Mogami 1944 by Azzoun - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1/350 - PLASTIC - IJN heavy cruiser

[Azzoun]

Greetings,

 

As far as I can tell, I’m the only IJN Mogami build log on here.  I decided to take this project on as I wrap up other projects which is very different from the stick and string models I usually like to build.  I found this subject interesting because of the hybrid characteristics as an aircraft cruiser which she was converted into in 1944.   Commissioned in 1935 and named after a river in Japan and was the lead ship of four of her self-named class of heavy cruisers.  Served in numerous battles in World War II until she was sunk at the Battle of the Surigao Straight in October 1944. 

 

This is a 1/350 Tamiya kit and I’ll be using the Flyhawk detail photo etch kit.   Below are some photos I’ve found, mostly courtesy of Wikipedia and my unboxing of the kit and PE details.   Should be an interesting challenge. 

 

All the best,

Joshua 

[Tony Hunt]

Looks like it will be a fascinating build. Lots of detail to drown in! 😀 Enjoy!

[ccoyle]

Hey, Joshua. I had the 1/700 scale Mogami way back in the day -- like 1982, if memory serves. I believe it was the last plastic kit I ever worked on. Never finished it, sadly. I look forward to seeing yours come together.

[Azzoun]

One fun element to plastic ship modeling is you can have a hull together is pretty much one sitting, that's motivating.  I really enjoyed how this model has gone together with metal fittings and screws.   Worst part of it being this little lip at the bow.   It's a little unnerving scraping off all this detail for the brass etch replacements, less sad for the overscale diamond plate on the aft deck.  I drilled out the portholes.   I'm going to start working on the propeller assembly and filling in the seams of the hull to paint.    Any ideas on cleaning up the plastic "fuzzies" in the portholes?

 

[mtaylor]

3 hours ago, Azzoun said:

 Any ideas on cleaning up the plastic "fuzzies" in the portholes?

I'd consider using a very small round file.  Rotate instead of "in and out".

[RGL]

Good looking ship and you can super detail it to a very high level. 

[MikaH]

19 hours ago, Azzoun said:

Any ideas on cleaning up the plastic "fuzzies" in the portholes?

A little bit of Tamiya Extra Thin in the hole will melt those fuzzies right back

[Azzoun]

11 minutes ago, MikaH said:

A little bit of Tamiya Extra Thin in the hole will melt those fuzzies right back

Sweet, I'll try that!

[Landlubber Mike]

Awesome subject and great start.  Hope you don't mind me following along.

[Azzoun]

Hello,

 

Things are starting to get a bit fiddly with these companionway hatches and flight deck supports. I started using my daughter’s desk chair so that I don’t have to lean over to get in close to the work. This is my first go with PE at this level but definitely is worth the effort. Trying to figure out where some of the PE goes is a bit of a puzzle sometimes as FlyHawk doesn’t explicitly place every part. Requires time to go over the directions, diagrams and parts a couple of times to assess what gets replaced by the PE.   The decks require a fair amount of stripping to prepare them for the PE detail replacements.  

 

Getting ready to be able to put the hull through the first round of painting with IJN Grey and Anti-fouling Red. I’m going to paint the bow plate separately because most of it will be brown for the linoleum. Puttied the seam in the middle of the hull, did some puttying at the lip of the deck plating to eliminate.

 

I’ve been having a hard time stepping away from this one! I’m going on a camping trip soon, I’m trying to work out what I can bring with me to work on!

 

Joshua

[lmagna]

Great progress Joshua

 

This looks like it is going to be a very impressive build.

[cog]

Good choice, one of the IJN ships I have on my list. I like the pagoda like style of the superstructure from most of the IJN ships. Although this one doesn't have that. You seem to be well on your way

[Landlubber Mike]

Great start!  You're going to have fun with all that PE - that's a ton in that Flyhawk package.

[Azzoun]

Hello All,

 

Some progress on the Mogami - Painted the hull, applied the foredeck plating since it was now painted and had a wicked mishap with the glue dissolving a small spot!   I managed to cover the surrounding errors for a passable light sand and quick paint touch up.   Not perfect but it'll do.   I was much more careful with the 2nd brown deck level application.  I've got a couple small seams that I'm going to try and go back and fix/touch up.  

 

Installed the torpedo launchers - the spare torpedoes were also a glue-able part but I didn't bother painting, you'll never see them once the deck goes on.  Only the completionism in me made me glue them in. 

 

This is my first real incursion with photo etch and learning lots of lessons.  My first try at folding one of these triple AA guns was a disaster.   It requires the folding and assembly of 5 separate pieces!  Thankfully the detail kit give two extra to consume.  Worst case is I use the plastic molded guns, or I get a set from Infiniti.  The application of PE detail to the turrets went much better and enjoyed the result.  

 

Thanks for stopping in.

[Tigerdvr]

Doing very nicely. PE is definitely a love/hate relationship. Sometimes it's your best friend and then there are those other times. 🤪 Your work station looks well set up also.

 

Cheers, Harley

[cog]

On 7/17/2020 at 6:49 PM, Azzoun said:

My first try at folding one of these triple AA guns was a disaster.   It requires the folding and assembly of 5 separate pieces!

You must be thirlled not to be building up a tripple AA gun for Yamato or Musashi

 

Nice work on the PE. Great spraying booth, got some width there!

[Azzoun]

Almost a year since I last touched this model, been busy on another project.   Had fun building these hatches tonight.  Remembered to anneal the metal this time, what a difference!  

[Old Collingwood]

17 minutes ago, Azzoun said:

Almost a year since I last touched this model, been busy on another project.   Had fun building these hatches tonight.  Remembered to anneal the metal this time, what a difference!  

How can you heat up PE   or am I just being thick.

 

OC.

[RGL]

I only learnt about that (annealing) last year!!!! Damn it would have saved me some grief. Good to see you back. 

[Egilman]

4 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

How can you heat up PE   or am I just being thick.

 

OC.

Annealing Brass PE....

 

[Azzoun]

9 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

How can you heat up PE   or am I just being thick.

 

OC.

I just hit it with a grill lighter for a half of a minute, worked great, metal is much easier to bend after that and it takes away its memory!

[Landlubber Mike]

Learned something new!  Thanks guys!  I do bonsai as another hobby and I've heard of annealed copper wire to wire trees, but didn't think about annealing brass PE.  Good to know!

[Old Collingwood]

10 hours ago, Azzoun said:

I just hit it with a grill lighter for a half of a minute, worked great, metal is much easier to bend after that and it takes away its memory!

Sounds like me  - "what were we talking about again"???😁

 

OC.

[lmagna]

Is that how it happens? just go out in the hot sun without a hat?

"Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun"

[Azzoun]

Made good progress on the Mogami over the weekend.   I'm almost confident enough to make another attempt at the AA guns.   I've discovered that wax pencils for doing rhinestone work is amazing at picking up small details to glue on.  The flight deck has been affixed with some persuasion, the PE had interfered with the kit designed assembly so some modifications which are livable.   The PE details completely replace this lower bridge which was interesting to build but had some pleasing results.   There were PE options for the aft AA gun stations on both sides of the flight deck but.... well, they didn't work out.     Here's a couple overall status photos of parts that have been prepped and dry fitted to show progress.   

[cog]

That's some marvelous work. Considering the quantity of brass on those guns ... they might as well have made them all brass. How did you glue the "flight deck" on the kit (method, which glue)?

[RGL]

You probably already have it but found this online 

[Azzoun]

Good Evening,  \\It appears I'm on my anniversary of working on the Mogami away from other projects.   The triple AA guns demoralized me the last time but this time, I decided to take it up again and had a fair bit more success.  Out of the 12 sets they gave me, only 8 survived the assembly which leaves me 2 short.  Some parts succumbing to the carpet monster, which I recently taught my daughter about, others just didn’t make the folding process.   I acquired another sheet of Flyhawk PE IJN triple AA guns to attempt another 12, pick the best 10.   Really enjoyed the result so far with the photo etch.   Started working on the aft aa bridge where I made a box with a door.   It to mostly replace the plastic provided portion of the superstructure.  Should be fun to do a compare later.  Glued together the funnel which I’ll also focus on to get my PE jollies.    More to come…  Joshua

[RGL]

Welcome back! 

[cog]

Good you picked p work again. I like the  way your AA guns turned out