Reg

I am glad to welcome you, colleague.
The Americans built 2 ships for Russia, the cruiser Varyag and the ironclad Retvizan. Both ships are very beautiful.

First step.
Preparation of parts.

Hello everybody!
 
I've got an IJN mood - so I want to share some "progress" on a Yukikaze kit I've started nearly a decade ago. Base of the build is a very well known kit by Tamiya - a very high quality product I dare say. Add-on is a Lion Roar photo etch kit which also includes turned gun barrels and depth charges. Also there are couple Veteran sets - single- and triple-25mm auto cannons.
Most of sub-assemblies were built in 2011 🙂
Here we go:

It's been almost a year since my last update. The reason is that Speedwell has been landlocked in Canada since last November. My very talented collaborator David Antscherl had made and applied all the carvings and I was going to pick her up to rig her just when Covid struck and the border was closed. I have all the blocks, ropes, masts and spars ready but no model. I'm hoping to get her this summer but who knows at this point. At any rate here are some photos of her sporting her wonderful carvings. 

continue,
this part of building of 2011 some preparation for rigging

So decided end the hull weathering there and once all complete can do any changes I want... which means! Started on the wooden deck!
 

 
I painted over the sticky side with gel medium and then painted the deck with gel medium and stuck it down that way rather than use the adhesive that it comes with. 
Apparently it’s got a better stick and also had a tiny bit more give for sliding it into the best place.
 

 
 

Worked the AM shift this weeks so not as much time as normal to work on her and in the evenings I’ve been doing astrophotography so only have during the day and cloudy nights to give her. 

But when I could I carried on. Gave it a few days to dry well after so many baths in spirits. 
 

 
Added a salt stain streak wash.
 

 
and also a rusty grime wash.
 

 
these pictures are taken under quite harsh light so all the effects really stand out but under normal light it’s a much more subtle effect.
 

 

 

 
Think I’ll give it one more medium grey wash to blend everything together and soften the effects and move on with the build.
 
 

Right enough time to dry and on with the getting old effects! This time doing a dot filter. 
 

 
Once the oils have had a few minutes I then washed of 99% of them.
 

 
always in a downward motion until it looked right, then a few extra washes as I’ve learnt that once dry it does stand out abit more and also under different lighting.
 

 
Tomorrow I’ll do a medium grey wash over it all to blend it in nicely.
 

It feels like I’m moving through this pretty fast! Have a feeling once the hull is done it will slow down with all the PE details.
 

 

 
I have 3 grey AK washes. So used the light one on the light grey and dark one on the dark grey left it abit and then washed most of it off.
 

 

 
will leave it for a day and repeat again with abit more mixing of the two shades

Well I gave the grey a day to dry and taped up the areas for the camo.
 

 
lots of angles and shelves on the hull so will be fun for the weathering and fade but trickery to tape tight!
 

 
I think for using the paints I already have the colours work well together.
 

 

 
next I’ll do some washes to see if we can get some streaks and fades going while the rest of the hull is taped up.
lighter colours are always easier to get a nice patchy look.

Masked off the painted hull and have started on the light grey. 

 

 
I added a few drops of darker grey to get some variation in the colour.
 

 
just a pretty rough coat as I’ll paint in the dark grey and shade that and lots of washes and try get a well faded and well used look to it so need to have more obvious contrast otherwise it will all be hidden later. I’ll not go crazy with lots and lots of rust type washes but will try get the grey to look old

Didn’t get to do much work on her today as last night we had a pretty good earthquake (7.3) at 2:30am just off the coast, so left the house for high ground and slept most of the morning.
 
But painted the black water line strip. At the time I’m going for it hadn’t been made thicker and the standard size for a battleship was 6ft so that’s what I’m doing. 
No markings on the hull to show where the waterline is so just looked at pics and drawings and gave it a go. Main thing was trying to get it straight and not looking like a banana so redid it a few times.
 

 
also did some pre shading for the above waterline part of the hull. Which will be next.

