IJN Hiei 1:300 - Maly

[Yu Gyokubun]

Although I am in the middle of an aircraft build, seeing enthusiastic IJN ship modelers threads here I couldn’t stop starting my IJN ship build.
It was my about face to opt for 1/300 Hiei from Maly modelers instead of 1/350 (original design is 1/250 but I am going to reduce the size) Takao from Digital Navy on which books I bought and have been envisioning how to build her. The reason is simple. In building Maly’s Hiei I don’t need to resize the kit and it seems to have been designed having as same detail of 1/200 model.
As to the “HIEI” it’s better to take a look at following site than to read my clumsy explanation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Hiei (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Hiei)

I have frames for under water line done. Compared to 1/430 Fuso it looks much bigger. On reflection it’s no wonder considering the scale difference … I look dumb.

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

I, for one, am glad to see you start up another IJN subject and the Hiei is an excellent choice. Seeing what you did with the Fuso in 1/430 scale was quite amazing, going up a few notches to 1/300 ought to make it a little easier and at the same time make for a rather grand finished project. Looking forwards to watching you work your magic with this one.

Jay Massey
treadhead1952
Las Vegas, NV

[redhorse]

I'm glad you're building this one, I really like the Hiei. From your description, it sounds like the kit would be good enough to blow up to 1:200 as well. I may have to buy this one.

[GreMir]

YuG
Here is the reworked deck for the Hiei
Kemot from konradus' site has redone the decks. Samples can beseen here WWW.KONRADUS.COM - FORUM MODELARZY KARTONOWYCH - Odp: [Free] HIEI (MM 7-8-9/2006) - poprawione pok?ady do pobrania (http://www.konradus.com/forum/read.php?f=1&i=141595&t=141554#reply_141595) and direct link to the decks is here http://konradus.net/download/kemot/hiei_pdf.zip

Here </title> </head> <TITLE>Mazowiecka Wojewódzka Organizacja Ligi Obrony Kraju (http://www.mazowszelok.nazwa.pl/index.php?page=101) you can download corrected 127mm guns (few of them are mirror images and need to be replaced). Here is direct link http://www.mazowszelok.nazwa.pl/downloads_mm/hiei_1.zip

[Lex]

The Hiei is a beautiful ship with a beautiful name, I'm looking forward to see this Maly kit built.

[Royaloakmin]

Yu-san is not dumb and this will be a masterpiece. Bu Yu-san, are you doing a thread on your aircraft build?

[Don Boose]

Yu --

I am delighted to see another of your Japanese warship builds underway!

This will be a treat for all of us.

Ganbatte!

Don

[Michael Mash]

I was not a member of this site when you constructed Fuso. Very fine work. So I look forward to watching her take shape. This is one of the big dreadnoughts. Should be impressive. Looks like you will be a shipbuilder and aircraft mechanic at the same time.
Mike

[Papercut]

YuG, I am so glad to see that you have picked the Hiei as your next piece of art. I am a big fan of IJN and this was a great ship in her day. I can not wait to see you work your magic. I won a copy of this from Ebay and being a Maly kit was very surprised at the quality of the art work. Will watch closely. My next purchase will be the 1:200 Fuso to go with my Fly 1989 1:200 Nagato, a real beauty and the most expensive kit I have purchased so far. Have you returned from Vietnam? Rick:D

[eibwarrior]

Great one to build YuG. I have this kit too and your build photos will make an excellent guide for me.

I can't wait to see you get up out of the hull. This has to be one of the best MM kits designed to date.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thank you Jay, Jim, Lex, Mike, Papercut, eib

Thank you Michael for the info about really nice deck. I have downloaded it.

Fred-san, I never forget about airplane build

Don - -
aye-aye ganbarimasu

I was going to place the skin for underwater section, which is provided in the kit, first then glue strip of paper onto it in the direction of fore to aft but when I was about to start skinning it came to me that the procedure ended up lumpy hull in some places when I built Fuso as shown in the first picture.
After contemplation I came up with the idea to have horizontal formers in between vertical frames as shown in the second picture so that I can avoid lumpy hull around seams, perhaps, I hope so…..
Quickly assembled the horizontal formers around port side bow section as a trial and glued 5mm wide strip of papers.
Having glued some of strip of papers, I knew I have to redo sanding thoroughly to have smooth formers which must be prerequisite for success.

[redhorse]

Thanks for sharing your techniques here, Yu. I'm very interested as to how this method of hull construction works out.

[Don Boose]

That is an excellent hull structure, Yu. I think you have come up with a fine idea to deal with potential irregularities in the hull . . . although the "lumpy hull" of Fuso actually looks outstandingly smooth to my eye!

Don

[Michael Mash]

I can always use this kind of good detailed description of hull work. I like your idea. It looks like some extra work to put in all those horizontal formers, but the result should make it worth it. Also, it will add a lot of strength. Everything looks very smooth in that last image.
Mike

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

I have been wondering about that since I built my hull up for the Akizuki and it looks like you may be on to a good idea there. I had considered using some sort of filler material but your solution looks a lot easier and quicker if not a little labor intensive.

Jay Massey
treadhead1952
Las Vegas, NV

[eibwarrior]

That's a lot of extra effort Yu, but I'm sure the results will be magnificent. It looks like you're well on your way to yet another great build.

I'm with Don on this one, I couldn't detect the slightest bulge in Fuso. It's currently the desktop image on my computer. Well done!

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks guys for encouraging comments
Labor intensive isn't a matter because I take it for granted:D

As I didn’t like unsightly seams between adjacent plating in previous attempt, I changed the method. First, glue 7mm wide paper side by side then glue 3.5mm wide paper over the seams as shown in the first picture. This method not only hides the unsightly seams but depict the overlapped plating of IJN ships which were built by means of riveting.
Second picture shows frames and plating which are printed on quality paper but as is shown in third picture paper is too thick so I dismissed it despite the advantage of high printing quality.
Finally, I used regular copy paper for 3.5mm wide plating as shown in fourth picture and I made up my mind to go for it with this method:cool:

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

It looks like experimentation is the key. That last picture shows a nice finished result. I have seen other plastic modelers using masking tape to achieve the same look over a molded plastic hull.

Jay Massey
treadhead1952
Las Vegas, NV

[Michael Mash]

I admire your determination to get the result you want YuG. I thought the result from your Feb 19 update looked real good. However, now you have done even better. I can see this thread is going to have a lot of good hull building information, including details on trial & error.
Mike

[Lex]

I wonder if the actual hull did look like this one...? I always thought of it as flat and featureless, could anyone provide photos or related articles?

[birder]

Very nice Yu. I like the results especially if you can acheive this without sanding and filling (like I would have to do:)) Jim (Redhorse) also obtained nice results with his method. (glue strips over formers for more glue surface if I recall)

[Yu Gyokubun]

I like the results especially if you can acheive this without sanding and filling

Glen, how observant you are. You anticipate me in doing it. That’s what I have up my sleeve as a last resort:D
Now I understood the feeling when Caesar said two thousand years ago “The die is cast”. I must go for without sanding and filling believing “every problem has it’s solution” and what the new U.S. president called repeatedly “Yes, we can change”

Jay and Michael, I will try to provide detailed report so that someone else can improve the method later.

Lex, As I am on the road now, I can’t find proper pictures of IJN ship’s plating but following photos will be of help to you.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/irootoko_jr/?p=14 (http://blog.livedoor.jp/irootoko_jr/?p=14)
http://blog.livedoor.jp/irootoko_jr/?p=21 (http://blog.livedoor.jp/irootoko_jr/?p=21)

To the best of my knowledge, correct if I am wrong, overlapped plating of IJN sips during the war resulted from the event in 1935 when IJN No.4 fleet encountered strong typhoon during the tactical exercise and 19 ships out of 41 were damaged because of triangle wave. But, at that point Japanese did not have knowledge about triangle wave so they concluded that the cause was inadequate welding performance and since then they changed plating from welding to riveting.

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

I wouldn't even begin to try to guess about the whys and wherefores about it, but I do know I have seen a few dry dock photos as well as a few models from some very well read modelers who have replicated that pattern on their ships hulls.

I just love that colorized IJN site, the guy does a killer job of adding digitized magic to those old B&W photos. Looking forward to the next update on your progress.

[Lex]

Thanks a lot Yu, I can anticipate more photos.

[Don Boose]

Those colorized photos really bring the ships to life! I appreciate your sharing this site with us, Yu.

Don

[Papercut]

:DYug, where you at. We are waiting for that next post. I am very interested in your plating of the hull, very prototypical. I have this kit and she is a beauty and I am watching in awe what you will do with her. Your students are waiting:).

