IJN Fuyuzuki [Modelik 1:200]

[Lex]

(I meant tomorrow night)

I will first re-upload the images whose link went dead.

To sum up the hull. Fit was fine, I had not anticipated difficulties above waterline and ended up with ridges there. My bad on that.

[Lex]

Superstructure:

Smokestack and main mast has fit issues. Box structures are generally fine. No part of the superstructure accounted for deck camber on the hull and totally threw my off by surprise. Torpedo launcher was a good fit.

I constructed the rangefinders anticipating all guns (including 25mm MG) to be pointed at 2 o'clock direction. Now I have changed my mind and decided I don't have enough experience to make this plan work out. So I took a step back and repositioned the rangefinders to neutral - not the easiest of tasks

[Don Boose]

This is truly outstanding work, Lex!

That hull is a work of art - you're a smooth operator!

I wasn't able to see the ridges that vexed you, and the upper work detail is at an exceptionally high level of art and craft.

I have a lifelong fascination for 20th century Japanese warships, so viewing this thread is a very great pleasure.

Don

[Lex]

Onto the new blood.

I was so unfamiliar with the standard 0.2mm card used by cardmodels that I had to use CA glue on the turrets. It didn't end well, major fit issues here only added to the insult. Nevermind, I'll just paint over them after I finish the metalworks, or so I though back then. That became the plan, and the plan stood there waiting for the metalworks to finish. The torpedo launcher taught me how much effort those handrails would be, so I put off making those on the turrets... for years

After the debacle on the first turret, the other three turrets benefited from a little more experience and came out alright. Since I decided to paint over the first one, there is no point leaving the other three unpainted, so no edge colouring either.

Fast forward to the current year. I made the laser cut railings, still time-consuming but much less so. Anticipating the paint-over, all printed details were made into relief and included as part of the laser accessory. I had to live with all my previous mistakes, thankfully the result wasn't as bad as I feared.

The depth charges are also mounted. Exactly what material the deck is around the DC racks is subject to interpretation, I chose to go with one reference I found and cut a piece of coloured card to match the exposed steel surface rather than the linoleum deck.

Behind the racks lie more issues. It can be seen on the photos that there are two tracks to roll the depth charges off the stern from. There is no part for this, and no metalwork instructions, basically a blank canvas. Due to the presence of these tracks, the stern deck of Fuyuzuki is most certainly flat as shown in a number of references, with a section protruding outside the waterline. These details are not tiny and will have to be scratch built. I'm not good enough to include all details, but there are some details which the model will make no sense without. This is one of those cases.

Another part that does not make sense is the crane for the steam launches (I am sure there is a dedicated word for it, sorry). They are spaced too close together, and the launch is placed too far back. As-designed, there will be no room to swing the launch outboard, and it will smash into an AA platform as soon as it is lifted. Again, I consider this as something that hurts realism and made corrections. You can see where the cranes were supposed to be was patched up.

Next up, the Type 13 air radar. Again the kit provided only a template. You know the drill, laser, copy paste. I feel like cheating, but anything to get the job done, right?

[Lex]

Originally Posted by Don Boose

This is truly outstanding work, Lex!

That hull is a work of art - you're a smooth operator!

I wasn't able to see the ridges that vexed you, and the upper work detail is at an exceptionally high level of art and craft.

I have a lifelong fascination for 20th century Japanese warships, so viewing this thread is a very great pleasure.

Don

Thanks Don. As the make-up artist would put it - it's all about lighting

I found the underwater hull can keep their shape very well, not only due to the internal ribs I gave them, but also thanks to the inherent curvature. But above waterline the paper is mostly flat, and large flat sections without internal support are very dangerous. Same story on large wings I guess.

Another story on this. When I moved to where I live now, this model was temporarily put into the garage. The garage was not completely sealed from the elements and the truly British humidity bent the hull skin so much that I almost decided to trash it with the day's kitchen waste. Thankfully when I took it back to the living room the paper returned to how it should be. I think I can appreciate why our cardmodelling friends in humid southern China invented ways to keep their models alive in rainy seasons.

I also appreciate the design language used by the IJN ships in WWII. I do wonder if any post-war Japanese destroyer was published by major publishers, some of them also look great.

[Michael Mash]

Lovely work Lex, despite all the obstacles you describe.
This is the first time I have seen that type of Japanese turret. Very unique.
The IJN ships always surprise me.
Mike

[Lex]

These 100mm guns are highly rated by Japan (and respected by the US on the receiving end), the only issue is not being able to produce enough gun barrels fast enough, and their high wear during use. So yeah, they are only found on the Akizuki-class AA destroyers, other ships completed later, big or small, still kept the traditional (and subpar) 127mm AA gun, and there was basically no plan to upgrade to the 100mm on any existing ship.

[Lex]

Another radar set today. This time it's the Type 21 radar, or the mattress on the main mast. Different sources have different shapes for this, some (including this kit itself) said square and some suggested it was the rectangular type. This isn't a very well-researched model so I'm just going to take my pick. So I drew the rectangular one. Making it was dead simple, the machine did the hard work there.

The majority of the effort today though, is the 9m steam launch/cutter/boat (what is the right word for this?). The type provided by the model is actually the 11m boat used on heavy cruisers and above, but resized down to 9m. The actual 9m sized one bears some differences to this, but are minor.

These boats were made ages ago, but are missing a lot of details before they can be considered complete. Today was doing just that. On the first image you can see a comparison of how the boat looked before the details were added, and after. The additions include the cage that supported the canvas, the ventilation pipes, the pole on the stern (broke one of them so have to make it again), and handrails. The anchor and the flat structure atop the cabin (where the parent ship's name would have been written, as well as signal lights) were not indicated by the model, but were added after a little research. The white bags that cushion the hull were made into relief. I will paint over them to restore their original white colour.

To think that if I made all these by hand, it might take another month, and I will most likely end up never finishing this model at all...

[Michael Mash]

Nice precise work Lex.
I understand you use some type of device to cut the small parts.
Can you tell us more about that?
Mike

[Lex]

Hi Michael, it's a laser cutter. GPM stocks laser parts to the more standard equipment, but the more ship-specific ones need to be custom made. I am not sure if laser accessories are available for Fuyuzuki, so I made my own.

I used the one in my university department, or, in China, you can pay to have your pattern cut out for a small fee, and have the parts mailed to you. Not sure how expensive laser cutting is in the UK though.