The way the Warspite's hull was constructed, (all the Elizabeth class battleships were) was plates bolted to frames from inside, so there would be no noticeable connections on the outside of the hull, horizontal strakes were laid on the hull consisting of vertical plates butted together and bolted to the individual frames. They alternated strakes, first were laid directly on the frames and the frames were built up between succeeding strakes, subsequent strakes were laid over the existing strakes to form the hull..... Vertical seams were cut to very tight tolerances and packed when bolted to the frames..... They would be hardly noticable ....
 
image from her 1941-42 refit in New York

Subsequent improvements to the hull over the years, (like the torpedo bulges installed in her 1924 refit) were welded construction.......
 
As you can see from the image it is hard to pick out the vertical plate joints, they are there but even 50 feet away with a high res camera, (for it's day) they are very hard to see, smaller than the ropes holding up the scaffolding.... (image courtesy of Russ Watton from 'Anatomy of the Ship #35 - The Battleship Warspite' published 1986, Naval Institute Press....
 
At 1/350th? why bother....

The hull has been glued together.
 

 
the internal structure really helps keep the shape right. Glued them in first and let them set then glued the stern and slowly zipped it up to try get a smooth as possible join.
 

 
fitted together well with just a bit of an edge.
 

 
I used Tamiya filler. The Vallejo filler is great if you can wash off any excess and get it perfect before it goes off. But I find it’s too rubbery to sand. Tamiya is perfect for sanding but it’s a lot thicker


 
can start to work on some of the hull details next
 

Her size compared to a destroyer  - 
 
OC.

The tops of the forward turrets  as she was prior to being towed to be scrapped  and her bow showing location of her armour plates  -
 
OC.

Well, my bench has been idle for long enough...
 
HMS Sphinx is the next major release from Vanguard Models, and as per the previous 4 main kit releases and the 8 ship's boats, I'll be building up the production prototype and creating the instruction manual. Just a little 'ye potted historie' of Sphinx: She was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1775. Captured by the French in September 1779, she was recaptured by HMS Prosperpine on 29 November 1779. Sphinx was finally broken up in 1811.
 
Onwards...

 
One thing you'll note if you buy the completed kit is that there's quite a weight. Chris shipped me two complete sets of wooden parts (and some fittings), and that pack, minus any plans, heavy manual or the numerous sets of photo-etch, came in at a whopping 7kg. Factor in around half that weight, plus those missing items, and you'll see it's a bumper pack.
 
There are over thirty sheets of laser cut material, also incorporating the three ship's boats (a good number of different thicknesses). Apart from the MDF sheets which comprise the Sphinx's skeleton, a ply sheet with the lower deck etc, laser-engraved maple decks, the rest of the material is pearwood. Two bundles of strip wood are included; the obligatory lime for first planking, and some 0.8mm thick pear for second planking. The colour is this really is very nice. There are numerous changes between the first test hull Chris built and featured on MSW, and this version, with deleted parts, new parts, and things which have been improved further to make building even more enjoyable. 
 
I now have a few days of acquainting myself with the original reference build pics before I can start this, probably this coming weekend. 









 
 
Cannon are in black resin and nigh on ready to use. They look really nice, and the cannon balls are in black plastic, so no painting. Boat beam brackets are in very strong resin, and there is a sheet of laser-cut acetate for the stern/quarter windows. The stern fascia is cast in resin and also looks seriously nice. The figurehead is beautifully detailed and 3D printed. Stern lanterns will be from PE and resin. 

 
The colours on this will be very similar to the Duchess of Kingston, but with red inner bulwarks. Whilst my build will be strictly 'out of box', the scope for extra detailing the cabin at the stern, will be more than a temptation for some, with that engraved, chequered floor and engraved doors to the quarter galleries.
 
As there will undoubtedly be questions I can't answer, feel free to use this log to also ask Chris questions that are specific to this release. I'm sure he'll chime in with any extra contents details I missed here. 
 