[Golden Bear]

Yeah, man, we are waiting. And I totally am on the same frequency to do without sanding and filling. It is like a challenge and we must learn to cope with it! Very much looking forward to more of your build.


Carl

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thank you for commenting, Jay, Lex, Don, papercut and Carl

papercut, I thought a decent student is supposed to do home work while teacher, who cracked under pressure piled by you allied force and take a powder, is away:D

Joking aside, I am out of town whole this week and flying home with today’s midnight flight. I will be building the hull plate this time tomorrow provided that my wife does not force me to do some domestic job. Since I am not as nice husband as somebody who voluntarily takes care of his wife, she always thinks out a plan to manipulate me but tomorrow I will get around her for the sake of paper model world:cool:

By the way, attached picture is ethnic minority in Northern part of Vietnam, where I have been visiting frequently these two years-of course for legitimate business. I think it’s more enjoyable than my hull plating:rolleyes:

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

Glad to hear you will be getting home soon. "Honey Do" lists are universal or so I always thought when you are married. Fortunately I am only enjoying the bliss part without the wedded part so I can usually figure out ways around such things.

Hmmm, I can see why you enjoy your work so much. Looks a lot different than the last time I was "in country" in 1970, they were mostly into military fashion back then.

[eibwarrior]

Take all the time you need to get back into Hiei Yu.

I wouldn't rush if I were you. :cool:

[Don Boose]

That's a wonderful photo, Yu. I'd love to know more. I spent a year in Vietnam 1966-67 and, since I was advisor to a Vietnamese infantry battalion, was fairly immersed in the culture. However, I was at the other end of the country, in the Mekong Delta, in Vinh Binh Province. There were several ethnic and religious minorities in that area, as well, and most of our soldier were ethnicly Cambodian. I hope I can go back to visit some day.

I first visited Japan in 1962, spent a lot of time visiting Japan during the 1970s and 80s, and lived in Fussa-shi on the banks of the beautiful Tama River 1987-1990. I'd love to go back there, too!

I look forward to seeing more work on Hiei, but it is a pleasure to be savored slowly over time, so I am happy to accommodate my viewing and learning to your schedule.

Don

[Yu Gyokubun]

Vietnam is developing rapidly now. There are no trace of military fashion and strangely enough no trace of socialist country as well. Some of my Vietnamese acquaintances said with one mouth “Vietnam was a socialist country” though still now they are socialist country.
A number of foreign companies rush in going after cheap labor. If you go to Hanoi, you will be surprised to see traffic jam and polluted air by motorcycle’s exhaust gas but once go to countryside you will find no farm machinery. Still now they use cows to plow a field.

1962…. It was two years before the Tokyo Olympic game and I was a little boy attending elementally school in Yokohama. Where I lived was close to residential area of U.S. occupation forces. It extended about 3km in length. There were two American schools, two tennis courts, one swimming pool and four baseball fields. I would sneak in the field with my friends and played baseball until military police officer comes to make us go away.
I went to school walking along the gridiron fence, which separate the base from rest of area, looking beautiful American houses with spacious garden.
It’s a symbol of rich country U.S. we long for.

I have got port side formers done apportioning time to jobs listed on honey do list and paper modeling. Honey do list wasn’t filled up with bunch of jobs but I am not good at repetition work, so much so that I was no mood to whip through the former build.
So far it looks Bob’s your uncle though appearance of formers are not beautiful. I don’t mind it because all formers will be invisible after gluing plates on it.

[Barry]

Hi Yu

I don't understand the holes in the keel plate Yug is it because they had small pieces printed inside. Otherwise why weaken part of the main hull structure ?

[Michael Mash]

Pictures of your trip are wonderful and fascinating. I really enjoyed reading your commentary. Glad to hear that honey-do list did not keep you away from your ship for long. That Hiei frame is looking nice. But, from your comments and images before your trip, I thought you had already glued some of the plating to the bow?
Mike
(Good to see you back in your shipyard)

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

With all those cross pieces in there the hull plates shouldn't be getting any divots or dents from handling, not to mention how strong it will make the hull, nothing like some serious reinfocements. After plating over my Akizuki hull, I had wished I had thought up something like that to keep the plates from sinking in anywhere. Looking forward to seeing how it looks once you plate it over.

[eibwarrior]

Hi Yu.

Thanks for sharing your stories and pictures of Vietnam. Very interesting indeed.

You've made some good progress on Hiei. This will be a nice hull to start from. As Jay said, you should have a flawless hull.

[redhorse]

I'm curious about the other hull and plating as well, was that just an experiment to see if it would work?

Also, I like the pictures from your travels a lot too! It's been a long time since I've been to Asia and these remind me a lot of China in late 80's/early 90's.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thank you guys for your interest in my hull plating

barry, eib and Jay,
Why I cut out rectangular holes in the keel is that I give priority to smooth hull. I mean, by having holes there we could put finger or tool in through that hole to press hull plating from inside to flatten possible divots and dents. Even though we have those additional horizontal former, it could happen. As saying goes “if you chase after two rabbits, you won't catch either” So my idea is to ignore weak frame to have smooth hull but I am optimistic about strength because after gluing all hull plates ship body will get strong.

Michael and Jim,

Plating I did around bow section was just pre-test to know if it does work or not and also to know what are the points I have to give attention in former build. After completing the formers on the other side hull I will do plating in a way I once tested in previous post.

Real difficulty, of which I think you ship builders are already aware, is that some of plates should be shaped not just straight strip but with curves to negotiate complex contour of ship hull:(

[Michael Mash]

Thanks for the information YuG. I like your idea to "pre-test". It is a big advantage.
The full hull build is always a challenge.
Mike

[Yu Gyokubun]

After completion of former started hull plating from center bottom section. First, place glueing tab (white color) then glued 7mm wide paper and finally glued 3.5mm wide regular copy paper centering the seam between two adjacent 7mm-wide papers.

[redhorse]

This looks like it could turn into one of the better hulls I've seen. Are you coloring the paper or using pre-colored paper?

[Don Boose]

Outstanding work, as always, Yu!

Don

[Michael Mash]

Terrific watching the plating go on. That hull is quite some grid!
MIke

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

Sorry but I can't resist, that is quite the seamless job you are doing there.;)

Seriously, I like the way you have managed to come up with a way to plate the hull so that you have eliminated the usual problems that come along with the traditional way of doing things. There should be nothing sticking up or any of the usual depressions that come from too far stretches of plate or handling problems the way you have made that one up.

Looking forward to the next installment.

[birder]

Very nice Yu! Looking forward to watching this ship grow! :)

[Lex]

That is an impressive hull with all that work put in. I can't wait to see the end result

[eibwarrior]

Wow. That's as complex a set of hull formers as I have ever seen. It looks like it will make a great skeleton for your hull plating Yu.

Really remarkable work, and well worth the effort from what I can see.

[Papercut]

Yu, I am so impressed with your work and I also have searched your threads on the German Forum and some out standing work there as well. The plating method you are now imploring is very prototipical. I await your next innovation. Rick:D

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks guys
Jim, I didn't paint the plates. They are pre-printed.
:eek:eib, I left many pictures on the German Forum and some of them I don't want to show you because of very poor workmanship so I changed my handle name here to conceal my past but my secret was unearthed


After finishing bottom plate, placed non-printed paper around bow for base then installed pre-printed paper on it.

[Don Boose]

Very impressive work, Yu, as always!

Don

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

Looks like everything is going on there quite smoothly with your new approach to hull plating. I can hardly wait to see how the hull sides go.

[Michael Mash]

Very good craftsmanship on this hull YuG. You are showing a lot of us another way to make a high quality hull. Was the white base made of paper or card? And are you using very thin paper for the hull plating?
Mike

[dansls1]

Thanks guys
:eek:eib, I left many pictures on the German Forum and some of them I don't want to show you because of very poor workmanship so I changed my handle name here to conceal my past but my secret was unearthed



I've seen a lot of your builds on other forums and I have not seen anything close to poor workmanship. I know we are always our own worst critics, but you have some amazing model builds out there.

[GreMir]

I'm in awe of the result and your skill at pulling off this very difficult conversion!
Yu - even before I saw your builds on the German forum, I was amazed by your airplanes shown on Kami-Mokei page.

[eibwarrior]

I agree Dan... Yu is not a sub-par modeler.

Great job with the hull plating Yu. I think the layered affect looks much more realistic that the solid plating that so many models are designed with.

Keep up the excellent job!

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thans guys. I've got a lift from your kind comments.

