1250 Scale Message Board: Conversion of the Week

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Conversion of the Week

Posted by Peter Ewell on 10/31/2009, 12:16 pm
70.215.161.238

This week’s conversion represents Tamaichi Hara’s legendary Shigure as she appeared at the height of her glory. I had read and re-read Hara’s memoirs repeatedly as a teenager, so was pretty keen to do this one after I started converting. Once again, I relied on the extraordinarily knowledgeable folks on the J-Board for details, based on a contemporary Fukui layout drawing. The 1600-tonners were too small for the standard late war AA rearmament aft, so they sported a smaller version instead.

The conversion was fairly straightforward and involved:

- Removing the 5” single mount aft and filing the deck beneath it smooth.

- Adding a deckhouse where the mount had been, made of a cubic piece of solid plastic.

- Creating an AA tub forward of the bridge. Like the others in this IJN series, the tub was fashioned from half a life raft from a larger scale plastic kit, supported by a piece of plastic dowel.

- Scratch-building three 25mm triples and one twin. One of the triples went in on top of the new deckhouse aft and the two others replaced the twins mounted abreast of the after stack. The twin went in the new tub forward of the bridge.

- Scratch-building eight single 25mm mounts and installing four of them on the main deck aft and the other four abreast of the bridge. These were created in the usual way by sinking a short plastic dowel into the deck, gluing it well in and cutting it to the needed length with a nail clipper, then topping it with a gun barrel made of brass wire.

- Reworking the foremast by cutting the tripod apart at the top, spreading the legs apart between a cap made of plastic sheeting. A new topmast was then stepped at the back of this cap and a scratch-built radar went in the front of the topmast.

- Adding crosstrees and an additional radar at the top of the topmast made from Tom’s Modelworks brass railing.

Painted up, she’s now ready to demonstrate IJN night torpedo action doctrine on anyone unlucky enough to be in the vicinity.

Best to all.

Message Thread:

Conversion of the Week - Peter Ewell 10/31/2009, 12:16 pm
- Re: Conversion of the Week - Dan Muir 10/31/2009, 3:10 pm
- Re: Conversion of the Week - Tim 10/31/2009, 12:32 pm
- Another View - Peter Ewell 10/31/2009, 12:18 pm
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--Previous Message-- : : : This week’s conversion represents Tamaichi : Hara’s legendary Shigure as she appeared at : the height of her glory. I had read and : re-read Hara’s memoirs repeatedly as a : teenager, so was pretty keen to do this one : after I started converting. Once again, I : relied on the extraordinarily knowledgeable : folks on the J-Board for details, based on a : contemporary Fukui layout drawing. The : 1600-tonners were too small for the standard : late war AA rearmament aft, so they sported : a smaller version instead. : : The conversion was fairly straightforward : and involved: : : - Removing the 5” single mount aft and : filing the deck beneath it smooth. : : - Adding a deckhouse where the mount had : been, made of a cubic piece of solid : plastic. : : - Creating an AA tub forward of the bridge. : Like the others in this IJN series, the tub : was fashioned from half a life raft from a : larger scale plastic kit, supported by a : piece of plastic dowel. : : - Scratch-building three 25mm triples and : one twin. One of the triples went in on top : of the new deckhouse aft and the two others : replaced the twins mounted abreast of the : after stack. The twin went in the new tub : forward of the bridge. : : - Scratch-building eight single 25mm mounts : and installing four of them on the main deck : aft and the other four abreast of the : bridge. These were created in the usual way : by sinking a short plastic dowel into the : deck, gluing it well in and cutting it to : the needed length with a nail clipper, then : topping it with a gun barrel made of brass : wire. : : - Reworking the foremast by cutting the : tripod apart at the top, spreading the legs : apart between a cap made of plastic : sheeting. A new topmast was then stepped at : the back of this cap and a scratch-built : radar went in the front of the topmast. : : - Adding crosstrees and an additional radar : at the top of the topmast made from Tom’s : Modelworks brass railing. : : Painted up, she’s now ready to demonstrate : IJN night torpedo action doctrine on anyone : unlucky enough to be in the vicinity. : : Best to all. : : :

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