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Post by Daniel C on Feb 7, 2011 15:51:26 GMT -5
hehehehe, in keeping with my new years resolution of starting many new kits this year..... here we go! I have always wanted this "ugly" Japanese Aircraft carrier in my collection, so I got this Fujimi kit many years ago on e-bay (I see why it was so cheap!). It is a horrible kit! But, it is also at this time the ONLY kit of Ryujo in 1/700 that I know of. I am trying to do minimal modifications of this kit, just get her built and on the shelf...... I am hoping with all of the new tool kits coming out of Japan, that it is only a matter of time for this important ship to be redone. Ryujo served the IJN well, she fought in the conquest of the Philippines, Dutch east indies, the raids into the Indian ocean, the Aleutian islands and met her end in the Solomons in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. I decided to start this ship now since she is near in size to the USS Cowpens which I am also building and they will look good together (even though she was gone before any of our CVL's were fighting). Here we go.... The Ryujo next to the Cowpens..... The kit is basically the hull, flight deck, and some "detail" parts. Not many pieces to her. I am trying my best not to do modifications, but each time I sit at the bench I remove something to rebuild it.... Looking thru the model art, I might be wrong that there is no new kit of her..... since the ship/model they are using has a different parts breakdown than this kit! ;D Oh, well.... more to come.... can't wait to paint that flight deck, I am going to put a big red meatball on her deck 'cause I want too!
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Post by carlos on Feb 8, 2011 16:59:35 GMT -5
Great build! I still havn't finished my Shinano Carrier I hope to finish it finallly before the start of spring. Will follow your thread..
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Post by Daniel C on Feb 8, 2011 18:31:43 GMT -5
Thanks Carlos ;D I am still working on my periscope and spread of 6 torpedoes for your Shinano! Well, did I say this was a terrible kit? I did learn that the same company Fujimi has new molds of this ship in 2 versions, early and as sunk.... Cool! Ok, here we are, I have been working on getting all the railings on the lower decks along the hull, the port side is nearly finished. I went ahead and used the kit pieces for the braces under the overhanging decks even though I know there is a p/e set out there somewhere to replace them. Hopefully with a wash and then a drybrush the girders will stand out enough to look good. They were sanded to about 1/3 of their original thickness..... Did I mention this was a horrible kit??? Overall view of the port side, I did putty over the huge hawse holes and molded on anchors, to be replaced, and I did sand off the detail on the bow to include the treadplate deck to try and even the bow area up a little. I have some other anchors to be added and some p/e anchor chain to add to the bow. Thats about all I will do to this kit. By Friday I hope to have the ship ready for paint. Good thing she only operated about 35 planes, I only have about a dozen for her deck. Which will be about perfect. Anybody want to paint on tailcodes for me in 1/700 scale??? Jose???
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Post by mexmarine on Feb 8, 2011 22:58:24 GMT -5
I am amazed with the close looks to the Cowpens , maybe you should bring them together to compare them It seems that you are enjoyng the extra work anyway I'll keep watching and learning
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Post by Daniel C on Feb 16, 2011 0:25:33 GMT -5
Work continues on my fun build..... did I mention this is a horrible kit?? Stern and 25mm AA platform. Those cool down tilted funnels famous to IJN aircraft carriers. Boat platforms..... that the boats don't fit on. Not sure what I will do about that yet! The bridge area... a mish-mash of 1933,1935,and 1942 details molded on the kit. Replacement p/e anchor chains..... Hull is complete, flight deck painting has began... I need to get an orangish color to the "wood", the Japanese used Cypress wood for the flight decks (and some battleships too). After some interesting reading on what flew from her deck and when. I learned for what I am doing, she will have 4 B5N "Kates" and 5 A6M2 "Zekes" in this strike. Due to her size she didn't carry the D3A2 "Vals" and could only launch a limited size strike group. Her total aircraft capacity was 38 aircraft. Very early in the war she carried the A5M "Claude" fighters as the Zero was in short supply, and B5N1 Kates. Slowly Zeros and the improved B5N2 Kates started to come aboard in 3 or 4 aircraft at a time. I had to add the very front bulwark to the bow since that is where the gold Chrysanthemum goes.... I wasn't going to until I looked at a picture of her and it needed this small detail. A little strip styrene and it was done. Things to do? Complete her AA Guns.... 8 x 5" (twin mounts) 16 x 25mm (4 triple and 2 twin mounts) and 8 x 13mm ( 2 quad mounts). Add her antennas, a little fuzzy on the details here, but it looks like 1 folding type and 3 fixed ones. See where I can fit some ships boats. Paint her grey. Add the air group put her in water.....
