Calling all IJN Takao-class (高雄型) fans

Dan K · Post by **Dan K** » Wed Aug 13, 2014 2:31 pm

One thing sucks about my sample of the fujimi kit is one side of the bulge seems "melting" with the rest of the hull without any clear profile lines.

AHA! See, it wasn't just my kit when I was complaining about it back when this kit first came out. Yeah, this flaw is specific to the Takao kit. Fujimi corrected this flaw with the subsequent Atago and Maya kits. I started a fix, but chose to sell the kit off for a # of reasons.

It can be corrected, IMHO, but it will take some patience. Or, kit bash it with one of the newer Atago/Maya kits. Everything else is interchangeable.

pzgrenadier · Post by **pzgrenadier** » Thu Aug 14, 2014 7:41 am

Darn it. Well, on the top of my head there are three solutions to fix the bulge:

1. The most time consuming and accurate one would be cover it with putty. Then using the line drawing in the book to make templates and sand to shape.

2. Mask and spray with mr surfacer to increase the volume and sand a little bit without template. This of course cannot guarantee the correct shape.

3. Using 0.1 mm plastic to cover the buldge to ensure a even height increase, then apply a little putty and sand flush.

Among the three, I'm thinking about going with no.3 and maybe even cut some strips to simulate the plating on the hull.

DarrenH · Post by **DarrenH** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 3:57 am

Hi guys quick question on references for Takao class.
Gakken 16 or the Modelart Super illustration or both for the best coverage?
Wondering if one would do or both and if only one which one.
Cheers
Darren

maxim · Post by **maxim** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:16 pm

I do not have the volumes about the Takao class of any of these series, but judging from other volumes, I would recommend the Modelart Super illustration. They usually contain many drawings useful for modellers, which is not the case for the Gakken (at least for the volume about the Furutaka and Aoba class).

D-Boy · Post by **D-Boy** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:20 am

maxim wrote:I do not have the volumes about the Takao class of any of these series, but judging from other volumes, I would recommend the Modelart Super illustration. They usually contain many drawings useful for modellers, which is not the case for the Gakken (at least for the volume about the Furutaka and Aoba class).

I have a copy of this publication for sale in the Trading Post section for $25.00 US as of 9/25/2014: posting.php?mode=edit&f=15&p=638090

DarrenH · Post by **DarrenH** » Mon Oct 13, 2014 5:15 am

Thanks guys!
I have the Illustrated on Nagato and Yamato.
Excellent books so I will chase it up.
Thanks.

Dan K · Post by **Dan K** » Mon Oct 13, 2014 9:04 am

For some reason, I thought the Model Art Super Illustration for Takao is from an earlier series, and not the same as those for Yamato, Nagato, & Mogami. I also thought it only covered Takao up through the early war fit. Is my recollection in error?

Dr_Who2 · Post by **Dr_Who2** » Thu Oct 23, 2014 5:08 pm

Dan, You are spot on
Click: Super Illustration Takao covers 1927 - 1937
hth

Dan K · Post by **Dan K** » Thu Oct 23, 2014 8:07 pm

Yea!

DarrenH · Post by **DarrenH** » Thu Oct 23, 2014 11:29 pm

G'day guys,
While in Osaka the other day I picked up a 1942 Takao.
Question is it is titled and labelled on the box as now the Updated edition not the retake which it has been labelled previously.
Anyone know if this is just a name change or have they tweaked it again.
Also the box has changed to similar to the Tamiya Yamato new tool far deeper than previous releases and narrower.
Cheers
Dazz

Dan K · Post by **Dan K** » Fri Oct 24, 2014 7:09 am

That's a good question. Assuming you mean for 1/350, I only know of one retake version for the 1942 version. That said, I note that a November restock at HLJ for the 1/350 Maya is labeled "The Latest Version".

The same is true for the Aoshima website for Takao 1942, as well as an upcoming re-release of Kongo. If I had to guess, I'd say its a labeling clarification, not another, newer version. Not absolutely certain, though.

Vladi · Post by **Vladi** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:09 am

Some time ago I bought the new Fujimi 1/700 IJN Chokai kit and now I am starting to build it. I noticed the kit includes lookout posts on the bridge that Dan K showed were deleted at spring 1942 (see bottom of page 16 of this thread), so if you build Chokai in the time of the Battle of Savo like I do, you may want to slice off the corresponding forward parts of part C35 and C36 and omit part C9.

Now to my question: bridge decks in the kit show the diamond tread pattern typical for bare metal decks. However, most IJN cruisers had some of their bridge decks covered by linoleum stripes, so perhaps some bridge levels should have linoleum in case of Chokai, too. Neither Anatomy of the Ship IJN Takao (Skulski) nor ModelArt Super Illustration IJN Takao 1927-1937 provides any help in this respect (neither diamond tread nor linoleum stripes shown). Kagero 3D IJN Takao (both volumes) have all bridge decks grey, but that may perhaps mean they did not get any data. Can anyone help me, please? Or shall I just make a good guess?

Dan K · Post by **Dan K** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 11:03 am

It's probable that some of the decks had linoleum. An educated guess as to which ones, though.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jul 07, 2015 9:53 pm

I just started a deluxe (with PE parts) Fujimi 1/700 waterline 1944 Takao. I am at a very low skill level so I apologize if these are basic questions.

The hull is slightly warped and has an arch from front to back that is about 3/4ths of a millimeter. I have put a weight into the hull, but it still won't sit flat and wobbles. Do you have any suggestions to bring it back to proper form?

Second issue - I have airbrushed the deck linoleum brown, but there are a bunch of raised details on there. The instructions don't specify separate colors for those details, so I was wondering what color to paint those. This Takao from the gallery looks great ( http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... ao-700-rp/ ) and I was planning to go with similar colors (without the beautiful detail work, of course) and wanted to confirm that painting the bulk of the raised details Kure grey would be appropriate.

Thanks.

Vladi · Post by **Vladi** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 4:19 am

Hi all,

I wanted to share my findings about the Fujimi 1/700 Chokai kit that I am building right now, perhaps these might be of interest to someone. The kit overall is really nice but there are some quite surprising flaws - considering you would expect this to be the most state of the art kit of the ship on the market:

1. the aft funnel is shaped incorrectly, it�s back being molded straight while it should be curved � this would be quite difficult to correct but at the same time it will be probably not much noticeable on the completed kit. Funny enough, the Fujimi 1/700 Takao and Atago kits (that were released earlier) have this right!

: The photo is coming from this review http://mokehana.blog34.fc2.com/blog-entry-611.html, drawing is from Skulski Anatomy of the Ship: Takao

2. the back side of 120mm AA mounts is molded flat with no detail of the gun - this can be scratch-built or the whole mounts can be replaced e.g. by those from the PitRoad IJN Vessel Equipment Set 3. It is really a shame as the mounts are really very nice from the front and sides!

3. torpedo tubes have no torpedo warhead detail, they are just flat - if you want to show them trained to the side you need to add detail or replace them e.g. by the corresponding Pit-Road set. Again a totally uncomprehendable error on otherwise a nicely detailed part

BTW it is also problem of the Fujimi 1/700 Tone/Chikuma kits, but it is ok on the Yukikaze kit. Why can it be done right on some kits and not on all of them?

4. the anchors (both front and aft) provided in the kit are extremely bad � they look like someone forgot to use the final rendering when they created the mold and only mockup rendering was used instead! This is fortunately easy to correct by using e.g. PE replacements.

5. bridge windows of all the three bridge levels are molded on incorrectly and the adjacent roofs above them are shorter than they should be. There are no replacement windows provided in the Fujimi Chokai PE set so you would need e.g. Rainbow IJN Bridge window set (Rb7092) if you want to make them look better.

: Picture from the Fujimi 1/700 Chokai PE set instructions (I already modified my bridge so I cannot post a photo of the corresponding parts).
It can also be noted that the railing on the upper bridge levels provided by the Fujimi 1/700 Chokai PE set shown here is wrong - part #15 should not be there at all and part #22 should look different on the front above the roof of the compass bridge. Refer e.g. to Skulski for more details.

6. missing rangefinder hoods on turret #1 (part #E8) - this is probably a "heritage" from Fujimi�s Maya 1944 mold that was used as a basis for the Chokai kit (Maya had the rangefinder removed from #1 turret during her 1943 reconstruction)
!!! EDIT !!! My point 6. above proved to be a mistake - I found a clear front port photo from early 1942 that shows these hoods removed on turret #1!

I still really like most of the kit but I think it is a pity to see such problems on one of the latest kits from a prominent manufacturer. If I encounter anything else I will post it here, too.

