are you ever tempted to add PE railings to the torpedo tracks on your destroyers
Good question. Well, I've certainly thought about it. As you rightly point out, the aircraft dolley track P/E is way overscale, and it would truly be a major P-I-T-A to remove the molded track without destroying the treading around it. Unless you remove the entire deck surface and replace with treaded deck P-E, then add rails. Which would be an even bigger P-I-T-A.
I don't recall ever coming across measurements for these kind of rails but, based on photo enlargements, I doubt that they are more than 3-4 inches high, maybe 1 to 1.5" wide. Certainly no more.
Replacement seems more likely in 1/350 scale and, even then, you'd probably be right to use 1/700 aircraft trolley rails to do it. One thing that no modeler who has done it seems to have gotten right is that only the outer rail has raised trestles to allow water runoff on the cambered deck. Possibly also to keep the trolley level for the same reason. The inner rail is solidly set on top the deck in most places. Check out the photos (above and below the lumber in the Yugiri photo.)
I have finally managed to mate a new bow to the second hull. It took much longer than expected, mostly because I waffled between creating an entirely new Yugumo hull from an Aoshima Kagero kit, and just sacrificing the bow from another new Aoshima Kagero kit. I ended doing both (of course). I began by working on a new hull, but when it finally came time to add the Yugumo class stern and remove the forward turret base ring, I balked. I just couldn�t do it, not when I had a perfectly good, brand new, worked Kagero hull right in front of me and a mostly good Yugumo hull still on hold. I sighed, and set aside the new Kagero hull for a future Kagero project.
I chose another hull, mated it to the waterline plate, sliced off the bow, sanded both the trailing edges of the new bow and the leading edges of the old hull as flat, straight, and as perpendicular to the axis of the hull as possible, and then glued them together. Alignment along the axis of the hull required a lot of eyeballing and miniscule adjustments, despite numerous straightedge guides.
I used a specific linoleum tie down strip on the forecastle as a perpendicular (to the hull) matching point on the hull for both pieces. Both hull components were worked down to match each other on either side of this point. After mating them, and the glue had dried, I used Tamiya putty as filler for the gaps and sanded everything smooth.
More problematic was the placement of the portholes. I realized when I began taking measurements to drill new portholes in the bow to match the alignment of those aft that I had misaligned many portholes in the aft section. This was most frustrating as I�ve performed the proper alignment and drilling routine many times now without too many mistakes.
Not so this time. For whatever the reason, I�ve ended up filling (with styrene tube), sanding and re-drilling some holes as many as four (!) times. You can even see some of the filler rods still in place in a few of these pics.
In the photos displaying two hulls, the one in the foreground or bottom is the repaired Yugumo hull. The other is the new Kagero hull. I�ve also worked the aft deckhouses and auxiliary steering stations for both, though I can see that my air intake for the Kagero needs straightening. That will wait for another time as that hull has been put aside.
I finally brought the second hull's fit up to that of the original, save for the forward reload bays and some piping. I decided that this hull will represent Naganami in her initial 1942 fit; her degaussing cable was matched accordingly, particularly the dip at the stern. To some, it may not seem like there's much diifference in appearance between the last batch of pics and these but, believe me, there is a lot more work there.
There are several previously unrealized issues with the reload bays, which I will cover in my next post in a day or so. I'm working thru some options.
Aside from the gaps resulting from the PE folds that Devin noticed early on, there have been some other things about the FineMolds PE version that continue to bothered me. For one, it has always seemed oversized for the allocated space. It turns out that it is oversized at 15mm long, just like the PitRoad versions that it was meant to replace. The proper length is 14mm. By comparison, the Aoshima Kagero kit versions are 13mm. The Fujimi Kagero kit versions are correct at 14mm, and benefit from also having the right number of hatches depicted on top.
However, the Fujimi kit versions are wrong in another respect, as is virtually every other 1/700 and 1/350 Kagero and Yugumo class kit, as well as the FineMolds and LionRoar 1/700 PE parts. Something just never seemed right, but I could never put my finger on it. Finally, after staring at countless photos and plans, it came to me- the underlying support structure should be more open then is commonly depicted.
The actual reload bays for both classes each sat on a set of three trestles, with equipment bays underneath the bays and placed between the trestles. The middle two quarters are partially covered light metal plating, possible with some access hatches at the bottom. There may be some variability between individual ships, as some photos seem to show almost no coverage by plating in this area. The forward most quarter of this structure is open for all ships of both classes, as demonstrated in the Makinami photo.
However, virtually all the kits, and almost all PE alternatives, show this area to be enclosed. It�s just not so, and I don�t know where this erroneous aspect comes from. The photo record for both the Kageros and Yugumos is fairly complete in this regard, as are the most notable of available references such as various official plans, the Miyukikai plans, the Gran Prix Shuppan DD volume, and so on.
So, in this respect, the Fujimi Kagero kit is just as erroneous is the Aoshima kit. The same is true for most of the PE alternatives. The only 1/700 version that appears correct in this aspect is the PitRoad PE-196 set but, I suspect that it is too long, as it was engineered as a replacement for the PitRoad kit. And, there are those fold gaps to deal with.(I also noticed that the LionRoar 1/350 Kagero set has correct openings in this area, but they hedged their bets and did not make it large enough.)
