1/700 scale IJN Ships make over

[rtfoe]

Back to the Hatsuyuki...
I've never done this before so it's trial and error. I wanted to emulate the metal plating sheets with the welds...



I used thin strips of tape masks and randomly pasted in straight lines...



A layer of Gunze 1000 primer then peel off and then another coat of primer...you get something like this...



I rubbed down with my finger to smoothen the rough edges...will have to remove two spots of dust hair...



Not very acurate but I can live with it...will see after some paint and weathering.

Cheers,
Richard

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
So much to enjoy here. The little train and trucks are great. Nice job with the scratched jetty. Interesting history to the ships. The hull plates look to have worked well. Nice and subtle as it needs to be a this scale.
What made you decide to carry out these changes to the dio? The cutter you used for the jetty supports - what make is it?
Jim

[Steve Jones]

Just popped in to see how things are going Richard and its been an absolute joy to catch up. Lots of activity and detailing going on. Looks like you are having a lot of fun. Great stuff

[rtfoe]

Hi Jim and Steve, certainly am enjoying the build as it's been a while since I dabbled with ships in this scale. Trains and trucks are from Tomy which has become a good buy and finally put into good use. Lots of jetty pictures to follow and I haven't started on the history of the Kuma which sunk of Penag Island. 1/700 is quite tiny so the plates had to be subtle and nearly invisible. You only notice it in real close up pictures.
The dio re-work came about as I hadn't really finish the initial build and wanted some improvements. I wanted more activity in the harbour and decided on the extention with more little boats moored. The cutter is by Northwest. I wanted one since seeing John having used one in his build. It is quite helpful in cutting repeated size bits but it's good only for thin strips...anything thicker than 2mm has a slight slant to the cut.

Anyway I drilled portholes to the hull with a powertool. Next time I will do it with a hand drill and not be so impatient. They're not as straight as I wanted...

First removing the tape and coating with another layer of primer.


Then marking the spots to be drilled I pricked each point with a needle then drilled.



I'll be drilling other portholes iin turrets and the bridge superstructures.

I'm looking forward to the new Tom Hanks movie "Greyhound". Lots of destroyer footage and submarine Wolfpacks.

Cheers,
Richard

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
Thanks. Portholes look straight to me.
jim

[rtfoe]

Hi Richard
Thanks. Portholes look straight to me.
jim

:tears-of-joy::smiling6: I showed you the better side.

Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Now a little bit on the Kuma...



Although she spent most of her time around Phillipines and Dutch East Indies, she did visit Kure as most IJN ships did and Singapore for refitting and sailed to Penang. Let's start with her early days...
Light cruiser Kuma saw action shortly after her commissioning as she was sent to support the landing of Japanese troops in Siberia during Japan's Siberian Intervention against the Communists during the Russian Civil War. Subsequently based at Port Arthur, China (now Lüshunkou), she patrolled Chinese coastal areas between the Kwantung Leased Territory and Tsingtao, China. After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, she began patrolling further down the Chinese coast.
On 10 Apr 1941, Kuma was assigned to Vice Admiral Ibo Takahashi's Cruiser Division 16 of the Japanese 3rd Fleet. With that unit, she supported the invasion of the Philippine Islands in Dec 1941. Between 10 and 11 Dec, she covered landings at Aparri and Vigan at Luzon, Philippine Islands; at the latter location, she was attacked unsuccessfully by five United States Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. On 22 Dec, she supported the landings at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon. On 3 Jan 1942, she was re-assigned to Vice Admiral Rokuzo Sugiyama's Third Southern Expeditionary Fleet and patrolled the Philippine waters until 27 Feb. In Mar, she covered the invasion of the southern Philippine Islands, shelling Cebu harbor on 1 Mar and covering the Zamboanga, Mindanao landing two days later. A Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF) unit based aboard Kuma rescued about 80 Japanese nationals who had been interned. On 9 Apr, Kuma and the torpedo boat Kiji were attacked by US torpedo boats PT-34 and PT-41; Kuma was hit in the bow by one of eight Mark 18 Torpedoes fired, but the torpedo failed to detonate. On 10 Apr, she covered Cebu landings. On 16 Apr, she covered Panay landings. On 6 May, she covered the final assault on the island of Corregidor, the last American strong point in the Philippine Islands. She remained in Philippine waters for patrols until 12 Aug 1942.
After a refit at Kure Naval Arsenal, Japan in Sep, Kuma returned to Manila, Luzon, Philippine Islands on 20 Sep. She was assigned to Vice Admiral Shiro Takasu's Second Southern Expeditionary Fleet. She picked up troops of the 38th Infantry Division and delivered them to Rabaul, New Britain, Solomon Islands on 10 Oct. She patrolled off Makassar, Celebes between Dec 1942 and April 1943, running several transport missions to Rabaul and New Guinea during that time. Between Apr and May 1943, she was refitted at the Seletar Naval Base, Singapore. She patrolled Dutch East Indies waters between May and Jun. On 23 Jun, her group was attacked by 17 American B-24 Liberator bombers of the 319th Squadron, 90th Bomb Group, US 5th Air Force; she suffered only minor damage from near misses. On the next day, she became the flagship of Cruiser Division 16 as the flag was transferred from Kinu; she led patrols in the Dutch East Indies until 23 Oct. Between 1 Nov and 12 Nov, she received additional anti-aircraft weapons at Singapore. She patrolled the Dutch East Indies and the eastern Indian Ocean until 9 Jan 1944.
On 11 Jan 1944, Kuma was sighted by British Royal Navy submarine HMS Tally-Ho off Penang, Malaya. At about 10 miles northwest of Penang, Tally-Ho fired seven torpedoes at Kuma at 1,900 yards; two of them hit her on the starboard side, starting a fire as the depth charges onboard were ignited. She sank by the stern, killing 138 as she went down. (Text from WWII Data Base for reference only.)