Michael, the white base was made of ordinary paper for paper modeling (125kgs. perhaps almost as same thickness as the paper provided in GPM kits) and pre-printed red paper glued onto the white base is 90kgs which is relatively thin but thicker and stiffer than regular copy paper. Top layer was made of pre-printed regular copy paper. Please refer to the attached sketch of plate construction.

[Michael Mash]

Thans guys. I've got a lift from your kind comments.


Michael, the white base was made of ordinary paper for paper modeling (125kgs. perhaps almost as same thickness as the paper provided in GPM kits) and pre-printed red paper glued onto the white base is 90kgs which is relatively thin but thicker and stiffer than regular copy paper. Top layer was made of pre-printed regular copy paper. Please refer to the attached sketch of plate construction.




Thanks for the information Yug. Perhaps I will get the chance to try this method.
Mike

[Don Boose]

Thank you for that clear, illustrated, explanation, Yu-sama.

I look forward to the next installment of this story!

Don

[Yu Gyokubun]

Here you are, Don-sama.

Finished stern plating. Surface is less lumpy but this method has drawback. That is time consuming:(

[Michael Mash]

That hull has a unique look to it. It appears very smooth in the image. For results like that, the extra effort is worth it. Note: thanks for taking the time to do the sketch. (a picture is worth a thousand words)
Mike

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

Man! That looks sharp enough to shave with on there. Don't see any lumps from my veiwing angle and it looks nice and clean. Looking forward to your updates as you work your magic.

[Don Boose]

That is definitely quality work, Yu! That pefectly-aligned plating reminds me of the beautiful teak and mahogany boats and canoes of fifty years ago.

Don

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks Micheal, Jay and Don for your nice words.

While I was away from home I was dying for paper modeling so upon arriving home what I did first was to cut out lower deck parts before change into casual wear. The parts I used is not the one included in the kit but downloaded parts from the site Mike (GreMir) introduced to me. (download site is here http://konradus.net/download/kemot/hiei_pdf.zip (http://konradus.net/download/kemot/hiei_pdf.zip)) In the first picture, left is the downloaded deck and right is the deck in the kit. Feel of wooden deck of the downloaded one is superb but I found that the tone of gray section is different from that of in the kit so I guessed unfit tone with side hull will be vexing later if I leave it without modification. My solution is to cut wooden deck section away from the deck parts of kit and glued gray colored section onto the correspondent section of the downloaded deck.

[GreMir]

This is going to be one amazing ship!
Replacement deck beautifully complements the hull you are creating.

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

Nice idea for that deck, the improvement in appearance is excellent compared to the kit provided parts.

I can almost see you sitting there in suit and tie feverishly slicing and dicing parts, knocking over the glue.......:D

[Michael Mash]

The deck supplied with the kit looks very "green" in these images. You have a much superior version (brown) on the left. It looks like it all came together very nicely in that final image of the stern. I see your hull plating is still in progess. I am enjoying watching you work your craft on this boat.
Mike

[B-Manic]

I really like the look of the improved deck. The other was too green. In reality in should probably look light grey due to bleaching from the sun and salt water but this looks great.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks gents.

Today from the morning I have engrossed in bulge build. First, glued copied bulge parts onto 90kgs paper then cut it out and form into the bulge shape. After formed the bulge I glued it onto formers. Finally, glued 6mm width printed paper (90kgs) onto shaped bulge.

[GreMir]

YuG,
It's really amazing what can be achieved with patience and real skill.
This is going to be a true masterpiece when completed.

[Don Boose]

Outstanding work, Yu-sama! You are the master of this kind of precision hull work.

I have been comparing these photos with the color three-view drawing that accompanies the Wiki article you referred us to in your initial posting and I see that the distinctive shape of the forward deck and casemates is starting to reveal itself, as well.

Don

[Royaloakmin]

Beautiful precision, Yu-sama.:)

[redhorse]

What a beautiful hull!

[Michael Mash]

Good work on that hull and bulges. I really like that fourth image of the hull from the stern.
Mike

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks all for your kind words:)
At long last, have starboard side bulge plating done. Now I can proceed to upper hull

[Don Boose]

It looks terrific, Yu-sama!

Most of the cherry blossoms at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington (gift of the people of Japan in 1912) were past their prime last weekend, but the old cherry trees at the Army War College campus and around Carlisle, Pennsylvania, are really beautiful right now. Unfortunately, it is raining heavily as I type this in the Casa mani cappuccino bar after a meal of gyoza and genmaicha next door at the Issei Noodle Shop.

I look forward to more sakura-mi and Hiei-me soon.

Don

[B-Manic]

The hull looks really good Yu.

Most of the streets here in the city of Victoria are lined with cheery trees. They have been in bloom for several weeks now.

~ cheers

[treadhead1952]

Great job finishing your hull out Yu. Looking forward to the rest as you work your magic on the upper parts.

[Michael Mash]

That hull is terrific. A lot of work went into those individual strips. I am taking notes, so I might be able to attemp your method in my next build.
Mike

[Lex]

Beautiful work on the Hull! I can't help but to marvel at the craftsmanship of the build

[redhorse]

I agree with all of the above. One of the best hulls I've seen.

[eibwarrior]

Simply put Yu.... Wow!

You're technique paid off well. I love the layered look this gives.

[Papercut]

I have this kit and I also have the down loaded correct deck, even though this is smaller than I like to work in, after seeing what you are doing with this MM kit, I just might get enough nerve to try to build, though I may try to enlarge. Your work gives us a bench mark to strive for, the best compliment one may receive for their work.:DRick (student)

[Yu Gyokubun]

Don sama,
Gyoza and genmancha reminds me of my experience when I traveled Coos Bay, Oregon 27 years ago. There we found a Japanese restaurant and we did want to order ramen rice but, we thought slurping is bad mannered so we ordered tempura teishoku instead. A minute later after we ordered tempura teishoku, one American guy entered the restaurant and ordered “ramen rice”. To our surprise, upon the ramen was served he started slurping it with relish. On the other hand, taste of tempura teishoku was unsavory.

Thank you Douglas, Mike, Lex, Jim and eib for your nice words

Rick,
I expect difficulty in building this kit at 1/300 so enlarging will be much better.

In previous post I said I would proceed to upper hull build but after seeing the lower hull, one thing bugs me a lot. That is the tone difference between ordinary paper and regular copy paper which I glued over seams of ordinary paper. As I couldn’t stand it, I removed regular copy paper and this time glued entire lower hull with 4.5mm wide regular copy paper.
To me it looks better than previous attempt….

[Michael Mash]

I am inspired by your insistance on excellence YuG. You will go to any length to achieve the result you want. It is very motivating to watch.
Mike

[Don Boose]

The hull and deck look very good, Yu-sama. I know that you want to do everything possible to eliminate small imperfections. As Mike (who is also among the premier model builders) says, it is an inspiration!

I enjoyed the "noodle slurping" story and the photo showing the beautiful tea cup and sake bottle and cup converted to model building purposes. By coincidence, I just returned home from the Issei Noodle House, where I once again enjoyed gyōza and genmaicha while working on a copyediting job.

Dōmo arigatō gozaimashita!


Don

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

Your Hiei is looking most excellent.

I noticed a shift in colors when I tried different types of paper to come up with parts as well. One of the reasons I stick to Wausaus' Bright White Index card 65 pound stock now, it always produces nice even colors and doesn't seem to change from package to package of the product.

I shall be watching for your future updates as you work your magic on this one.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Michael,
My only feature is insistence. My mom would tell me with amazing look that when I was a little boy of around four years old, I asked my mom to bring me to the train station and there I watched the train for several hours.

Don-sama,
Dōitashimashite!
It is my great pleasure to know that you enjoy my writing and model building
By coincidence, ‘the day before today’ I enjoyed gyōza as well

Jay,
One of my headaches in building PDF download version kits is that even using the same paper, the color changes depend on the time of printing. I mean, during the build of a certain kit I couldn’t stand my workmanship of one section so I printed the part again. Perhaps because of different ink remaining quantity or so the tone I got second time differed from the first print out. I think from next time better print out two sets at the same time in case.

[Don Boose]

Yu-sama: I am glad to hear that you enjoyed gyōza ieri and to see that you have the macrons under control! I am eagerly awaiting the next developments in the construction of your most excellent Hiei. Don

[Yu Gyokubun]

Many thanks, Don-sama but I might not be able to live up to your expectation because today after having finished starboard side plating I built upper deck former and when I put upper deck I found it does not fit as is shown on second picture.
At this point I can't figure out why it happened.
Fortunately or unfortunately, from tomorrow I will be on the road for two weeks so I will consider how to fix it taking time.

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

Wow, that is a slight mismatch there. Time to break out the sand paper or straight razor, whichever you prefer.

Have a good trip and be safe, looking forwards to your return to more important matters at the bench.

[redhorse]

That doesn't look good. If I remember right, you used a downloaded deck? Maybe you could scale it up slightly and see if that works.

[Darwin]

It looks as if only the triangular portion of the bow end of the deck is affected, and that in only one of the two dimensions. I'd try cutting out that portion of the deck into a new image file, then resize that image to increase only the length....just as a guess, giving it about a 103 percent enlargement in length and 100 percent setting for the width would be a good starting point. If you're lucky, the corrected portion will splice back into the original image without a noticable seam.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thank you all for your advices.
As Jim remembers I used a downloaded deck and after I had checked the fit of each section before leaving home I found not only triangular portion of the bow but at middle section there are misfits that upper deck is obviously slightly shorter than the basement below. So, now I am convinced as Dawrin mentioned, to enlarge 103 percent or so in length and 100 percent setting for the width must be the best solution. In this case only one concern is whether upper hull plates become short in length but luckily enough real ship’s picture shows there are reinforcement plates at the bow and stern tip installed over the plates so that I can hide the unsightly seam of the plates in case they are short. This concern stems from using copied paper for keel so it might have been enlarged in length.

[eibwarrior]

Hey Yu, it's been a while since I've checked in on your progress.

Despite the mis-match, it looks very good. I too downloaded that revamped deck for when I try this model. I'll make a mental note of this issue.

A little surgical trimming might do the trick, but great care must be taken to achieve this. The trial-and-error method of trim and check might work.

Regardless of this small issue, Hiei looks great. This is probably one of the best Maly Modelarz models that I've ever seen. Great design.

[Don Boose]

The quality of the work is excellent, in spite of the mismatch. You seem to have figured out the problem, Yu-sama, and the solution, so I look forward to seeing the further developments.

Don

[Yu Gyokubun]

eib and Don-sama, after two-week long hectic travel, yesterday I checked the deck and corresponding basement thoroughly and found only mismatched section is bow. Since this deck consists of three sections, reprint bow section and cut it about 2mm longer than previous one then replaced it as is shown in the first picture. After cut out turret base I found next mismatch in the second picture so cut off yellow hatched part of formers in the third picture.
To match the color of edge parts with hull plate, cut out the parts from original kit. Also I cut out railings from original kit and glued it on the downloaded deck.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Have base of deck done.
Next update will be side walls

[member_3]

I am always impressed by the precision of your cuts and the cleanliness of your assembly. This is going to be another YuG masterpiece.

[birder]

Very nice looking ship Yu-san, is beautiful already:)

[Don Boose]

This is amazing work, Yu-sama. I am very glad that you were able to overcome the problems with keen insight, careful knife work, and very skilled and patient construction. I agree with Ron that this is another masterpiece.

Don

[Papercut]

This is amazing work, Yu-sama. I am very glad that you were able to overcome the problems with keen insight, careful knife work, and very skilled and patient construction. I agree with Ron that this is another masterpiece.

DonI agree with Don, another master piece in the works, I really like the track turned to side of deck to denote action/movement on deck, good eye for details. :DRick

[redhorse]

Well, you fixed that problem quite handily. Looking good!

[Michael Mash]

Clever work YuG. In the hands of a less experienced builder, this one would have been torpedoed. I have learned much from watching your determination to make it work.
Mike

[eibwarrior]

Nice fix Yu. Looks like something similar to what I had to do with Watkin's Tennessee. Deck fit problems.

Good recovery, and I love the way this build is coming together. It's really giving me second thoughts about my next build.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thank you all for your kind words.

At last, I started upper hull build.
After cutting out port holes, I made rim parts from electric wire.

Followings are pictures explanation
1. extracted 0.1mm dia. electric wire 2. roll it up around 1mm dia. brass rod and cut one side 3. circular rim part 4. As there is no gold paint at home I didn't paint rims. Just put them into the place to check the fit.

[treadhead1952]

Hi Yu,

Another great old modelers trick, I will admit that I have never tried making anything that tiny though.

I am thoroughly enjoying your build log here, it is nice to see some of the methods that a expert uses to achieve his results.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks, Jay

Electric wire is useful for various parts especially for small scale ship as is shown on the attached picture

[redhorse]

There's no way I'm going to equal the quality of your builds, but it sure is fun watching you work!

[Michael Mash]

Very fine and very interesting work on those port holes YuG. There is much to learn here watching the Hiei progress.
Mike

[birder]

Yu-san, again it is a treat for you to show us how you accomplish this, I see you doing it, but I'm not sure how (it can be done so small). Patience and a good eye and steady hands.:)

[treadhead1952]

Gee Yu, I feel so much better now. ;)

I thought I was one of the few modelers that managed to paint his hands and the model at the same time.:D

I usually chicken out and depend on stretched sprue for a lot of the skinny little parts. Having a rather generous collection of it on hand and not being able to talk any model manufacturers into making a new model with my collection. You know that they just dump mis molded parts, rejects and such back into the batches right? And I thought I was cheap.

[Don Boose]

Outstanding detail work, Yu-sama!

Don

[Yu Gyokubun]

I thought I was one of the few modelers that managed to paint his hands and the model at the same time.:D


So, we are skilfull people being able to do that feat:D
Jay, you aren’t cheap. In your threads I saw a lot of parts that you devised making good use of empirical knowledge that you obtained going through different kind of modeling

Jim, Mike and Glen-san,

If you try it, you’ll find it is much easier than you imagine. Only one lousy job is to paint them paaaaaaaaaaaaaatiently

Many thanks, Don-sama!

First, cut out about 200 rims for the entire ship then painted them gold by dipping them in the pool of gold paint one by one. This is the only way to paint them that I come up with…. Put them into the portholes and glued it using CA glue. Scoop a tiny amount of the glue with pointy tip of used knife blade and put the glue four points on the rim.
After gluing all the rims drop hull plate onto the desk top to check if rims are firmly glued.

I was anxious about the result before starting the rim build because I used electric wire for the rims for the first time. Seeing the picture, it looks so so.

[Don Boose]

This is totally mind boggling to me!

The result is superb, but the skill and patience required is, to me, superhuman.

Don

[Michael Mash]

Wonderful to watch your technique YuG. This work is even more impressive when one considers there are 200 of these! And I imagine there are other possible applications for this.
Mike

[Keds_Girl_Lala]

At craft stores they sell roll of brass or gold wire for jewelry... it would not need the paint and it is quite bendable.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks a lot Lala!

Actually I tried to find brass wire before start making those rims but 0.1mm dia. went out of production (0.2mm is too fat)
Having read your advice, I squeezed my brain to come up something that has thin brass wire and finally I recalled that metallic brush has it. I dashed to a hardware store nearby as first thing in this morning.
After come back home, I scrambled to take out hank of brass wire from the handle. Diameter looks almost same as electric wire. One issue is that the wires are twisted so I untwisted them first and roll it around 1mm dia. brass rod then cut them.
Already made about 15 brass rims. Now I am in the middle of cutting another 45 that is enough for entire upper hull.
Thanks again Lala for your advice. It made my life much easier;)

[GreMir]

You untwisted the brush wire?! :eek:
This is what I call extreme dedication to detail - you are trully a Master Modeler.

[Keds_Girl_Lala]

If you go to a large craft store (I do not know the names for Japan...) but they will have spool of wire in the fashion of thick thread. It is for jewelry making. It come in gold, silver, and some time copper, etc. It is very bendable. In the US I have seen it some even in a large Wal Mart in the crafts section. It is a beading supply.

Today I will get the Hiei model. After I see your work I decide to buy it. I think for $9 it seem very nice and I anticipate having it this afternoon to look at.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Mike,
How observant you are!
I thought it was twisted and I turned it to untwist. As I untwist it looked getting straight. Finally, roll it around brass bar pulling the wire. But, after I had examined it again I found it isn’t twisted but shaped wave form. Anyway it looks it was straightened….

By the way I liked twist and Chubby Checker as boy

Twist brass wire like we did last summer…
Who’s that building model up there?
Is he a master? No!
Is he mustard? Yeah!

Actually, I like wasabi

Lala,
I’ll go to jewelry shop stealthily not telling my wife about it. If she goes with me, I have to buy jewelry for her with what little money I spare for buying paper model
You’ll find this model is well designed one and I am sure you can enjoy it.

Yu

[Barry]

A good source if you can find it is the old 25 way computer cables with plaited inners. Best source is probably old electronic junk stores places like the bottom of my wardrobe.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks barry for the info. I will try to find it for next ship.

first picture : cut out portholes
second picture : smoothen the portholes edge using brass rod
third picture: slice projected paper by smoothing
fourth picture: glued rims for porthole
last picture: glued thin film back of hull plates

I used gold painted electric wire for bow section and brass wire for stern section.
As diameter of electric wire looks a bit smaller than brass wire, for 1:300 ship model size of electric wire looks ideal but painting it is nightmare… One more drawback of brass wire is it’s elasticity. Although wrapping electric wire and brass wire around same diameter brass rod, because of elasticity diameter of rim made of brass wire get bigger. Advantage of brass wire is, of course, we don’t need to paint it.

[Yu Gyokubun]

First glued horizontal plate to the bottom edge of upper hull plate then glued the other side to the top edge of lower hull plate. In the middle I found length of horizontal plates are short. I might have overlooked corresponding parts but I decided to make it from original deck that I didn’t use and kept it for in case. Cut out grey part to make parts for connecting two horizontal plates.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Before gluing hull plate I glued right and left side bow tips together then glued entire hull to the formers.

[birder]

The portholes though small give a beautiful impression of a larger ship, very fine ship there, Yu-san!! I hope I can use those tricks sometime!!:)

[GreMir]

I will be repeating myself - amazing, simply amazing :eek:

[eatcrow2]

Wonderful photos showing the SBS!! Great work Yu.. And the portholes look terrific.

[Don Boose]

Outstanding work and very useful step-by-step photos, Master Yu!

Don

[shrike]

Wonderous joint on the bow Yu-san. That is one of those eye-catching details that really makes the whole model.

[redhorse]

I love your updates! Your patience amazes me, and it's paying off in a beautiful ship.

[Michael Mash]

Many fine images in this a update. And the detailed descriptions of your craftsmanship always make this thread a pleasure to check up on. You are making great progress on Hiei with more terrific work.
Mike

[rc119]

go on, please

[Barry]

First class Yu

[Art Deco]

Wonderful craftsmanship! Thanks for letting us peer over your shoulder!

[eibwarrior]

Hey Yu. How's the Hiei coming?

I'd love to see some more photos.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks all for nice words.
Lately I am busy traveling to and fro between my home country and a certain country for new office establishment and dealing with some trouble relating to selling of ex home on private business that needs confer with a lawyer, judicial scrivener, house agent and etc. but I expect I could restart paper modeling no later than one month or so.

[redhorse]

Thanks all for nice words.
Lately I am busy traveling to and fro between my home country and a certain country for new office establishment and dealing with some trouble relating to selling of ex home on private business that needs confer with a lawyer, judicial scrivener, house agent and etc. but I expect I could restart paper modeling no later than one month or so.

Sounds like fun stuff. No wonder you had a few drinks the other day:D I'm looking forward to more building!

[treadhead1952]

Up to your usual standards of excellence there Yu. I stand in awe of your building skills and patience.

Now hurry back so we can watch you progress on this clean and detailed build.

[Don Boose]

Just checking in, Yu-sama. I hope you get that judicial scrivener under control and can get back to work on this beautiful model.

Don

[Papercut]

Hope all is well Yu-sama. Miss you and your build. Just wanted to let you know you are not forgotten!:DRick

[mabrown]

I'm also hoping everything is OK Yu. This particular build is an important one to me because it is one of the threads which has helped me to decide on the plating method for the underwater parts of Sydney. In the end I've decided to go with the method you used on your fabulous Fuso.

From the builders point of view, which method would you use next time Yu?

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks everybody for cordial comments and thanks Mark it’s a great pleasure to know that my build thread seems to be of use to you to decide the Sydney’s underwater plating.

Frequent traveling and a lot of paper work takes a lot out of me and lowers my spirit in paper modeling lately though it doesn’t mean I lost interest in it.

I am suffering from severe stiff neck, shoulder and back, and eye fatigue more than ever before so I do not feel like doing anything after getting back home.
Last year I would start building a model immediately after returning home in the morning after long midnight flight and modeling would last more than 10 hours but this year completely different. I guess probably my physical
condition has changed because of male menopause or accumulated atigue from 5 years of insane paper modeling.

Anyways, I am concentrating on curing my fatigue by going to sauna, massage, acupuncture etc.

The method I am envisioning for next time is to have a lot of frames on the keel like real ship and install plates on them as is shown in the attached picture.

On reflection, to cut so many frames will surely cause stiff shoulder again so perhaps I will use thick soft balsa so that the number of frames can be reduced …

[Don Boose]

Good to hear from you again, Master Yu! Sorry to hear of the physical trials and hope that model building will be the cure.

Don

[mabrown]

Sorry to hear you are unwell Yu. I hope you can find some time in your hectic schedule for some rest.

That will be another interesting experiment if you try it. The timber model is very nice.

[Golden Bear]

Hi Yu, I also sympathise with your issues. Since becoming "retired" a few months back I have been spending a lot more time on the modeling and suffer from the same ailments as you do. A couple things have helped me; I change my work position and location frequently during a (hoped for) long day of building. I also change the chair height every couple hours. I purchased an inexpensive wire mesh sort of lumbar support that I move around. I go bicycling for at least a short stretch in the middle of things. Finally, when it gets as bad as you say, I just stop for a day and plan!

Take care of yourself buddy. Your builds are a treat for all of us and among the best stuff that is done anywhere.


Carl

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks Don and Mark for your kind notes.

Carl, thanks a lot for the advice.
On reflection, my agony started after moving to new home last December. When I moved I threw old desk and chair away. It was my huge mistake to do so because they fit to me perfectly. After curing my stiff muscles I will find new chair and restart modeling keeping your advice of changing work position and chair height, and stretch in mind

[jagolden01]

I guess probably my physical
condition has changed because of male menopause or accumulated atigue from 5 years of insane paper modeling.



YuG, andropause (male menopause) is real! Don't let anyone tell you different. Of course, the frantic modeling doesn't help.

[Michael Mash]

Good to hear some news from you YuG. Looking forward to future updates on Hiei.
Mike

[whulsey]

YuG, realized I hadn't seen any posts from you in awhile. I'd been on and off with work, travel, etc. myself the last couple of months so tracked this thread down. Hope all is going well with you and some of your health issues are being resolved. Look forward to seeing more of your skillful builds and insightful commentaries.

[Ramm]

YuG I see that you use of the scalpel to cut portholes. Try use hypodermic needle.

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg54/ramm87/th_076.jpg (http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg54/ramm87/076.jpg)

It is great gadget.

[Papercut]

YuG I see that you use of the scalpel to cut portholes. Try use hypodermic needle.

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg54/ramm87/th_076.jpg (http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg54/ramm87/076.jpg)

It is great gadget. What a great tip, will give this one a try.:DRick

[Papercut]

Hello My Friend, glad to hear from you again. Look forward to the time you feel ready to return w/your masterful work. Hope all goes well with you.:DRick

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thank you for you guys kind comments despite my noncontributory to the forum for long time. I really appreciate your kindness and great tip about hypodermic needle.
I just came back from journey with my wife. The purpose of this journey is to make up for lack of time together with her because lately I’m obliged to stay away from home frequently for business trip and expect it will last another several months because the industry we are in is no longer a one we Japanese stick to, board members recently officially came to a decision to change the status of a foreign office to a legal entity and I have to oversee it from next April. After a couple of months of preliminary study we just got cracking on preparation work.
But, as my physical condition is getting better I think could enjoy reading threads and drop notes at least. I will try to participate in the forum in order not to recede from your memory.


Saying goes “Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off” but now I’m deeply moved by you guys kindness and feel “Better is kind forum members that are far off than compatriots around”:)

[B-Manic]

It is good to hear from that you are O.K. Yu.
Hopefully you will recover your health. In the mean time I look forward to your other contributions.


~ Douglas
your forum neighbor

[Don Boose]

It was a very great pleasure to see your face and read your words today, Master Yu!

Thank you for the update on your situation. I look forward to hearing from you again as your work, health, and inclination permit.

Don

[redhorse]

It was very good to here from you Yu! I've missed your posts a lot.