In the case of the Fujimi and Kagero kits, it is possible to carve away this area, with some adjustments to the underlying kit structure. The Aoshima version would still be too short. While using the Fujimi kit parts remains an option, I�m not entirely happy with their shape or details. So, I�ve attempted to scratch-build my own, with two variations. I will describe what I did in my next post, hopefully, later this w/e.
The one thing missing was the small curves where the uprights meet the crossbeam at the top of the apertures in the center of the bay. So I added some pieces to file down to a curve but, unfortunately, the final results were too small to see. So, I added new insets cut at an angle as �representative� of the shape.
I�m posting some pics of the process, to give everyone a feel for how the TT bays actually were constructed.
And for those curious how the new Fujimi Kagero bays might look with some trimming (keeping in mind that these would be applicable to only a few of the Kagero-Yugumos, like Yukikaze and Makinami). About the only downside is that there really is no room to drill and display lightening holes under the length of the bay.
Here are the final results. The bottom portion of the bays that comes molded on with the Aoshima kit had to be cut back and thinned so as to make room for the new posts.
I usually don�t paint any main coats until after the PE has been attached. However, given all the work on the reload bays, and on Naganami herself, I took the unusual step of spraying a light coat of gray to check for obvious defects and errors. Some very minor blemishes remain, but these will be corrected easily.
On to the next construction phase, funnels and funnel grills. The darker #1 and 2 funnels are from the Fujimi Kagero kit as a point of comparison to the Aoshima kit versions. In many ways, these are as nice or nicer than the Aoshima version, which require a lot of work to make right. This is particularly true of the funnel caps, which must be sized down to fit the width of the main portion of the funnel. (In this regard, the Fujimi caps are also oversized, but I haven�t done anything to them. Yet.) I also had to file a �V� channel to bisect the funnel cap, a feature that comes molded into the Fujimi versions.
There are some subtle imperfections in several of the funnel profiles resulting from the sanding work, because I chose to retain the grab rails as molded. If I had eliminated the grab rails, or chosen to reattach them with thin brass rod, I could have sanded them evenly across their surfaces. But, in some ways, reattaching brass rod is just as much trouble. Given their size, the work on the #2 funnels was even more trying than that of the #1units. Fortunately, the imperfections will be hidden by the auxiliary piping that runs fore and aft on the funnels.
I chose to install gratings within the funnel caps using the thinnest styrene sheet available, that of .005�. The biggest problem with using it is that the Tamiya liquid cement reacts quickly to soften the styrene. Careful application is required. Again, variations and imperfections will be hard to detect once covered with the grills and painted black.
The Rainbow funnel grills are beautifully formed, but take a lot of work to install correctly. There has been a noteworthy learning curve. It may be a function of my having reduced the widths of the funnel caps but, the grillwork is slightly oversized. So, it became necessary to trim the outer lengths of the grills before bending to shape. You can differentiate the results within the first few photos photos. My first attempt resulted in grillwork that is too high. The second attempt resulted in lower grill work that is closer to the actual thing. I completed the rest to that spec, as well as reworking the original grill.
The grills also require some shaping over a form. Initially, I used the small (Hex shape) end of a 3/32 hex wrench bit that comes with one of those Black & Decker electric screwdriver sets. The results were iffy. Fortunately, one of our board members suggested to me using a mousepad as a working surface. In turn, I used the soft plastic covered end of a micro file as a forming tool, using it to press the grillwork into the mousepad with subtle pressure, turning it back and forth, also from side to side. It was a very good suggestion.
Obsessive? Moi? Why, I don't know what to say......
I did finish the funnels. Both #1 & 2 funnels have auxiliary piping, with very interesting exhaust tips. They are shaped like "Y" that's been cut down close to the root. In fact, if you look closely at some of the photos of the real thing, you can actuallly see thru from one to the other when situated in line with the openings. Aoshima does not do such a great job on this point, so, I made my own. Fujimi's are a little better but, I would still be likely to replace those as well.
The piping on both the front and rear of the funnels is set off center, forward to port, aft to starboard. There were ladder rungs protruding from the funnel's forward surface, to starboard of the piping, to provide access to the top of the funnel. It's pretty much impossible to replicate mere rungs in 1/700, so I used the thinnest 1/700 laddering I could find (Rainbow). Once painted, the ladders will be harder to discern.
There's also tertiary piping to either side of funnel #1, probably to supply ship's whistles. What's interesting is that the patterns vary to some extent from ship to ship, across both the Yugumo and Kagero classes. In this particular case, there are only port side views of Naganami's piping, and starboard views of Kazegumo's piping, so it's impossible to tell if they differed at all. So, I used the same pattern for both.
That is the galley exhaust pipe, which I'm working on now. For all IJN DDs, beginning with the Fubuki class, the galley was located under the forecastle deck, port side under the port 7m launch, next to the bridge. There are actually several exhaust points along the pipe.