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Post by Daniel C on Feb 22, 2011 18:32:38 GMT -5
Progress report.... Intel has it that the Germans are building a carrier..... We must finish first! So, weapons are on, I used the Lionroar p/e to kitbash a pair of quad 13mm mounts for the bow. The rest of the weapons are styrene, the 5"40's are from the Generic IJN Weapons sets, and the 25mm are the Fine Molds guns. I thought about the p/e sets for these guns, they really help, but not on this AOOB build. As you can see the base coat on IJN grey is on and some weathering was done with artist oils, a modified "dot filter" was used. I started to mask the lines on the flight deck, but got bored with that, so I ended up hand painting them Vallejo white. The red and white warning stripes are also vallejo paints and hand painted along with the hinomaru on her deck. the deck should not have the hinomaru, that was only used for the "MI" operation and done away with after that debacle! But, it is my model, and I wanted it on!! ;D I also tried a dot filter on the flight deck to add a little variation to the planks.... we'll see how it looks once it has dried for a day. As you can see in the overhead, the airgroup is being painted, I will use decals for the hinomarus on the planes and try and paint the yellow band on the fuslage that Ryujo planes had. But I am not doing the code numbers on the tail! One thing I learned, start on the planes in the beginning, to be almost done and have to paint a lot of planes...... yuk. Anyway, for a fun project AOOB it is looking ok. Next, anntenna's, water and planes.
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Post by mexmarine on Feb 23, 2011 22:39:15 GMT -5
Nice Dan, but the pics dont show the wheatering... That's GREAT!!! ;D at this scale there should be no visible rust from the distance...only really upclose and personal I like the PE aplication, I need to learn it well to do my own ships
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Post by Daniel C on Mar 1, 2011 22:13:10 GMT -5
Some more progress..... Japanese carriers all carry these platforms on the end of the flight deck, I am not sure what they were for..... Some type of landing system? I do know they are a latticework structure not solid like most kits have them (the solid plastic kit platform in laying on the desk under the scratch built one). After looking around my stash I found some p/e on a cruiser set that I would not use and that is the basic framework used here, as well as a kit part (not in the instructions) that has the lights on it. Again, not knowing the exact colors of the lights and if they were different between ship or if they changed daily like a code I went and painted my lights red, red, green, green..... Next up, the masts, the Ryujo used 3 "pole" masts and 1 latticework mast in 1942. I have a p/e set for Junyo and Ryujo from LionRoar with the masts, so I took one of those and after looking at the kit masts, built the other three out of brass rod (.020), I wish I could find some in a smaller diameter for yardarms. The p/e or kit masts?? Again I am using superglue to build the masts, first I laid out a simple jig of plastic rod, next I placed the brass between the plastic rods equal distance, this will allow me to lay the yardarm on the mast and keep them level while the glue dries. Very useful as one of the masts has 2 yardarms. For flight operations the carrier lowers the mast to the horizontal position.... One mast.... Two masts.... As you can see, I superglued them in the horizontal position and them painted them (superglue lifts off the paint to easy otherwise). All the masts... I have located my trusty "helping hands" since my last build, I use it to hold the rigging line will I move the ship into place, the masts touching the rigging line.... It is to hard to try and hold it perfectly still while the glue drys. My wife has always wanted to help me build a model, so I am letting her help me on this build, she provided the hair I am using for rigging ;D pre-colored, and easier to cut than the normal nylon line I use. We'll see how well this works! Pretty much done, the planes are in the paint shop now waiting for the future to dry so I can apply the decals. I have decided for the planes to just use the "pegs" for the landing gear on this build (since I don't have p/e landing gear) but, somehow I do have p/e props, so I will add them. I have started on the water, same as before except I decided to go back to using the artist oils..... so now I am waiting for them to dry! One more update, the airgroup and her final portrait when done.
