy of Ron Wolford. So, I�m re-invigorated. (Btw, the new images have corroborated some of my conjectures, while disproving others. At some point, I plan to resurrect the CASF Kawasaki Type thread and post these photos and corrected information.)

As I posted some time ago, the intense, and sometimes tedious, concentration required for the railings is one of the things that helped shut me down. That, and the realization that that this has become a mostly scratch-built project, with each step requiring both research and a learning curve of sorts, making it a very labor intensive project. On another recent thread initiated by PetrolGator relating to project burnout, apathy and rejuvenation, Mike C. remarked that one of the joys of modeling was the problem solving aspect of it. That struck a very big and positive chord with me, though, in this case, it has proven to have limitations.

In order to give myself some momentum, and as a way to overcome some remaining dread over continuing to attach PE railings, I chose to return to working on the forward bridge structures. My intent has been to advance them to the point of �paint ready� status.

The new reference information pointed to an error drawn from existing references regarding the access to the roof of the compass bridge deck. Previously, it was thought that ladder access for most of the second and third groupings of Kawaski type sisters was from the portside, at the rear of the compartment. This is best exemplified by the arrangement in Shinkoku Maru, as seen in the photo below. In fact, it now appears that ladder access for most of the class is actually from the rear of that level, with a ladder and stairwell emerging through the compass bridge deck roof as seen in the Kenyo or Kokuyo Maru bridge top photo.

Welcome back!



Bob Pink.

Thx, Bob. I'll be damned... this wouldn't post initially, so I 'm surprised to see it up. I thought I aborted it successfully. I have to post the kit construction piece tomorrow.

What I was unable to post yesterday -

Accommodating this information meant scratch-building yet another compass bridge deck level, as the configuration of the current version could not be altered without destroying its integrity. I also chose to change the construction of the window frames from just styrene strip to a combination of PE and styrene strip, to better match the actual arrangement. I am satisfied with the way it worked out. (The bridge is test fitted here on the hull of Kenyo Maru. I have yet to fix the forward piping which came loose when I dropped the hull, oh, so long ago.)

hello Dan

a really very fine job keep the way
cheers
Nicolas

Dan, your bridges look amazing! Can't wait to see more!




Bob Pink.

Awesome work Dan!

Thx, guys. Here's Kyokuto Maru's bridge, slightly different as she was the first generation version. Next step will be to lightly spray coat the bridge facing to see what fixes might be required.

Wow that's some amazingly clean scratch building

Nice scratch work, as has been said. You picked out your first totally scratch-built project yet?

Thx.

First scratch-build? As far as I'm concerned, this qualifies. I think the counterweight is the only piece I haven't modified or replaced in some way.

Not a good night last night. First, I dropped the Kyokuto Maru bridge about 3 feet onto a hard wood floor. No damage, can you believe it? Dumb luck.

Then, I sliced open my right forefinger with a razor blade. It still hurts.

I called it a night.