Kongo - hiei - fuso -ise

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After building Arizona and Oklahoma I decided to try a crazy 4 ship build. I had all 4 of the newer released IJN subjects and the process is actually unique. Going from ship to ship has kept the interest at a high level and other than Hiei all the others are very similar in design. The ships:

IJN KONGO – ANGRAFF – early 1944 (prior to final AA upgrade)
IJN HIEI – GPM – 1942
IJN FUSO – ANGRAFF – 1944 (after final AA upgrade)
IJN ISE – ANGRAFF – late 1944

Each model required fill that I used dry wall filler to accomplish. The Ise’s hull was the cleanest of the 4, while the Kongo required fabrication of new parts (white). Overall I was very pleased with the construction except for the following major issues.
- The deck on Ise refused to sit flat and required a lot of work to accomplish
- The deck on Hiei is not crowned, a serious overlook.

The photos of the initial hull construction to follow in the order listed above.

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Hiei initial hull construction

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Fuso hull initial construction

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Ise hull initial construction

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So far these models have been under construction since the end of November. I re-modeled all of the linoleum sections so the colors would match. I am not an expert but believe the GPM color to be way too dark. I did not repaint the bridge for Hiei but did so for the others.

The GPM kit is by far the easiest to assemble but this not a knock on Angraff. All have been good to work with. I had to build the lower half of the Kongo bridge on the ship as it is two separate parts until the main bridge is completed and there were some minor issues with matching the height back and forth. I am using Styrene rod for the Hiei mast posts as they are a single uniform piece from the bottom up. The other ships are all level by level. A major issue with Ise’s bridge is the layered assembly is painfully obvious on the backside. I fabricated a single piece of card stock and glued it over the back side to hide all the layering.

I will finish the upper works towards the end to keep from damaging them during handling. Both of the rudders broke off the Kongo (one was subsequently eaten by my dog) during handling and one was lost from Hiei. These will be reinstalled at the end of construction.

Kongo

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Hiei hull and lower bridge

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Fuso hull and lower bridge

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Ise hull and lower bridge

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Turret construction has been basic. The Hiei surprisingly has no internal frame but went together very easy. There are some odd issues that I can not determine who or what may be in error. If I had to guess the Turrets for the Ise seem to be about 10-15% too big (they are larger than either Kongo or Fuso, which are common). Hiei’s turret housings are longer then Kongo’s but the width is the same. Hiei and Kong actually had identical turret housings in real life. If I place the Hiei’s guns onto Fuso, they will not fit the around the superstructure. I believe GPM missed on the turret roofs as well, there should be one more baffle like structure as is the case on the Kongo. The installed turrets on Ise are an issue, the last turret nudges up against the “C” turret barbette. But I will retain them.

I used facial tissues mixed heavily with white glue to make the blast bags.

The guns from front to back Hiei - Kongo - Fuso - Ise
Show are Kongo on top of Hiei and last 2 pics are Ise on top and next to Hiei.

[casca]

You're a better man than I to tackle a project like this !