[Michael Mash]

To add to what all the others have said ..................... looking forward to seeing you get out those projects again.
Mike

[Lex]

It's nice to see you being here again Yu, please don't let work or even the hobby strike your body down, having a good health is better than having anything else

[Papercut]

This is me prodding you to move those fingers my friend. I have learned so much from you and wish to learn more from the master builder! I too from time to time get the builder's block, but have found that I just have to jump back in and before you know it I am back to full steam... When the build of the WAK Dunkerque went deep six, I was ready to throw in the towel!!!! But I would keep going thru the builds on the Forum here and else where, and guess who's threads I would see, yours. I am now building. So, when you feel ready, lets hear from that wonderful builder from the Far East. I was glad to hear from you on my thread. I pray this season finds you and yours well and blessed.:DRick

[Yu Gyokubun]

It really gives me a kick to get a comment from someone who have been enjoying my model and generously give me an almost undue amount of compliments.
You won’t believe this but I was just thinking about restarting model build from this weekend since it seems I recovered from pain that perhaps caused by stiff muscles.
See you again tomorrow….. or it might be the day after tomorrow!

BTW, Rick, my card isn’t Master but VISA (Very Immature Savvy-modelers’ Association:confused:)

Yu

[Don Boose]

Seeing this posting from you made me very happy today, Master Yu.

I hope that your health, work, and family circumstances will permit you to resume work on this (or any other model).

Don

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks a lot Don! Yes I resumed model build from Yesterday but for fear of having low back pain again I built the model taking break every 30minutes so build was very slow.
Finally, finished cutting all side walls, which are placed between lower and upper deck, and glued all rims and panes on portholes. Procedure is same as described page 13 in this thread.
As my build was veeeery slow, I installed only foremost part of starboard side wall to the formers.
Although there are some points I am dissatisfied, now I feel “back in the saddle again” and happy to know there is no pain in my back and eyes after two days of model build:D:D:D

[Don Boose]

It is clear that your back and eye problems have not lessened your model-building skill, Master Yu!

This is your usual superb work. I am glad to see you back among the group of superior ship model builders in our community. I take great pleasure in seeing these magnificent ships take shape and in reading the discourse about model building techniques, naval architecture, and history.

Take your time, preserve your back and eyesight, but please do continue to share your work with us.

Don

[B-Manic]

Nice to see this build resume Yu. Take your time, please don't injure yourself. I agree with Don - your skill is undiminished. Best of the season to you and your family.

[redhorse]

Yu, it is good to see more on Hiei!! Do take your time and take breaks. I always take breaks every thirty minutes or so, if just to clear my mind if nothing else. It does slow my building down, but I don't mind as long as it's relaxing and I'm pleased with the end result. And your latest work looks great!

[Barry]

Good to see you again Yu take a walk around the house and use some other muscles. Your modeling has not suffered !

[PAPER FAN]

Glad you are back and can not wait to see this masterpiece in the works

[Yu Gyokubun]

Don, Douglas, Jim, barry and Joe, thank you for your kind comments.
First three years or so since took up paper model I would keep on building models for several hours without taking break. It was my huge mistake. Now I made it a point to take breaks every thirty minutes.
I thought just glueing side walls is not a big deal but it took much longer time than I expected. Anyhow, have got side walls done.

[Michael Mash]

Hello YuG,
Good to see you back at work again on Hiei.
The ship looks very great in those images.
I agree, those breaks every thirty minutes should help ease the back pain.
Mike

[Don Boose]

Exceptionally clean work.

Don

[Golden Bear]

Hi Yu! I'm really happy to see your posts come back. Curiously I was just wondering how you were doing a day or two back while I was working on the walls of my own model - and my lower back started hurting. I also have been doing a lot of stretching to break up my building.

You've done a beautiful job getting the core of the model built up. Those walls do take time if you want to get them perfect - and you have!!


Carl

[birder]

Yes agree so nice to see your work friend Yu. Another beautiful model in the making!:):):)

[Clashster]

Great looking build!

[Papercut]

Looking good and happy to see you at it again!:)Rick

[Barry]

Looks great Yu and to cheer you up I managed 1/3 of one side in the same time.

[eibwarrior]

Yu, I'm elated that you've been able to re-start this build. Masterful work as always. I hope your back is feeling much better soon. The breaks should help in that regard. I know what you mean about working for several hours on end without stopping. I've had some back pains myself after such long sessions bent over the workbench.

Keep up the work on the wonderful Hiei. She's taking a most magnificent shape my friend!

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks gentlemen for dropping kind notes

Carl, back problem seems to be inevitable hardship that we modelers have to come to terms with.
I forgot to mention in previous post about the method of installing walls to the hull. The method is “deck inside hull” that you discussed in your thread around this spring and someone was chastised for his over joy.
When a topic is complicated I need to read postings twice to have a clear understanding but when a topic comes to like this my response is as quick as lightning

Today started bridge build. To assemble only basement it took almost entire day because of fit issues here and there. But, as I take fit issue for granted it is a part of pleasure to squeeze my brain to come up with idea how to tackle it

[Don Boose]

100 percent straight, true, and shipshape, Master Yu!

Don

[birder]

So happy to see this thread! Yu-san you build with exceptional care, and it is enjoyable to watch the ship grow again!:)

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thank you very much for your generous assessment, Don and Glen.
Don, I mastered how to relax my muscle during the model build so as not to suffer from back problem again. Yes, I mastered:D

[redhorse]

I'm very pleased to hear that you've fixed your back problem. And your building looks as incredible as always!

[Papercut]

I'm very pleased to hear that you've fixed your back problem. And your building looks as incredible as always! May I add, ditto:)Rick

[Royaloakmin]

You continue to inspire us, Yu-san.

[PAPER FAN]

Nice your back is feeling better. Your models are always the best going. How do you posture yourself during the build to relax your back?

[Yu Gyokubun]

Jim, Rick and Fred, thank you for dropping notes

Paper Fan,
While cutting paper I found unknowingly overstrain myself more than necessary especially on left arm and shoulder so on purpose I tried to relax having a posture as if I were on loosen wires. I mean like marionette. Having seen my strange posture, my wife walked right up to me and put her hand on my shoulder with unusual tenderness. She asked “What’s the matter with you?” with a look on her face ‘Mamma Mia! my husband might have collapsed from stressful daily life. I must let him absorb in model building to stop additional collapse’ so I guess…
My effort to relax my muscle seemed to have advantageous effect. I will not have a backlog of honey-do list for a while… I hope

Contrary to my expectation, I had to finish with honey-do list so I didn’t have enough time to build a model for a couple of days.

Today built pomost (bridge) 2
Picture 1: As parts for round column is not supplied in the kit, printed gray color on regular copy paper and roll it around plastic rod
Picture 2: Wind thin brass wire around brass rod
Picture 3: Stick knife blade in the loop of brass wire and cut
Picture 4: Cut out rims enough for today’s build
Picture 5: Apply dribble of CA glue on the rim

[Yu Gyokubun]

Picture 6: Place the rim on the port hole
Picture 7: Glue transparency


During the build I found that the projected section on the deck interfere with the side panel so, first cut off thick card (third picture) but even thin paper still interferes. Finally cut off paper too(fourth picture).
Have done pomost 2 (fifth picture) except railings and stairs that I will build tomorrow if there is no honey-do list

[Clashster]

Nice work, YuG! I have this in my stack and enjoy seeing your additions... Thanks!

[PAPER FAN]

Very nice.

[Michael Mash]

Hello YuG,
Happy New Year to you and your Hiei. You are doing some nice work on this fascinating big ship. I am eager to see more. (Sorry to hear about the honey-do list)
Mike

[birder]

Thanks for the porthole technique Yu! Maybe the Tuft could use some little rings around the portholes too! Nice to see this ship as it grows Yu-san.:)

[eibwarrior]

Great results on the portholes Yu. I'm glad to see you're back into working on the mighty Hiei.

I appreciate your tutorial on the assembly of these portholes. Very clever and clear explanation.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks all. It’s my great pleasure to know that the porthole build seems to be a help to you.
I took out the brass wire out of wire brush because it is the thinnest material I found so far but it looks too fat for this scale of ship. For larger scale ship like James Tuft it or even 0.2mm diameter will be suitable I think. I may as well tell you one drawback of this method is that it consumes so many knife blades though.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Picture 1
It is obtuse from the picture. Yellow arrow pointed area has 1.5mm high gap. Cause is orange hatched section is too high. As I glued there firmly it is risky to remove and cut it short. My solution is to add 1.5mm wide paper to the bottom of side wall.

Picture 2
Make holes on gusset plate using sewing needle. After cut off projected paper at the back side, glued peeled off gray printed paper on to the back side then stick a needle again.

Picture 3-4
Remove layers of paper on half of gusset plate then fold it and glued on the back of another half.

Picture 5
After shaping side wall of watch tower (is this name correct?) round, glued transparency with double-faced tape

[Yu Gyokubun]

some more pictures...

