ccoyle

Some nice molded detail there for 1/72 scale.

Kazunori Morikawa of Zootoyz has been posting progress on his Atakebune model on the shops Facebook page here. And, if I understand correctly, it's his first wooden ship model kit, and I think he's doing an awesome job building the kit and even modifying it to improve the presentation. I have no doubt he will be finished with it in the next few weeks, so you should check out his work if you don't mind going onto Facebook.
 
I don't think he will mind me sharing one of his build photos here. I will double-check with him of course. But, this gives you an idea of how this model kit will progress.
 
Again, this is from Morikawa-san's build, not mine...

 
If you wait for me to get this far along, you may have a long wait. I'm spending a lot of time seeing how parts fit together, so I know what kind of modifications I can reasonably get away with.
 
 
Back to My Model
 
For my own model, I'm pretty well sticking with the kit on the hull planking, though I may change the bow and transom boards a little as I mentioned earlier. But, before I get too far along, I've decided that I need to test fit things together to get a better understanding of what I might be able to modify without too much difficulty. So, I basically began taping the model together, temporarily fittings pieces into place.
 

 
There are essentially three distinct parts of this model: The lower hull, the boxy upper hull structure, and the castle structure. These can actually be built separately and out of order, and I'm considering doing just that. This will buy me some time to figure out what things I want to modify, since the castle-like structure should work pretty well, as is, and setting into place should help me gauge what I can do to the upper hull box structure to make it more unique.
 
In the meantime, I've dyed all the laser-cut sheets using Transtint wood dye. I've been using this stuff for years now. My mixture is 24 drops of Dark Vintage Maple to 9 drops of Amber, thinned down in a 2oz jar of denatured alcohol. The nice thing about using wood dye versus stain, is that dye does not affect glue joints, so can be applied before gluing parts together.
 
And, since this build log is supposed to be about my build, here's some photos of what should be the next parts that will actually go onto the model... maybe...
 
The bottom of the hull, as with all traditional Japanese watercraft, is keel-less. This is the main reason the rudders are so large, as they must act in place of the keel, keeping the ship from sliding sideways too much from wind pressure. Of course, it makes these vessels very easy to beach. the bottom of the model is composed of three interlocking sections with exposed tabs for alignment. Note that I've bent and test fitted these pieces into place, but haven't glued them at this stage.
 
Below the hull are the pieces for planking the sides. Obviously, the single, long pieces are a simplification. But, more on that later.
 

 
The bottom pieces are 2mm thick hinoki, which bends quite easily when damp, but do NOT try to bend the wood without dampening, as it won't bend, but will snap easily.
 
The exposed tabs are common on the Woody Joe models of Japanese boats. For most of these kits, it's never been an issue, as the bottoms of those boats and ships were commonly painted black. However, I've never seen an Atakebune represented with a painted bottom. If anything, the Japanese might have used fire to scorch the wood on the bottom to harden it and make it resistant to rot and insects.
 
But, the tabs are on the underside of the model, and will be very hard to see unless one picks up the model – not an easy task once all the sculling oars are added. So the tabs may be a non-issue. However, like with the bow plate and the transom plates, one easy possibility might be to sheath the bottom piece with 1mm wood. In fact, that could probably be done without thinning the existing pieces, as the bottom of these ships were thick, and may very well have protruded slightly below the bottom hull planks.
 

 

 

 
Sheathing would hide the tabs as well as those interlocking seams. 
 
Before I started this post, I was thinking I wasn't going to worry about it. But now, I'm thinking I may just do it. What the heck? I'm considering so many modifications now that the project will probably drag on for a lot longer than it should. As if I've never done that before!
 

Well, last night, I decided to update my blog, and I ended up writing and writing, and writing... and writing. I ended up spending hours, well into the wee hours of the morning writing. Much of what I wrote, I decided to store away for future discussions and blog entries, or maybe an article somewhere. 
 
For this build log, I'm starting with just the beginning of what I wrote, so there's room for others to chime in.
 
I hope others do chime in, as I'm not an expert in the area of Japanese boats and especially not an expert on these Sengoku Period warships. And, as a student of the subject, I'm learning as I go, and trying to retain what I've learned elsewhere (with my brain, that's getting increasingly difficult to do!).
 
Ekis brought up an interesting topic that I had to really think about, the true nature of these large, flat-sided hull planks presented by the Woody Joe kit and the Nagoya Castle Museum model. More about this later, but it's what I spent most of my time pondering and researching/reviewing. But for now, the model...
 
 
Moving Along
I'm taking it easy on getting this new model kit started. Last time I posted, I really only had cut out the initial parts I needed and then dry-fit them together. This week, I glued together the basic hull frames, using machinists squares to check and set alignment. I used Titebond wood glue for this work.
 

 
I spent a lot of time trying to decide what I wanted to do with the bow and transom pieces. These pieces have holes in them that alignment tabs in the keel piece will lock into. The thing I don't like about this, is that they are then visible on the finished model. As far as I can tell, there are 5 tabs total that will be visible on the completed model, as designed.
 
Since I'm dying the wood, these tabs shouldn't be as noticeable as on a kit built straight from the box. Still, I've considered solutions, and one is to thickness sand the bow and transom pieces down by 1mm, then use 1mm sheet wood to cover them. The covering wood will have no holes in it, so no tabs will be visible. In order that everything still fits together, I will have to file the tabs down by 1mm.
 

 
You can see from the photo below how the tabs stick out now.
 

 
About the Bow
Now, there is one other thing about the bow that I'm considering changing. The Woody Joe kit is based on the museum model in the Saga Prefectural Nagoya Castle Museum, but I'm sure that model has some simplifications, as I believe I've mentioned earlier. One of those possible simplifications is the design of the bow.
 
Many paintings and museum models usually show the bow of the Atakebune to be made up sections, often overlapping ones. I've been playing around with the idea of introducing that feature to this model. Of course, paintings and museum models are not real evidence, since the paintings and models are pretty modern reconstructions.
 
 
The two main types of bow of the Atakebune. On the left is the type of bow shown by the Woody Joe model. Note it appears here as two large pieces that are mounted flush. 
 
 
Based on this illustration from the book Wasen II by Professor Kenji Ishii, it would be simple to represent the bow as shown on the left. Since I'm already planning to sheathe the face of the bow plate, it would be relatively simple to use two pieces of wood to recreate this appearance. I've seen more complicated arrangements, but I don't know if complexity is necessary or particularly accurate in this case.
 
 
 
 

We all gotta start somewhere!
 
 
Not plywood -- some kind of cardboard. I'm not sure what we would call it on this side of the pond. It's made out of layers of fiber, like card stock, but not as dense. And yes, all necessary edge coloring has been done to this point.

No aftermarket interior with this one. Very detailed "office". Nice start.

My first model was a wooden kit of a Jaguar and it has never stopped,Even in Vietnam . Watched my father build the Revell U.U.S Constitution .Built my first wood ship in 1976 After 6 builds completed I have purchased the Mantua Sergal 1/78 scale Cutty Sark , And this is the reason I joined this site .

I can't recall if it was @VTHokiEE or @ccoyle, but someone mentioned that Amazon had a few of these paper models and at $12 dollars, I was game. I attended an event at the National Lighthouse Museum (https://lighthousemuseum.org/) yesterday as part of a demonstration of ship modeling by the SMSNJ (http://www.shipmodelsocietyofnewjersey.org/) (of which I'm a member despite their better judgment).  And I thought, I can't lug all the stuff I need at this point my wooden model build, so I'll try a paper build. I figured I would share here. May the bridges I burn light the way for others!!

We all gotta start somewhere!
 
 
Not plywood -- some kind of cardboard. I'm not sure what we would call it on this side of the pond. It's made out of layers of fiber, like card stock, but not as dense. And yes, all necessary edge coloring has been done to this point.

Yep, these paper hulls can be tricky. I'll let you know when I've gotten one "just right" -- but don't stay up waiting. There's an after-market 3-D printed hull available for HMV's USS England -- it ain't cheap at $64, but that's what Christmas lists are made for.

And done! A few last bits of railing, a half-dozen davits, the catwalk between the turret and bridge, and a couple of bridge navigation lights constituted the final tasks. I bought a small display case from Hobby Lobby -- the kind used for 1/18 scale collectible cars -- and am going to create a base using the blue cloth seen in the photos. I'll post a pic to show how it turned out.
 

 

 

Railings continue.
 
Here's a shot of a set of railings wound on the template. If you look closely, you'll notice that there are three rows of railings printed on each side (representing a starboard set and port set) of the opening; each of these represents one set -- deck, superstructure, and turret. This is the deck set -- notice that the wound thread on top of the template crosses the printed stanchions of the railings closest to the opening.
 

 
And some more railings on the model since the last update: aft superstructure, turret, and starboard deck (plus one pair of davits as a bonus).
 

Construction continues with the railings. All of the railings are made using the kit-supplied template, but they must be made in three separate sets: superstructure, deck, and turret. We begin with the forward superstructure and bridge.
 

 
The railing are made from quilting thread, glued with dilute white glue, stiffened with several coats of matte clear spray, and finally painted, trimmed, and glued to the model. I just now noticed a bent stanchion in the photo, which can easily be fixed, because the finished railings are still a little "bendy" and can be manipulated a bit with tweezers.

Thank you! I moistened the original part so that I could remove most of the paper layers before folding (not draping) and gluing. To do the actual draping, I use a scribing tool and just try to imagine how the cloth would fold over on itself if it were hanging.

So here's tonight's progress. The biggest remaining task will be the railings, which I will again be making from thread. Other than that there are just a few bits left.
 

I just now saw that the display model at Paper Shipwright has the boats switched around in the manner I described above, so I guess that's the way to do it.

Okay, now I have an issue. There are four boats; the kit refers to the larger boats as "lifeboats," and they are supposed to on the amidship chocks. The smaller boats, a whaler and a cutter, are supposed to go aft. The issue is, if the boats are placed in those locations, then the shrouds leave insufficient room for the lifeboats -- they're too big for those spots. However, I can move the lifeboats aft, as shown in the photo, and everything will fit. The question is, will I be violating some sacred Dutch naval protocol if I swap the boats around in this manner? BTW, the rigging was a complete pain in the Tuchus!
 

 
I did not attempt to make the masts from the supplied paper parts. I replaced them with turned plastic rod.

I did the port-side boat supports last night and finished up the starboard side tonight, then did the first two boats (not glued in at this point). I usually have quite a struggle with the boats, but these turned out nice, probably because I opted to forego cutting out the spaces between the thwarts and adding the optional internal detailing. That produces boats that are less 3-D, but they're also much easier to build.
 

 

 
BTW, the secret to those spindly little support columns is to wick some CA into the cut edges before doing the edge coloring -- makes a big difference.

Bollards, anchors, chain, anchor davits. The chain is a bit over-scale, but it was the smallest I could find at Hobby Lobby. I had to individually pinch each link with pliers to get the chain to pass through the chain stoppers and hawse holes.
 

 
Boat supports are next.

Well, I wasn't going to add a picture today, because all the bits I added today are quite small, but since you asked ...
 
Here's an over-all glimpse. The additions are the fairleads (8), ship's wheel, and compass.

 
And a close-up of the wheel (10 parts) and compass (5 parts), along with some scallywag's finger for size comparison (I'm fresh out of matchsticks and Tic-Tacs).

 
Thanks for looking in!
 
EDIT: There's also a new cowl vent in front of the stack. You'll notice it points upward at an awkward angle. I can't get the cowl vents in these kits right if my life depended on it. We'll just call them "Coyle-style cowls" -- or maybe just "Coywles." 🙄

Ugh ... this next step looks simple, but it was a real booger. First of all, the stack is not a simple cylinder -- it is oval in cross-section, and these are twice as hard to do nicely as just a plain tube. The second difficulty was the guy wires. These are made from EZ Line, and it is not "EZ" to work with at this scale. The anchoring points are tiny, which makes getting glue everywhere a real issue, and the line itself is so light that the slightest puff of air -- like when the AC cycles on -- makes the stuff want to flutter and fly away. I may have needed "special words" for this part. 😬 But at least it is done.
 

Another day's progress.
 
Hawse pipes, capstan, bitts, chain stoppers.

 
Forward superstructure deck and support columns.

 
Skylights.

 
Meer zal volgen, maar niet vanavond!

Turret added. Yes, it rotates.
 

Hull sides, bridge wing struts, and hammock lockers added. Turret is up next.
 

 
 

Moving right along to the aft superstructure. The kit uses gluing tabs on parts like this, which I don't care for. That's not a knock against David's design, since lots of other kits use this same technique. But as I explained in my V-108 tutorial, these tabs act like little springs and don't allow structures to seat as well as they could. What I do instead is cut all the tabs off, then use furring strips cut from scrap material to line where the parts will be glued down; each strip acts as both a part locator and a gluing surface and should produce minimal seams between the glued parts. I did both the main deck and the underside of the superstructure deck in this manner.
 

 
And here's the aft superstructure glued down to the main deck. It doesn't look like much, but there are 30 parts in the sub-assembly. The doors are doubled. The tiny little braces on either side of the structure were not included in the kit, but the superstructure walls were marked for something, and braces were my guess based on similar ships from the same period.
 

 
 

First step was to cut out the base plate and temporarily fix it to a piece of glass to keep it flat during construction. Then came the hull formers. I never have much luck with using the plain card pieces by themselves -- I always seem to get some "starving cow" sagging between bulkheads. In fact, one reason why I chose Tijger as my next project is because I mistakenly assumed the deck is flat; I was going to see about getting a piece of wood planed to the correct thickness and create a solid hull. But, in fact, the deck has a slight bit of camber, so I went with option #2, which was to glue the formers to some leftover laser-cut sheets (this is where hoarding comes in handy) before cutting them out, which produces a sturdier sub-structure and provides more gluing area.
 

 
Before attaching the deck, I had to cut out the recesses for the aft deck houses and turret; the latter action is optional depending on if one wants the turret to be able to rotate or not. I'm going for the rotating turret. I also located and made holes for the future mast shrouds and stays. Then the deck was carefully glued on.
 

 
Can't complain too much so far.