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Post by mexmarine on Mar 1, 2011 23:51:23 GMT -5
Learning has occured Master, the technics look really nice, now, would I be able to duplicate?
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Post by Daniel C on Mar 2, 2011 13:28:45 GMT -5
Ahhh, young Grasshopper, I know you have the talent, you just need some wax on, wax off practice!
;D
(A small update, while moving the ship today, i hit something and it caused one of the yardarms to twist.... an interesting repair job. Next time I will use 5 min epoxy instead of superglue, and if that don't work, I will learn to solder!!!)
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Post by corpsman on Mar 9, 2011 18:59:21 GMT -5
Excellent build and thank you for the tips of "how-to"!!! Gus Semper Fi
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Post by Daniel C on Mar 11, 2011 16:17:28 GMT -5
Ok, her she is..... Done! This kit took much longer than I had intended, since it was so old and poorly molded I didn't want to invest to much time in her and I hope she will come out in 1/350 scale! The ship is depicted as she was during the "North Pacific Operation" against Attu and Kiska in Alaska, June 1942. Ryujo, even though a small ship for a carrier (under 10,000 tons) she played a big role until her sinking at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Ryujo started the war attacking and supporting the landings in the Philippine islands at Davao. Her travels then carried her to the Dutch East Indies where her aircraft sank the old 4 stack destroyer USS Pope and damaged other ships. Next up, operations in the Andaman Is in the Indian Ocean from there she teamed up with the Kido Butai (Main carrier force) and joined in the Raids deep into the Indian Ocean attacking merchant shipping all the way to India. After the raids a little rest while the Kido Butai went to meet their fate at Midway Is. After Midway, Ryujo took on more importance and was foolishly used during the battle of the eastern Solomons. She was left unprotected with only 2 cruisers and a few destroyers to attack Henderson field. She was found by the aircraft of USS Saratoga CV-3 and took 1 torpedo hit and 3 to 4 bomb hits. She sank soon after. As she is a small carrier, the strikes she could launch were small, no more than 5 to 6 Kate attack bombers and of those only 2 with full loads of bombs or torpedo, the others carried reduced loads. The Zero's or Claudes which she started the war with, were spotted next and launched first. The aircraft in the kit were ok, I didn't do much to them but add a p/e prop. I left the "peg" landing gear, just dipping the bottom of the pegs in black paint to represent tires. Decals were used for the hinomarus and the yellow fuselage and tail bands were hand painted. The antennas were a PITA! I rigged this ship 4 times, always bending a mast or loosening a rigging line. ;D And during her final portrait, I hit a mast and have a lose wire!! I tried using hair, but found it is not good, superglue seems to have a hard time holding it, so one side is hair, one side is dai-riki fishing line. The Dauntless view.... I wish they made a set of bombs, torps and drop tanks in this itty bitty scale. Weathering was done with oils, very lightly..... I am unhappy with the flight deck, the "dot filter" didn't work like I had hoped (I was probably to worried about messing it up with to much oil paints) and some dry brushing was added later to help the plank detail. I used a flash for the last 2 pictures to help see the "weathering" A horrible kit that turned out not to bad.
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Post by corpsman on Mar 15, 2011 21:34:54 GMT -5
Excellent and beautiful build!! Pray my build turns something like yours!!! You don't want her - send her to Colroado for a great home!!
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Post by sammuel on Mar 16, 2011 22:18:39 GMT -5
She was an Ugly ship, but you have done her justice. That is a great build log and now I'm thinking I need to get her for my collection.
Outstanding Job!
Sam
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Post by Daniel C on Mar 17, 2011 12:48:36 GMT -5
Sam, if you do, make sure you get one of the 2 new molds of her. They are also by Fujimi, one as built, the other as sunk. She is ugly..... but cute!
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