[PAPER FAN]

Excellent techniques, I am hoping to pick up pointers and the ones above are great. Thanks and as always fantastic build so far.

[Wilfried]

Hello Yu-san,

I am always neither entrancedly from the superstructure of the Japanese imperial navy cruisers.
Above all because here again a master of his field shows his work.:)

With lovely greetings
the Wilfried

[Michael Mash]

Hello YuG,
Thanks for the sharp clear images and the detailed description. That superstructure is showing some fine skill.
Mike

[B-Manic]

There sure is a lot going in in such a small area. You did a great job getting it all aligned and squared off.

[Don Boose]

This is exceptionally skilled work, both mentally (in conceptualizing the solution to the problem) and physically (in executing exceedingly fine and clean construction of the details), Master Yu!

Don

[Papercut]

This is exceptionally skilled work, both mentally (in conceptualizing the solution to the problem) and physically (in executing exceedingly fine and clean construction of the details), Master Yu!

DonDitto, could not say it any better than Don said, and ditto to the title Master Yu.:DRick

[Paperwarrior]

Very impressive! I can only aspire to be as skilled as this.

[eibwarrior]

Great work on the superstructure Yu. Very clean detailing and the portholes really accent the build.

Keep the updates coming!

[birder]

Looks great again Yu-san! Nice to see you building so we can learn how to do some of these more difficult parts:)

[Yu Gyokubun]

Many thanks gentlemen
As the scale is small, to build only those small numbers of parts took very long time. So, your kind words sooth my fatigue and clear up my spirits.

Before starting build this ship one thing slipped my mind. That is railings and ladders. There are no PE or laser cut parts on shelves for this scale. After contemplating I made up my mind to give it a try to build it out of paper.
During cutting and after cutting I painted it with lacquer to stiffen it.
It looks fat compared to PE parts:(….. but I have obsession with using paper as long as possible lately….

[GreMir]

Yu,
They are just perfect!
How do you manage to cut them out without breaking them? CA glue?

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks a lot Mike.

Please take a look at attached picture. That is the way how to cut thin strip of paper.

When you cut virgin paper there is fewer problems. You just cut it ordinary way as is shown in the picture ‘ordinary cutting’. Move knife blade toward you until it reaches near the end of cut line. When the blade get close to the end, change the blade angle to paper right angle by turning the knife in a direction opposite to you so that you will not cut beyond the end of cut line. To put metal ruler or something hard will be helpful to stop the blade. Pink colored arrow is the direction you move the blade.
At step 3. it will make it easier to cut if you turn paper and the blade 180 degrees. In this case you will move the blade in a direction opposite to you.

When you cut a line that is adjacent to the line you have already cut, it will be a bit difficult. The technique I use is ‘digital cutting’. To avoid tearing off narrow paper in between openings, move or press the blade downward little by little.

Note: If you cut beyond the line accidentally, don’t worry. Turn over paper and apply glue on the cut part. As the cut made by the blade is so sharp that there will be no trace left after glue dries. But in case you tear off paper…..over spilt milk.

[redhorse]

Those railings are excellent! I'm always so impressed with your work, it pushes me to improve my own.

[GreMir]

Thanks Yu.
I will try this trick with reversing the angle of the cut - I usually reverse the part but this result in somehow uneven cut line if I'm not very careful...
Putting the ruler as stop for the blade - brilliant!

[APA-168]

absolutely beautiful work Yu, and thanks for the tips on cutting! Will implement them on my next project. Your railings are stunning, I could never guess that they are paper and not PE!

Can't wait to see more of this build!

[Don Boose]

Incredible railings! And excellent information on your techniques, Master Yu. Many thanks.

Don

[birder]

Thanks Yu-san for showing this build, and useful tips!:)

[Yu Gyokubun]

Many thanks all for your nice comments but I was not at all happy with the railings. To my naked eyes it looks OK but in a close up photo, fat image especially cross bar bugged me for a week. An idea that finally I came up is to use electric wire for cross bar. Diameter of electric wire is 0.1mm. It’s the thinnest material I can obtain at this point.

Picture 1. Draw a template on a thick card
Picture 2. Remove outer cover of electric wire
Picture 3. Glue electric wires on the thick card. Glue both ends using CA glue
Picture 4. Cut out thin strip of paper for stanchion. This is much easier than to cut out paper railings as just pressing the blade downward works
Picture 5. Glue stanchion on electric wire using CA.
Picture 6. As some points of electric wire adhere to the thick card, insert knife blade between the wire and the card to remove the railings
Last picture. Upper side is electric wire plus paper and lower side is all paper railing. Diameter of paper railings looks more than double compared to electric wire.

After removing the railing from the card painted it grey with lacquer. As lacquer penetrate into fiber of paper, strength of thin paper seems to be enough in conjunction with the electric wire which support thin paper to stand.

Today’s progress is small but for me it is significant because thin image of railings convince me to go for this method.

[D-H]

Extremely effective, looks great and very timely as I have some railings to make in 1:250.

What an inventive bunch of individuals we are.

D

[Don Boose]

This is an excellent technique, Master Yu, and the bridge structure looks very realistic.

Don

[Papercut]

As always, new ideas that you are willing to share and teach at same time. I agree the wire/paper does look more scale like. The photo of the upper bridge work is really nice. I do so much enjoy your postings. Your friend, Rick:D.

[B-Manic]

I agree the scale of the wire rails looks much better. Great tip - thanks.

I'm using laser cut rails on the DN V-108. The trouble with these is that they look flat (because they are), the rails and stanchions are the same thickness. I coloured the rails with a black marker and the stanchions with two coats if white acrylic. The paint builds up the stanchions a bit making them look rounder and fuller than the rails.

[Papercut]

I agree the scale of the wire rails looks much better. Great tip - thanks.

I'm using laser cut rails on the DN V-108. The trouble with these is that they look flat (because they are), the rails and stanchions are the same thickness. I coloured the rails with a black marker and the stanchions with two coats if white acrylic. The paint builds up the stanchions a bit making them look rounder and fuller than the rails.OK what a neat little trick for the laser rails. Great tip.:DRick

[Michael Mash]

Hello YuG,
Sometimes the little things make all the difference. It was a lot of work, but your railing looks superb on that superstructure.
Mike

[APA-168]

Your new railings are even more impressive than your previous effort, which is really quite something! I must say that this is the first time that I can recall that I have seen scratchbuilt railings that looked "right"...at least in this scale. More often they end up looking chunky and overdone, but not yours. Yours are perfect.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks a lot D-H, Don, Rick, Douglas, Michael and Avery

D-H and Rick, Let’s invent and share various ideas for our prosperity:D

Don, thank you for clapping me on the back with kind words and encouragement that give me a boost.

Douglas, thanks for the tip about laser-cut rails. I’ll give it a try in building the Bismarck.

Michael and Avery, the obsession of small work has got so firm a hold on my mind because it makes all the difference for better or for worse so I think I must not underestimate it. Sometimes failure in building small parts may ruin the look of entire model. Taking my model for instance, chunky porthole rims makes it looks ‘toy’. Too small hole on the gusset plate on lower bridge is devastating. Now, it’s too late to redo them…….. next time I’ll try not to make same mistake again. I always think so but so far I have never finished a model without making any mistakes….

Anyways, what I like the most in paper modeling is that we have to sustain our concentration all through the build and I love feeling of strain, which gives me a charge, regardless of the results.

[birder]

Very nice Yu-san! Your persistant effort to acheive realistic results is excellent and is working! Railings at this scale must be a great challenge..:eek::)

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks Glen-san, I suppose persistence would be my only redeeming feature. As I am not able to make small holes with the knife I have been using, the day before yesterday I went to an office supply shop for a sharper knife from ‘Tajima’ that Rick (papercut) speaks highly. At the shop ‘Tajima’ wasn’t in stock but instead I found OLFA knife that has 20-degree knife angle. I guessed with this knife I might be able to cut out small holes and decided to give it a try. Although I need to get accustomed to this knife, result is rather satisfactory. Taking two nights cut out windows and holes on the girder.

It comes as a fresh reminder that tool is critically important

[PAPER FAN]

I like the knife, it has a much nicer handle than my old excato all aluminum tool. The blade seems to match exacto #11.

I never thought about your technique for the holes in the girders, I have been using a waldren punch set, works good but the tools are expensive and wear quickly with paper. I was wondering if you ever get any flashing of the paper when you slit the initial part od the hole then use a file to round it out. Do you coat the paper stock with a glue ahead of time?

