Model Fleet: UPDATE 10/18/09: Return, Reconstruction & Resuming THE PLAN

UPDATE 10/18/09: Return, Reconstruction & Resuming THE PLAN

Posted by Matty on October 17, 2009, 23:09:38, in reply to "Matty's Nichimo HIRYU Build In Progress"
Message modified by board administrator October 31, 2009, 22:54:04

With work on my Boxer held up pending some research analyses, and wanting to build - on a carrier - this weekend, the perfect opportunity arose to return to this build, lying negelcted for over a year now, long having lost its "quickie-build" status:

Click on Image to Enlarge Nevertheless, here sitting among the few loose parts remaining in its huge, original Nichimo box, this build is very far along, and already quite satisfying to look upon, while working on it. The Bad News is that, after such long neglect, any special "game plan" for the next, specific detail of the build is long since forgotten. However, my progress is usually logical enough that I can reasonably reconstruct and resume according to plan, with a little thought.

I did remember wanting to replace the molded exterior (slotted) catwalks with PE, if I have the suitable brass shapes, in sufficient quantity. However now it occurred to me I certainly ought to fill the several prominent seams where the fit was poor, all over the hull - and my supergule putty appears as the whitish, icing-like substance around the foredeck and other spots above, and in the following pic:

Click on Image to Enlarge My second thought nowadays is that the Tamiya Haze Gray (WWII type) currently on the hull is too dark (for this scale), and I will replace it with Tamiya Dark Ghost Gray, whose rattlecan is shown here, with the actual color sprayed on its cap. Note while significantly lighter, it retains a considerably bluish (even a little greenish) tint. However until the seam-filling was done, this would have to wait.

With putty still hardening all over the hull, I thought I might mask and paint the gray areas of the flight deck, but realized that it, too really should first get significant additional work as well:

Click on Image to Enlarge The #2 elevator, to be shown lowered, needed its interior detailed - which I soon learned would require nearly complete reconstruction. The deep well molded under each elevator opening, as still visible above for elevators No's 1 and -3, was for elevator No 2 carved away completely except for the base and 5 uprights, port and starboard, to serve as the lift/guide rails. There was a lot of breakage - the Nichimo plastic having definitely suffered over time, after repeated exposures (probably to the alcohol in) Chameleon® paint remover - and now I discovered that the elevator platform, though it fit perfectly into the top opening, would not seat in the bottom of the well - even after 90% of it was cut away, like this! Thus, I ended up ditching the platform and simply using the base of the well, plugged with (white) plasticard, to represent the (fully lowered) elevator deck - with the insert "fished" in with the help of a "handle" of square tubing, glued on temporarily.

This elevator, when fully lowered on these IJN carriers, reveals a stacked, double-hangar interior, so there was still a bit more work required:

Click on Image to Enlarge The upper hangar deck, at left, was pretty easy to cut out of plastic sheet, so that it surrounds the elevator well, suspended/positioned under the flight deck using square tubing as spacers. More tedious was the construction and installation, shown at right, of counterweights (fully raised, for a fully lowered elevator) on their own lift-rails. Not quite "super-detailing" - but, at 1/500 scale, will certainly look close to it.

In fact, the tightness of all these tiny spaces requires significant painting before final assembly:

Click on Image to Enlarge Here, at top are (almost all) the remaining components: the two-level hangar decks, painted (except on their attachment points) with the lighter, Tamiya Dark Ghost Gray - and, dry-fitted, at bottom, finally a chance to see what the new paint looks like next to the faux-wooden flight deck. The new color is perfect for the elevator, its greenish tint making the "wood" look a little more orangish, by contrast. However I don't like how dark the interior uprights become - and it seems to me all vertical interior surfaces, plus the overheads, would have been white, anyway.

One more piece - a bulkhead behind the uprights, to block out precisely the "daylight" visible above, needs to be painted white, along with the rails/counterweights, and then final assembly of the elevator completed - and the flight deck with it - will be ready for final painting, and attachment.

The little island assembly (not shown) is likewise already done - pending maybe a little more tweaking of searchlights, etc. - as are the very few remaining sub- assemblies/fittings, so this build really is very close to completion. The catwalk-replacement with PE could be rather time- and labor-intensive - if I can even do it - but I will certainly try, for the potential to greatly improve the final appearance. Just like the above is already adding.

So stay tuned...

Cheers,

-Matty