Wish me luck ☘️
 

Dear Jules,
Interpreting written sources is always dangerous. I don't have to remind you of the numerous deaths of people who were victim of different interpretations of religious written sources. The nasty reason is that people tend to select the interpretation that suits them best and completely ignore different signals.  A nice example is the Witsen drawing you show in #159 (V), where the bottom is planked and the bilge is not (yet). The next drawing in line is the one I showed in #155 (X), where the bilge is planked and an angle does show up. That's pure logic: before a shipbuilder starts planking, he flattens the frames to give the plank a solid landing, as you can see here on this picture, taken at the Statenjacht Utrecht shipyard:

 
I did not write Witsen's book, I am only comparing it to wreck finds and experiments with models and replicas and over and over again Witsen proved to be a trustful source. If you don't agree with my conclusions, that is alright with me. You are completely free to choose your own interpretations. Better even: write them down and publish them. Different ideas are often useful.  The only hesitation I have with your perseverance is a suspicion that you don't want to be convinced. I remember a former sort like discussion, in which you came into a forum as a fresh new member, stating that you had proof of 17th century Dutch shipbuilders designing their ships on paper, referring to a painting by Rembrandt. All the evidence of the contrary was denied and the discussion ended in a chaos. I am afraid this is a repetition. 
Again, I don't care if you think differently than I do on some matters. You are free to do so as you are also free to make your beliefs public. I don't feel attacked, but please stop bothering me, more or less demanding to agree with you in matters where we think differently. We are here to enjoy our hobby and some people like to hear opinions about the roots of the full-size industry. I pass through what I think I know (which is in fact very little) and if you have problems with what I say, I deeply apologize. Life is complicated enough without useless discussions.
Again I wish you all the best with your model of de Gouden Leeuw. Maybe you should post your work here. That would give a good basis for discussion. Better than this one, I'm afraid.
Best,
Ab
 

The construction of the main deck has finally begun.......
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Keep going...
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

A few days ago, the old mother unfortunately died of illness, stop work for nearly a week to take care of the funeral. Yesterday I returned to the studio from my grief to continue my project. Emotionally, it may be a little slow, but I am committed to my goal of finishing my work within the year. Thank you for your encouragement and attention. I won't let you down. 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Today is the Spring Festival, a traditional Chinese festival. Happy New Year to all the world! Our shared interests have brought us closer together, and I wish you all the best in the face of this epidemic. I never stopped making it. Hope that through their efforts can do better, put their best work in front of everyone. Thank you for your support!   
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

I have never seen a ship built with all the photo etch.  This will very exciting to watch!
 
Greg

Seems like most of the action these days on MSW is with the plastic kits, so I decided to join the crew with the Hasegawa Shimakaze kit.  I ended up buying a couple of more advanced plastic kits from a MSW member (noted in my signature), but wanted to start out with something a little easier.  Good timing, as my nine-year old daughter wants to work on a Revell 1:48 F/A-18E kit she picked out a couple of years ago when we were at Michael's.  So, I figured I can learn on the Shimakaze and hopefully impart some experience and skills to her when she builds her model.
 
History.  The Shimakaze is an interesting ship.  She was laid down in August 1941 and completed in May 1943.  She was based on the Yugumo-class, but included a third quintuple torpedo mount -- the largest torpedo broadside of any WWII destroyer (to accommodate, the hull was lengthened an additional 25 feet).  She also had a new boiler and turbine system that provided for very high speeds (40.9 knots) among the fastest of any WWII destroyer, and was also one of the first Japanese destroyers to be outfitted with the newer Type 22 radar.  Fairly unremarkable service though, and she was sunk in Ormoc Bay in November 1944.  She was the only one of its class to be built - known as the Type C destroyer - as part of Japan's 1939 Program.  An additional 16 Type C destroyers had been planned, but were cancelled when the resource strains during the war caused Japan to turn from new or more complicated designs to more established and simple ones.
 
Kit.  The kit is one of the newer Hasegawa kits, and seems to have had pretty favorable reviews.  I bought the Hasegawa PE and linoleum deck add-ons, and also bought the Infini detail pack.  The Hasegawa PE add-on appears like it will be mostly duplicated by the more expansive Infini kit.  I also have some other detail add-on kits like the ones below that I might use.


Resources.  I picked up the following resources that seem to provide quite a lot of detail:

In case anyone is interested in picking up a plastic kit, Scalemates.com is a great resource that consolidates reviews, after market accessories, resources, build logs, etc. for kits.  The one for the Hasegawa Shimakaze kit is here:
 
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/hasegawa-40029-ijn-destroyer-shimakaze-late-type--995983

I have fitted the line thrower, bollards on the rear deck and smoke stacks. The line thrower on the current CA RS1 doesn't look like the one included in the kit.
 
Arjan