[Yu Gyokubun]

I like the knife, it has a much nicer handle than my old excato all aluminum tool. The blade seems to match exacto #11.

I never thought about your technique for the holes in the girders, I have been using a waldren punch set, works good but the tools are expensive and wear quickly with paper. I was wondering if you ever get any flashing of the paper when you slit the initial part od the hole then use a file to round it out. Do you coat the paper stock with a glue ahead of time?

Usually I do not coat the paper stock with glue but for this girder parts I glued peeled off thin paper to the back side of the parts. I thought this lamination of paper somewhat strengthen the paper. The reason why use peeled off paper is that laminating two layer of paper result in too thick girder at this scale.
After opening the holes with knife, I stick sewing needle in the holes to smoothen cut edges.

Why I prefer knife to punch is that I need practice cutting with knife day-to-day basis to improve cutting skill so that I can cut out holes like in the second picture. If you use punch in this case, it will result in tearing off thin paper between holes.

[Michael Mash]

Good Morning YuG,
Nice work with the knife. You make a good point about using a punch. In some cases where holes are close together, they do tend to damage sections between openings. Question: I see your new Avatar..........is that a dragon? Please comment. I would enjoy hearing the story behind it. Thanks.
Mike

[B-Manic]

That is some pretty fine cutting Yu. You need a steady hand, good eyes and a fine knife for those girders. I coat the back of the paper with glue when cutting parts like this. Gluing thin paper to the back never occurred to me. Thanks I will try this, it should add more edge gluing surface as well.

Please do elaborate on the new avatar.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Good Morning Mike and Douglas,

It is a mythical bird Karaweik.
I took the picture when I visited Karaweik Palace which is located lakeside of Kandawgyi Lake in Yangon, Myanmar.
Karaweik Palace is a replica of a Brumese Royal barge and today it houses a restaurant. On the bow there is the Karaweik.
I am not knowledgeable about the myth. What I learned about the Karaweik is that it is said to be Sanskrit for Garuda, the legendary bird-mount of the Hindu god Vishnu.
Here you’ll find full view of the restaurant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandawgyi_Lake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandawgyi_Lake)
And attached are larger pictures of the bird and building that I took there.

Yu

[CMDRTED]

Thankyou for sharing your work, ideas and techniques. These are all great inspirations for some next projects. And thankyou for the explanation of the great bird. It seems worldwide every culture has a great reverance for the creatures that fly.

[Michael Mash]

Thanks YuG for the fine images of the golden bird and restaurant. Very impressive.
It is interesting hearing some of the stories about the places your work takes you to, particularly a country like Myanmar, which we do not hear much about.
Mike

[Royaloakmin]

Hi Yu-sensei, I use a similar technique for small holes lik you are doing. I start the hole with a scriber point, then I use those tiny jeweler's screwdrivers to enlarge it; same technique, different tools to accomplish the task. Hiei will be a worthy companion to your Fuso!

[PAPER FAN]

Thanks, I will try these methods, amazing results for sure.

[Yu Gyokubun]

CMDRTED, thanks for dropping a note. I am very glad to know my technique seems to be of some help to you

Mike, travelling here and there sometimes dampens my enthusiasm for paper model but it's not bad to cherish the memory of interesting places I dropped in taking the opportunity during business trip.

Hi Fred-san, hearing you are applying the same technique, I am assured and it pins down me to go for this technique.

PAPERFAN, you are welcome.

I was going to build one or two stories of structures, some of stairs and rails today but because of fit issue shown in the first photo I had to tinker with it for long time so time run out to build rails and stairs.
During the build I found height of structure inside of bridge is about 1mm higher than it should be. When I found it the structure was already firmly glued to the bridge, I had to cut a roof following the structure’s outline and it resulted in gaps there.

Second photo : Chamfer edges of girders. By this treatment cut edges do not show up….

Fifth photo: still long way to go....

[Michael Mash]

Your images show no evidence of the problem you noted. The work looks wonderful in the third and fourth images. And the full view in the fifth image is excellent.
Mike

[Papercut]

I agree with Mike, what mistake. I have this kit and I am just awed with what you have done with this to me small scale ship. The portholes lined w/wire makes my eyes water with the amount of work just this area of the model intel's. Looking good YuG, looking forward to more of this artful build. Your friend, Rick:D

[birder]

The view of the whole ship is beautiful.:) (as is the rest)

[Barry]

superb building as always

[Yu Gyokubun]

Lately I can’t afford to have time for paper model build because of frequent business trip :( If I were rich, I would retire now.....
So far I built rails for the Hiei using two methods that I have come up but since both are not satisfactory, last night I built using the method described in the attached picture.
But, as I didn’t have fish line in hand I used 0.3mm stainless wire instead. After glue dries pulled out the wire then cut the paper in pieces for stanchion. A drawback of using wire is that holes are flattened while cutting the paper. I had to stick pointy needle into the paper to enlarge the flattened holes. This morning on the commuter train I came up with the idea to use fish line instead of metal wire so that I can cut the paper with fish line inside. I expect this will prevent holes on the paper to be flattened :cool:
This evening I’ll give it a try and post the result pictures.

[redhorse]

Thanks for the technique, so logical and I never would have thought of it. I'll have to try that when I get some modeling time.

[Michael Mash]

Hello Yu,
I enjoy your sketches and descriptions of your techniques. When you get rich and retire, I'm certain we will see much more. I'll watch for your update tonight.
Cheers,
Mike

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks Jim, Mike, today I wasn’t busy in the office so in the morning I drew a sketch of rail build, afternoon checked location of the nearest fishing goods shop and model shop. Since after idea for rail build was ready I couldn’t wait for closing time, I slinked out from the office early and went shopping at fishing goods store and model shop for fishing line, electric wire and so on for rail build.

The theory and practice are not always consistent with each other. When I drew a sketch this morning I thought, oh perfect!, but….

Today I used 0.3mm fishing line to form the hole because I thought larger hole will make it easier to have 0.1mm electric wire pierced in the hole but it might have been too large. Next time I will try 0.2mm fishing line.
Another issue in this method is how to cut the stanchion parts uniform width. At this scale even 0.1mm difference results in big difference.

First picture shows cross section of station parts.
Second picture shows the result of two methods. Upper rail is electric wire plus single piece of paper for stanchion. Lower rail is the method came up today. To my naked eye there is no difference….. previous one might be better…… I must think about which method I use during the trip from tomorrow….:(

[modelperry]

This method of building rails may be the best one I've seen yet.:eek: I will be trying it on a few of my upcoming projects.;)

Greg

[birder]

Nice to watch the designs on the railings, it seems no standard method but must be a factor of scale....I think both the rails look great Yu-san!

[redhorse]

I'm thinking NSWL's chopper might work for uniform cuts. I've got the older one with a masonite base and this tends to get chewed up pretty quickly, but now I see they make one with a cutting mat. I've never used mine on paper, but it works great for shaving off uniform thickness small disks from a styrene rod.

Cutting Tools: The Choppers I, II, III (http://www.nwsl.com/tools/cutting-tools-the-choppers-i-ii-iii)

[Royaloakmin]

That was my thought, too. Also Micromark carries a line.

[Papercut]

YuG-San, most interesting. I will give this a try and the sanctions turn out scale in appearance too boot. One of the best tips I have seen for railing. Thanks for sharing, just wished I could get you to build a Locomotive!:eek:Rick

[Yu Gyokubun]

Thanks guys. Jim and Fred, I found the NWSL chopper on the web and it seems to be available in Japan. Though I haven’t checked the price, considering the material cost of this method for one ship is around US$1, perhaps purchasing the chopper would pay off in a long run compare to purchasing PE rails.
BTW, last night I came up with an idea to make guide block for uniform size cut. The concept is to secure the position of flat blade cutter so that it can cut the stanchion uniformly though I don’t think this sloppy method will do, I will give this a try after back home. If this method fails, I will consider buying NWSL or Micromark chopper.

[Yu Gyokubun]

Finally I hatched out the device to cut stanchion uniform size. Put less than 0.2mm thick paper in between two flat blades and glue them using CA.

The first and the second pictures show uniform cutting device.

Added some more railings, ladders and upper bridge

[Yu Gyokubun]

It seems attached picture size automatically reduced so railings are not clear....

[jagolden01]

Yug, it may be reduced but can still see much of the railings. WOW.

[Michael Mash]

Hello Yu,
Your cutting device worked quite well. I have seen versions of this. Some modelers manage to get two blades into a knife handle, side by side. Even though your picture reduced, the railings are still visible. Perhaps you will get a chance later to get more close-up images.
Mike