Digital Navy Heavy Cruiser Takao

[spgifford]

Well folks, I'm getting brave, gonna try my 1st build thread and on top of that decided to set my sites high and do the Digital Navy IJN heavy cruiser Takao.

I started by printing the hull formers on 65lbs card stock and laminating them with 3M super 77 spray adhesive to cereal boxes. After cutting them out I was not impressed with the 4 separate pieces each for the lower keel, horizontal piece and the upper keel. I wasn't sure how strong they would be glued together with scrap. I was especially worried about warping of the pieces after assembly. There isn't much the designers can do for this as the pieces need to fit on standard paper for printing.

After some thought I experimented with the lower keel and laminated all 4 pieces to one piece of poster board. I felt better about the strength of the piece but felt it could be done better. I re-printed the upper keel and horizontal piece on 110lbs card stock and laminated them together onto one piece of poster board and then laminated these assemblies to cereal boxes and cut them out. I was careful not to put the joints from the multiple pieces of cereal box any where near the joints from the printed pieces. The result was a very strong, rigid and straight piece. Some of this is over-kill just to make neat looking parts but I'm happy with it.

Picture 1 shows the pieces dry fitted together.
Picture 2 shows the individual hull formers.
Picture 3 shows the lamination of the lower keel. Unfortunately my picture of the lamination of the other 2 pieces didn't come out.

Hopefully tonight I can start gluing the hull together. I will attach the horizontal piece to a large piece of sheet glass I have and glue up the upper hull. I need to print the decks tonight also. I am thinking depending on how they go together that I may just laminate the individual deck pieces together as a hole using poster board also. I want to double check how they go together 1st before doing this.

Well, so far so good.

[B-Manic]

Nice start, the formers look good and straight.

[Michael Mash]

Hello Spgifford,
This is a good looking ship from Digital Navy. I hope you enjoy the project. Looking forward to your construction updates.
Mike

[redhorse]

I am looking forward to this, a great looking ship and a great start on the model!

[Don Boose]

Great start, Stephen. I am always ready to watch an IJN ship being built and you have begun with an historic and interesting ship, with a clear explanation of your approach, and good photos. I hope that Roman is also watching one of his children being built so he can offer advice if needed.

I've never managed to complete a paper ship, but hope springs eternal, and I never fail to amass a lot of good information when I watch others build them.

Fair winds and following seas as you set forth on this building adventure.

Don

[Yu Gyokubun]

Takao is one of my favorite IJN ships. As I want to build her someday, I’m very much interested in your thread and look forward to progress

[spgifford]

Thank you all for the kind words, especially from so many masters of the craft.

I glued up the hull formers last night. Unfortunately not everything was as straight as I would have liked. Much of I am sure is to inexperience in the paper/card stock world. In general the lines of the hull are straight, just inaccuracies in the frames and their fit in areas, again, my feeling is that this do to inexperience. I laminated the deck to poster board to make the deck one piece, it is currently drying under a large piece of sheet glass to try and keep it from bowing. Tonight if it is dry enough I will see about attaching it to the hull.

The graceful lines of this ship are starting to show. She really is a beautiful ship.

Hope to have some photos tonight or over the weekend, depending on when the deck lamination is dry.

[spgifford]

Well, got the deck attached and the bottom of the hull built. I'm not to pleased with myself as I'm feeling that in my enthusiasm I rushed this and didn't get the hull nice and straight. :(

There are a couple spots in the deck that have slight waves in them, nothing too big. The biggest spot is between frames 9 & 10 on the port side. There is a large (3inch/7.5cm) gap between frames and there is a slight wave at the edge of the deck. I'm thinking I should have laminated the deck a little thicker to give it some more strength.

The bow seemed to have a twist in it but now seems to have straightened itself out (not sure how that occurred)

The bottom keel piece has turned out a bit shorter than the top at the bow. I.m not sure if this will be a problem or not with the hull plates. If dry fitting shows an issue I will layer some card stock there to make up the difference (about 1/16 inch).

I'm gonna play a bit and see if I can get the largest wave in the deck out. After that comes the glue strips and hull plates.

[Don Boose]

Since one of the characteristics of the Japanese treaty heavy cruisers was a wavy deck line, I guess your eyes could play tricks trying to figure out which are the proper waves and which are not.

In any event, that hull looks very good indeed, to my eye.

Don

[eibwarrior]

Great looking work Stephen. I love the Takao. It's by far my favorite IJN cruiser. You're doing a smash-up job. Gotta love Roman's designs. They're very well done and easy to assemble.

Look forward to your next update.