Dan K · Post by **Dan K** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 10:45 am

Thanks for the review points, Vladi. Very good to know, and somewhat surprising.

Alex SZ1996 · Post by **Alex SZ1996** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 4:15 pm

does anybody know if i can use the Flyhawk (FH350028) upgrade set for Aoshima 1:350 IJN Maya, with the Aoshima 009437 Maya kit?

the description on the upgrade set does say 'for Aoshima 038864' but the 009437 kit i have, is a updated version.
they shouldnt be much different, but i dont know..

Dan K · Post by **Dan K** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:40 am

I would think so. The retake has separately molded deck equipment, which makes for a cleaner deck to paint. Also some newly molded detail parts. The fundamentals are the same, though.

MatthewB · Post by **MatthewB** » Wed Dec 09, 2015 7:51 am

This was a tough slog through this CASF thread, but well worth it.

Some questions:

I have an Aoshima 1/700 Takao with the Flyhawk 1942/44 PE Set. This same set should work with the Atago to produce the Atago in 1942 as well (for the Solomons' operations), should it not?

Also, from reading the thread, the Chokai and Maya seem to be more similar to each other than to Atago or Takao.

So, could I build a 1942 Maya from a 1942 Chokai? What differences would there be?

Also, for the Chokai/Maya, which kit would be the better choice? Aoshima makes a Chokai for 1942 (need to remember to slice off those enclosed observation platforms at the front of the bridge), but the Fujimi seems to have the better detailing for just the plastic.

But for the Aoshima, the Flyhawk Detailing set will work for many of the details.

But I understand that the bridge is different between the Takao/Atago and the Chokai/Maya. What is different?

Also, if I went with the Fujimi kit, what all would I need in the way of PE to get the windows done, railings, degaussing cables, etc. to get the kit as detailed as the Aoshima with the Flyhawk PE?

MB

Dan K · Post by **Dan K** » Wed Dec 09, 2015 12:52 pm

I hope you will be able to obtain a copy of the AOTS Takao book. It is a must-have as it graphically illustrates the answers to many of your questions.

I have an Aoshima 1/700 Takao with the Flyhawk 1942/44 PE Set. This same set should work with the Atago to produce the Atago in 1942 as well (for the Solomons' operations), should it not?

Yes. Differences between the two ships are extremely minor. The most noticeable is the arrangement of the auxiliary piping to either side of #1 funnel. The arrangement of the piping, deck vents and equipment varies slightly between all four sisters (note: Pit-Road and Aoshima use Takao's pattern for all the sisters; not sure about Fujimi.)

Also, from reading the thread, the Chokai and Maya seem to be more similar to each other than to Atago or Takao.

All four sisters were nearly identical until 1938, save for the minor differences partially described above. In 1938, Atago and Takao were given another modernization that reduced the area and topweight of the bridge, reduced the foremast, eliminated the enclosed aircraft hangar and replaced it with a well deck, moved the mainmast aft, increased the torpedo armament, added larger hull bulges, modernized the fire control (particularly for the HA AA mounts) and a bunch of other changes. Chokai and Maya were scheduled to receive the same upgrade but the run up to war pre-empted anything other than some minor upgrades.

So, could I build a 1942 Maya from a 1942 Chokai? What differences would there be?

Yes. See above for differences.

Also, for the Chokai/Maya, which kit would be the better choice? Aoshima makes a Chokai for 1942 (need to remember to slice off those enclosed observation platforms at the front of the bridge), but the Fujimi seems to have the better detailing for just the plastic.

Having labored greatly over several of the Aoshima kits, I think I might advise to try the Fujimi kit. The Aoshima kits have wonderfully correct shapes and scale but, the detail is woefully lacking. I probably spent close to 750 hours correcting my Aoshima Chokai kit: http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html
Fujimi seems to have corrected its errors with the Takao kit, so I think it's a good way to go.

But for the Aoshima, the Flyhawk Detailing set will work for many of the details.

Fujimi produces comprehensive PE sets for its kits, so that might be worthwhile. Fujimi also has issued a PE set for the Fujimi Takao kit.

But I understand that the bridge is different between the Takao/Atago and the Chokai/Maya. What is different?

I'm posting several photos below to give you an idea.

Also, if I went with the Fujimi kit, what all would I need in the way of PE to get the windows done, railings, degaussing cables, etc. to get the kit as detailed as the Aoshima with the Flyhawk PE?

Again, PE sets are available for the Fujimis.