1/700 Amagi diorama

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks guys!
Sorry I haven't caught up with this thread sooner. Unfortunately I haven't done much modelling lately�

Many thanks Eric! I know exactly what you mean, this project is certainly less spectacular and dramatic than some of my other dio's indeed. It will be more of a quite emotive scene I hope. I like doing those also, and they sometimes turn out better than the dramatic pieces, even though they are more understated. But for the next one I plan a very spectacular diorama again!

But first this one! After a couple of months of inactivity, I got myself started again on the Amagi.

The underside of the flight deck has nice support beams and gussets molded on. The edge is nicely thin, but this necessitates a chamfer for the deck to molded:


But since I want to replace all beams and gussets by perforated ones, I cut them all away. The chamfer would hinder correct installment of those, and might be visible because the ships is tilted so much. I therefore thinned all visible flight deck underside surfaces, both on the side and the stern:



To compensate for the removed thickness of the deck, I added 0,5mm plastic strip to the top of the hull. I also thinned any hull plating that will be visible from the top because of the battle damage:



A lot of cutting, scraping and sanding, but not very sexy so far�

Then I added the top hangar deck, making sure it would be strongly supported:




Before gluing the deck, the seam around the aft elevator was scribed with a needle. To get the curved edges right, I had to make a template from plastic sheet:


Bruno Gire designed a great additional PE set for Amagi in this setting, and graciously supplied me with copies. Many Thanks again Bruno!!!
The starboard aft elevator mechanism is a bit different from standard because it has an angle in it, so I cobbled it together from pieces of Bruno's set and some generic pieces:


This was glued into a cutout I had made before in the deck:


Lower down, the fit became quite tight, necessitating me to thin the hull side with my Dremel:


Next, some additional structures were added:


This is how it looks like when the deck is on:


The space behind the elevator side wall will later be filled with heavily damaged compartments, since a bomb demolished this area.
But first two more elevator sidewalls to go!

Thanks for watching!

Marijn

[Goodwood]

Excellent work, Marijn! Considering the subject matter and all that its state implies, it is quite appropriate that this diorama be an emotional piece. True art is funny that way...

[MartinJQuinn]

That photo-etch really makes the elevator pit stand out. Great work!

[marijn van gils]

Thanks guys!

It's nothing too special yet, but at least there is some progress.
Hopefully more to follow soon!

Cheers,

Marijn

[blacman]

...It's nothing too special yet...

no wories... we are looking here anyway...

[Dan K]

Great elevator shaft detailing.

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks guys!

The cables of the counterweights and their attachment points will follow later. The area is damaged, so part of them will be hanging loose.

[Angeliccypher]

Marjin, I have to admit that after your Lexington build I was thinking this would be cool to watch but not sure how you would match that one given how little is "going on" with the Amagi in this scene by comparison. With the attention to detail you are giving this I think despite the lack of "busy" to the build it will still create the impact you had achieved with the Lex. This is looking wonderful so far. What you have done with the plastic card is truly amazing to me. Was there discoloration to the water from oil sheen?

[Rui Matos]

More, more... we want more updates !


Excellent
Cheers,
Rui

[medicmike]

Speechless. Fantastic detail Marjin!

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks guys! Much appreciated!

More, more... we want more updates !

Me too!

I know very well what you mean Gabriel! I think it is not possible to always match the previous project, especially in levels of 'spectacular' or drama, so this project is very consciously trying to achieve a different atmosphere instead of 'matching' the previous one. Change and variation are good!
This also allows for some other things. Since there is less attention on the human element (the figures), the ship itself becomes more important. This pushes me (and frees time for) trying to reach a higher level of detail and correctness in the construction side of the project. Also, this project will have more possibilities in the painting of the ship, which should be fun.
You see, I always try to get some different challenges in each project, and while the end result can be very different, they can all be satisfying (at least to me).

I'm building her in '46, so I'm assuming there won't be any oil leaking in quantity anymore. But Bruno Gire's version will probably be set shortly after she sank, so maybe he can include that?

Cheers,

Marijn

[hypno7]

Late to comment but VERY nice elevator detail Marijn! Looking forward to see more updates! (as everyone here)

[dylandogg]

A really interesting subject to chose Marijn, and superb attention to detail. I build in 1/350 scale and I'm mesmerised by some of the detail of these 1/700 scale builds I've seen on this forum.

Like everyone else, I've got to say....more updates please.

Neil

[JIM BAUMANN]

very impressive evolution of the damage !

I am watching!

JB

[zs180]

This is going to be spectacular!
Very carefully planned and thought out - most impressive even is this relatively early stage.
I will follow this build with keen interest!

George P�k

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks guys!

Thanks George! I used to be really used to careful planning in the past, but I jumped a bit too quick into the construction of my first ship model, Lexington. This caused all kinds of little problems later in that build, and some details in the end couldn't be as correct or refined as I could have been able to make them. But luckily painting and the rest of the dio were better thought out though, which saved the model. That's the great things about dio's: if the story is told successfully, some small technical flaws will not really ruin them.
But I learned a lot from that one, and I'm trying to bring the construction aspect a notch or two up this time. And thinking things out carefully is the key to that, as I'm sure you know very well. So thanks for noticing!

Meanwhile, I also did the other elevator well walls. This was a bit more of the same, but it only took a bit more time and care to get everything lined up properly to how the ship is waterlined.

The port side of the aft elevator well:



It should look a bit like this with the deck on and in the water:


The only visible side of the front elevator well. The front elevator went down to the lower hangar.



Some of the supporting plastic sheet is quite crude for speed of construction, but of course only where it is not visible with the deck on:


Cheers,

Marijn

[hypno7]

Very nice updates Marijn! That elevator detail looks amazing! I can't wait to see what you do with the painting. I wonder how different colored was the water inside the hangar (stagnant water) in comparison with the outside.

Looking forward for the next update!

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks Erick!

I wonder how different colored was the water inside the hangar (stagnant water) in comparison with the outside.

That would be a nice effect indeed! But I'm afraid the hole in the central part of the flight deck was so large, that the water visible in the upper hangar area could flow in and out easily and therefore was not really stagnant at all:


Progress is slow, but a small update: I finished the hangar for now by detailing the walls. The heavy battle damaged parts (like seen in the photo above, or next to the aft elevator) are always directly related to outside elements like the stacks or AA platforms, so I will add that later together with those elements.
An overview:


And what is visible with the deck on, at least with some effort :






Cheers!

Marijn

[JariL]

Floating debris? Pieces of wood, leaves, sea weed etc. Anything that floats in to the hull would probably stay there.

Regards,

Jari

[Goodwood]

Interesting update, Marijn. I wonder if that photo was taken at high tide, hence why the elevator abeam the superstructure is barely visible? Can't imagine how you're going to work in all the exposed, twisted conduit, etc. as illustrated...