DaveCov's Aoshima 1/700 IJN Seaplane Carrier Chitose (00123)

[davecov]

Some more progress today although it was very slow.

The photo etch anchors were assembled:


The stern anchor was glued in place with the flukes pointing upwards:


The two bow anchors were glued in place but they have the flukes pointing aft:


I also put guardrails around the top of the platform and added a couple of ladders although I wasn't sure of their true location or orientation:


That is all for now.

Dave

[davecov]

A small update to report.

I worked through the photo etch pieces and folded them. In the case of the catapults, cranes and booms I didn't complete the final folds so that I can paint their interiors first:


That is all for now but I won't be back to the modelling bench until the end of the week.

Dave

[Lee Drennen]

Nice updates Dave looks good

[colin m]

I'm in the same boat - see what I did there? I've never built a boat / ship. But every time I see one, it always interests me. That PE looks amazing, it's going to add a whole world of detail. Good stuff.

[davecov]

colin m Colin, it is about time you did something about it. Why not try a 1/72 MTB or even a 1/35 Tamiya Pibber like this:


The standard kit is no more fiddly than a tank of the same size or a 1/72 bomber aircraft. My build used Tamiya photo-etch though.

Dave

[davecov]

Another little update.

I got out the airbrush and primed many of the parts:


Major components:


Photo etch pieces:


The aircraft:


That is all for now.

Dave

[davecov]

It has been a couple of weeks since my last report but not too much has happened. Having primed the parts I got down to painting. I decided to brush paint this build but I may end up regretting this decision.

I applied the first coat of H123 Satin Extra Dark Sea Grey but it was obvious that it would need another coat:


The other parts:


I then applied a second coat of the grey and started painting the other decks with Colourcoats Matt Linoleum (IJN10):


Some of the grey parts won't need a third coat but some will:


The inside of the crane booms, catapults and trolleys were painted grey:


That is all for now.

Dave

[The Smythe Meister]

It has been a couple of weeks since my last report but not too much has happened. Having primed the parts I got down to painting. I decided to brush paint this build but I may end up regretting this decision.

I applied the first coat of H123 Satin Extra Dark Sea Grey but it was obvious that it would need another coat:


The other parts:


I then applied a second coat of the grey and started painting the other decks with Colourcoats Matt Linoleum (IJN10):


Some of the grey parts won't need a third coat but some will:


The inside of the crane booms, catapults and trolleys were painted grey:


That is all for now.

Dave

Some tiny parts for sure there Dave!
.... Gotta say,those planes look very nice indeed :thumb2:

[Geoffers]

Ticking along nicely Dave :thumb2:

Geoff.

[davecov]

Thanks lads.

Having applied a third or even fourth coat of grey and linoleum, I am pleased with how things are turning out.

I haven't glued the decks or superstructure to the hull yet as I want to fit railings first. However, I wanted to see how they fit after painting. In the background, I have applied some light grey to the aircraft undersides:


The platform has been dry-fitted too:


At the moment the paints are a mix of satin or matt but once everything is varnished it won't look so shiny:


That is all for now.

Dave

[davecov]

Lots of progress to report.

The aircraft painting continued:


And it is now complete. Just the decalling to do:


The decks were glued to the hull:


The hull was masked for painting the anti-fouling and also to protect the hull paintwork during the task I hate more than any other - small ship PE railings. Here the forward and amidship sections has been done:


The aft section:


Superstructure decks also done:


Turning to the platform, I glued the two booms in place:


The photo-etch crane jibs did not have any blocks so I painted the kit ones and added them to the PE:


The crane booms were then glued to the platforms and later I would clean up the paintwork:


The superstructure has been glued in place along with the boats:


Another view. Not a lot to be done now:


That is all for now.

Dave

[Geoffers]

Lovely work Dave :smiling4:

Geoff.

[tigersteve]

Good to see your progress with this one, I will be tackling a small ship soon too......

[davecov]

Thanks lads :thumb2:

I have had a few problems with the PE aircraft cradles and they keep snapping so I replaced them with kit parts. In view of those problems, I am going to leave off the PE cable reels. The amount of grief isn't worth it!

Here I have been progressing with the aircraft. I decalled them and then painted the floats white as a base for red paint. This was not without a big problem. Whilst holding the bottom right plane with tweezers, it pinged off and did a Kamikaze dive straight into the white paint pot! I retrieved it and cleaned off the paint, leaving it in the scrappy state you see:


Turning to the Chitose, I painted the anti-fouling red and removed the masking tape. The catapults were fitted and four aircraft glued in place:


Rising Sun flag fitted at the stern:


I still have three aircraft and four davits to fit and need to apply a coat of varnish to everything.

That is all for now.

Dave

[davecov]

Final build report now.

The last three aircraft were glued to the forward catapults and aft:


The four remaining davits were painted and glued to each side. Final act before varnishing was to paint the Imperial Chrysanthemum at the stem with H16 Gold:


The whole ship was then given a coat of matt varnish:


It is now finished:
















My thanks to KarlW for hosting this GB.

Dave