The Ship Model Forum

I hate you.

Well, my day is made. Between that and Joe's daughter's take, I can't ask for more.

You're right, Greg, there's much that's overscale in 1/700 PE. It's unavoidable. I'm very heartened that you didn't think twice about the scale of the pulleys or lines.

Working on the lifeboats, so I plan to post something on those very soon. I suppose I am in the home stretch, but there still a lot of details to execute, not to mention flatcoating it and then rigging it. Thx for the feedback.

Here's another view of Kenyo Maru.

Mosquitocon?

Trying hard.

Looking marvelous.

Hi Dan,
very nice Work
Question,what is >Flatcoating< ? I found not a translate in German...
or do you mean weathering?

THX Frank

Thank you. By flat coating, I mean spraying the model with a flat coat of clear (Tamiya XF-86 Flat clear coat for me) to cover any shiny glue spots.

Boat straps for the two retained large lifeboats.

Beautiful work all around Dan



Jose

By flat coating, I mean spraying the model with a flat coat of clear (Tamiya XF-86 Flat clear coat for me) to cover any shiny glue spots.

Ok,now I understand...in my Language it is Clearcoat - matt (flat) the ohter is clearcoat - gloss (for
Windows,Lamps,Searchlight-Glasses etc.).
Very good tip with Tamiya XF-86. I'll test it...

Frank

There's so much good information in this thread, Dan. Really appreciate the step-by-step on how you turned these duds into beautiful, accurate models.

My pleasure, PG.

One more set of details before applying a flatcoat. I added 9 work davits, for which I had to make a sleeve to replicate the thickened base for each. I drilled out styrene rod for each one. (The real davits did have similar sleeves; the tops were removable to clear any obstructions when necessary. I'm just posing mine fully assembled.)

Come wartime, these ships also gained two heavy duty davits to handle paravanes, mounted to either side of the bridge face.

I've also added ship's ID numbers to the sides of the bridge. I had to use IJN 1/350 aircraft decals to get the right size. Placement on the sides varied from ship to ship.

Great work as usual Dan!

I�m currently working on rigging the tankers. These pics cover the stays for the masts, and the halyards.

These tankers had tall masts with heavy booms, and required three sets of stays per mast. There were fore and aft stays rigged to the midpoint on the mast, and then another set rigged to the top of the mast and aft the bottom sets of stays. All were anchored to the mast by use of a collar, which makes it much easier from a modeling point of view. The stays were set into the main deck using turnbuckles. Turnbuckles are near impossible to replicate in 1/700, so I used tiny 0.3mm brass loops from the Rainbow �Fixing Ring of Flues� PE set, which is really just anchoring rings for auxiliary piping on funnels. They worked out very well.

Halyards were more challenging, if only because it took a while to figure out how they were actually rigged. Unlike warships with their flagbag bins set at the rear of the bridge platforms, these halyards ran right to the wings of the compass bridge deck. Depending on the angle of light, they can seem almost undetectable in photos of both the real thing, and the model. They only became more obvious after I darkened the photos considerably, and adjusted the contrast. Once installed, I debated leaving the Dai-Riki 9X line in its natural color, but eventually decided to run a coat of flat clear over them, to make them slightly more visible.

Hi Dan, that's some nice build and paintwork you got yourself there. And well impressed with the rigging!

Thanks, GW.

Unfortunately, soon after taking that photo (of Kenyo Maru, as Kyokuto Maru had that portion already rigged), I suffered a classic lapse of concentration and executed a perfectly inept sweep of the hand move, and bent the forward mast of Kenyo Maru.



I was forced to strip away all that work, straighten the mast as best I could, repaint the upper portion of the mast, and re-rig the halyards. That�s another couple of hours of my life I�ll never get back.

I took a break from the repairs and strove to complete Kyokuto Maru enough to take it to MosquitoCon this past weekend. I was able to fabricate a spreader bar antenna array, rig the work davits, add flotation lumber and a flag in time for the show, but there is plenty more work to be done still.

Fate was not finished with me, though. Most unfortunately, Kyokuto Maru suffered her own set of damages at the show. A judge (a friend of mine) inadvertently mishandled her during judging, and she suffered a slight bounce off the table surface. For the most part, things were fine save for a few PE pieces that broke free, mostly boom cables and the like. The heavy lift crane came loose, and repairs to the deck surface where the support trestles attach is going to be the most challenging fix.

What Dan fails to mention is, that damage and all, she won Best Ship at this years MosquitoCon show. A superbly done 1/35 Panther F won Best in Show honors.

I keep meaning to post these pics. Repair work on Kyokuto Maru worked out very well; I even got to improve a couple of rough spots. Kenyo Maru has been brought up to the same point. The only things left to add are fenders, and perhaps another accommodation ladder aft.

The overhead comparison views show the transition from the kit to improved version very nicely. For Kyokuto Maru, one can see how the bridge structure was moved slightly aft, though this particular angle seems to minimize the difference.

"Rough spots"? Ha.
Whatever you say, Dan.

Glad you posted these pics so we can appreciate all the fine details and the crisp, pristine look.

Outstanding!

The last step of the build involved the creation of protective fenders for the hull. Fenders for IJN UNREP tankers can be seen in photographs beginning in the 1930s. At the outset, they appeared to have been constructed of several large truck or tractor tires simply mounted on a supporting axle or spindle, attached to a frame. This device evolved into a more substantial unit by 1941.

However, rubber tires, even used, were in short supply , so a number of alternative fenders were created. To be honest, I am not entirely sure what the newer versions were created from. For the most part, they appeared to have been made of canvas stuffed with, or wrapped around, some sort of matting material. Very little information has come to light, at least in English. The shapes, particularly that of the supporting framework, continued to evolve. I have counted at least 6 versions, though I am posting photos of only the two most prominent types as they appeared on Kyokuto Maru and Kokuyo Maru. (Kenyo Maru�s duplicate sister), below.