I have always wanted to build the Kuma after seeing it at a LHS glass display back in 1977. Boy that's way back. I was intrigued by the rigging. The kit was painted basically all grey including the deck with no PE and I thought I could do better. Now years later I'll see what I can do.

Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Hi, back to the Hatsuyuki...

Being an old Tamiya mold, most of the upper structure is smooth with no portholes or hatches. I changed the drill bit to a smaller gauge and drilled away. I tried looking for etch hatches that I though I had stashed away but failed so I cut thin sheets measuring from the box art and etch figure heights. These are some of the additions...



That's the Shiratsuyu behind



Just look at the drilling...you might think I was having the hiccups when doing it. :smiling2:



I sanded the edge of the AA gun tubs as they were slanted for easy mold release. The upper structures aren't stuck down yet for easy painting of the deck later. I may add PE railings to the sub assemblies first and then painting them in situ.

Haven't much bench time even though the country is in movement control mode as SWMBO has gotten me to fix the house and what nots. :tired: By the time it's night I'm exhausted. So if anyone asks if I'm affected by Corvid-19, it's a big yes. :smiling6:

Cheers,
Richard

[Steve Jones]

Nice history lesson on the Kuma. Unless you have a laser drill I cant see the holes ever being exact. You have to give us a slight clue that they arnt the real thing anyway :smiling2: :smiling5:

[scottie3158]

Richard,
Nice work do you just leave the holes or do you add something to them?

[rtfoe]

Thanks Steve, I never knew how close these ships I had as a model were to our shores. We weren't a nation yet and one of the largest fleets was operating in our waters. U-Boats actually berthed at the Swettenham Pier in Penang, one of the main Japanese submarine bases. Japanese subs like the I-16 and her sister ship prepared from here for the Madagascar operation. Here's my build...don't know if I had posted the WIP here.


In hindsight I should have used the hand drill for more precession of the portholes on the Hatsuyuki.

Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Paul, thanks. At this scale I would leave them as is but the real ones have three options to open fully or to close with glass window or the metal hatch.

Cheers,
Richard

[topgazza]

Another Malaysian link Richard. I supplied and stayed at Pangkor Lau when it was and still is an, exclusive luxury island owned by the same guy who owned the Orient Express. They put me up in one luxury villa and my business partner in another, for free for a week, twice. We supplied them with quality outdoors loungers and tables. Nice customer. However on the other side of the island was the spot, Emerald Bay, where Colonel Freddy Chapman a Commando was rescued by a submarine, HMS Statesman. There's a very nice plaque and tribute to his bravery there as he fought in the Malayan jungle for over 3 years. Although a different country your sub reminded me of that. Lovely build and dio

[wotan]

Richard

This was already a great little dio before the updates but now it is just superb. The sea color in your submarine dio is just perfect. On the subject of Malaysia I have some very fond memories of Kuatan if that is the right spelling. We used to go there for the odd weekend break when I was living in Singapore.

JOhn

[JR]

Just had read through, looking good Richard.
Plenty of interesting history and some great photos .:thumb2: