Anyone working on the new Fujimi 1/350th Kongo?

Mine is due on Tuesday, and I have been thinking about getting one of the PE upgrades which might solve the sprue problem.  Then again, I could simply be a lot less ham-fisted when I try to get them off the sprues and save myself a bundle!  From what you say, it sounds like a much better quality kit than the 'Nagato' recently released by Hasegawa.  Looking forward to it, and it will make a fine addition and companion piece to some other Japanese 1/350 kits I have bought lately!

Got mine yesterday, and I have been going over the model for parts fit, etc.  Looks to be an excellent model, but I will only know how excellent the fit is when I have begun to build it!  A couple points that have come to my attention... First is the use of a large number of internal bulkheads in the hull, which might be a problem.... It seems that Hasegawa first started this method, with the 'Mikasa, ' and while it works well for that model, I have had some problems with it in others, specifically the 1/350 Aoshima 'Atago' I am working on at the moment.  The bulkheads themselves don't really seem to have any structural function, except to take up room (they would have to be eliminated if this was to be an RC model), and in fact cause problems when fitting the deck on 'Atago', since it makes it very difficult to compress the edges of the hull to the deck to make a good seal (they fit close, but not quite, as the bulkheads are just a hair too wide).  Certainly, I don't want to have this problem with 'Kongo,' (or Nagato either, for that matter!), and I may simply not install them except where they are needed to support the secondary armament turrets.

The next problem I am hoping some of you resident experts might be able to help with..... This particular edition of 'Kongo' comes with brass turned barrels for the main guns, as well as the plastic versions on the sprues.  Looking closely at both of these, it appears the plastic barrels are a fair bit thicker than the brass barrels, and also are formed in a straight tube past the strapping at the aft end of the gun next to the turret (some cannon-cocker might tell me the technical terms for these).  The brass barrels are not only thinner in diameter than the plastic barrels, but also have a definite 'step' or sleeve-edge about mid-barrel that the plastic ones don't have.  I have gone back to my references regarding this extra sleeve/step, and just about all the photos show the barrels should be smooth from the strapping right out to the muzzle (which is nicely flared in both brass and plastic versions).  I say 'just about,' because there are one or two photos which do show this extra sleeve/step!  The only thing I can think of is that the barrels may have been replaced at some time and were slightly different versions.  Anyone know anything about this, and can anyone tell me which barrel 'mikes' out better in terms of scale diameter?

Do you guys think that you can post updates and pics on this build?

I know this is going to be a future build and it would be great to have a heads up on it.

I think it would be a great thread.

Thanks

Mike

Oh, I'm sure we will all hear a lot more about this kit!  From my point of view, it's a real improvement over the Hasegawa 'Nagato' (I still can't believe they left CAD lines all over the hull on that one, and still haven't figured out the best way to address the problem!).  It will be a while before I get to the 'Kongo,' as I have a number of other kits I am working on at the moment (a 1/350 'Atago,' a 1/350 San Francisco,' a 1/200 'Akizuki,' a 1/200 'Fubuki,' and a couple sailing ship kits too!), and I want to think long and hard about how I will address this kit in order to do it justice.  Another thiing about 'Kongo' that I like; they carefully molded in the de-gaussing cable on the hull, a feature that has been sady lacking in most of the Japanese 1/350 ships I have seen so far...... Besides, there are some more kits coming out that I also have on order, and I like to build ships in pairs (working on 'Atago' and 'San Francisco' at the same time at present), as it gives me a better perspective on what the original designers/operators were hoping to achieve.  I will probably hang on to the 'Kongo' at least until I get 'HMS Repulse' later in June, and may even wait until I get done with my HMS Hood/Nagato pairing sometime this Autumn......

I'd appreciate a sprue-shot or two.

I have the old Fujimi 1/700th scale kit that I never got around to starting. Would be nice to see what the bigger one is about.

Here is a review of the Kongo in Modelshipwrights

http://www.modelshipwrights.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=3199

 

I bought the Nagato at a vert good price, buy maybe should have saved my money for this one instead.

Searat - I am a  very novice builder,but did some searches on how people have dealt with the Nagato CAD lines. A succesfull strategy has been a light coat of Mr Surfacer 500 followed by wet sanding at higher grits. Mind you, I have only READ about this tip, not actually done it... will be years till I get to the Nagato.

 

Yup, I thought of a similar solution, using putty, or even just several coats of matte paint just on the CAD lines and then wetsanding... The problem is there is a lot of fine detail in some of these areas, and sanding in the area could easily screw them up.... I will do some experiments with the bottom of the hull and see what works best, but it won't be for a while yet! 

In the meantime, I am still looking for additional information on those 14" gun barrels... Any thoughts?

link to full pix of all sprues, instructions text and pix, box art, unpainted, many views of assembled unpainted and full done-up model, etc.  Looks great; I've ordered one.

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10068739 

S. 

searat12 wrote:

hoping some of you resident experts might be able to help with..... This particular edition of 'Kongo' comes with brass turned barrels for the main guns, as well as the plastic versions on the sprues.  Looking closely at both of these, it appears the plastic barrels are a fair bit thicker than the brass barrels, and also are formed in a straight tube past the strapping at the aft end of the gun next to the turret (some cannon-cocker might tell me the technical terms for these).  The brass barrels are not only thinner in diameter than the plastic barrels, but also have a definite 'step' or sleeve-edge about mid-barrel that the plastic ones don't have.  I have gone back to my references regarding this extra sleeve/step, and just about all the photos show the barrels should be smooth from the strapping right out to the muzzle (which is nicely flared in both brass and plastic versions).  I say 'just about,' because there are one or two photos which do show this extra sleeve/step!  The only thing I can think of is that the barrels may have been replaced at some time and were slightly different versions.  Anyone know anything about this, and can anyone tell me which barrel 'mikes' out better in terms of scale diameter?

 

I know that as the guns were used, the bores would wear out, the guns would then be removed and replaced while the original guns were reworked. Perhaps this is the case for Kongo.

Yup, I know they used to replace the barrels fairly often, and certainly 'Kongo' did a LOT of firing at Guadalcanal and elsewhere.  I wonder if she got the old barrels from the 'Ise' and/or 'Hyuga' when they were converted to battleship/aircraft carriers, or if they were simply upgrades of some sort?

It's the weirdest thing!  I have been looking at a number of scale diagrams of both 'Kongo' and her sisters and their development over time, as well as Ise, Yamashiro, and the other 14" gunned Japanese battleships, and it seems that when the Ise class went in for their major rebuild in the '30's, they apparently come out with these different model 14" guns, and the same happens to the Kongo class in the 1943/44 time frame.  I wonder if there were two different manufacturers of heavy main guns for the Japanese Navy, and built the guns to the same operational/technical spec, but slightly different in appearance in terms of the length of the external sleeve?  The references I have are the 'Gakken' special on Kongo and Haruna, and the others are 'Warships of the  Imperial Japanese Navy,' plus another Japanese language battleship photo book specifically dealing with the construction and modifications of the Yamato, Nagato, Ise and Fuso classes.  And so it appears I am right where I started, which is confused!

There are probably a few members that don't know about this site:

 http://www.combinedfleet.com/kaigun.htm

It has somegood stuff about the IJN including ordnance. Unfortunately, nothing about barrel changing that I can find.

 

Searat12 wrote -

".......at least until I get 'HMS Repulse' later in June,......."

Are you talking about Trumpeter's 1/350 kit? And is it really going to be released this June?

Am intrigued - For me, this one will be THE release of 2008 so I'd love to hear more.

Yes, Trumpeter is going to release a 1/350 model of HMS Repulse, in her fitout just before being sunk along with the Prince of Wales.  The model has been available for pre-ordering for a couple months now (you get a cheaper price!) at Hobbylinc, Tower Hobbies, and others, and is supposed to be released in June.  If it is as good as the HMS Hood released a couple years ago, it should make a fine addition to any collection...

HMS Repulse has been one of my favorite ships for a very long time, so of course I jumped on board as soon as I heard the news!  It's funny, because one of the greatest 'coulda-beens' would have been a matchup between Prince of Wales and Repulse (Force Z), against first a bunch of Japanese heavy cruisers in a possible night attack (the whole Mogami class, which could well have sunk them both with torpedoes), and then against Kongo, Haruna, and Atago, Takao and Chokai in a day battle, if the Brits managed to avoid the Mogamis!  Of course, both POW and Repulse were in fact sunk by aircraft, as there was essentially no air cover available to defend them (criminal negligence!), though both ships went down hard (HMS Repulse took ten torpedoes and a 550Lbs bomb before sinking). 

The loss of HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales has been long-touted as a classic example of the 'obsolesence' of battleships once suitable attack aircraft had been developed, but of course, it really shows more graphically that such ships simply needed to be suitably protected against unopposed air attack in order to survive (there should have been a British aircraft carrier, HMS Indomitable, in the neighborhood that could have given them cover, but it was damaged in a grounding in Jamaica, and not repaired in time to join Force Z).  The fact that Force Z was able to 'swan about' in a South China Sea crawling with Japanese ships, submarines and aircraft for a couple days is surprising enough, but it was no surprise that they were sunk when the time came (pretty much a suicide mission comparable to that of Yamato several years later)........

So it will most definitely be June 2008 for the release then.
Can you tell us where this info came from?
I have been asking for a release date from many vendors and no one seems to have a clue, only that it will be 2008.

Even WEM, who supplied their own resin master to Trumpeter didn't seem to know, even when I asked them if they had their PE set ready.

I got that from Tower Hobbies about a month ago......

s'cuse, Free Time Hobbies...

Thanks for that - I am in the UK, but will be watching the Luckymodel website very carefully during the next few weeks!

This is a great subject and I cannot wait until it is released.

Mine arrived this morning ,and as usual I couldn't keep my fingers off of it! I have the hull assembled ,and it's a fine build so far. The detail has to be seen to be believed ! The grilles for the funnel are so fine,I'm going to be afraid to cut them from the sprue ! The aftermarket guys are going to have a rough time finding stuff for it. All I can see it needs is railings ,inclined & vertical ladders -even the radar antenna is useable!

 

 

 

Thanks for the update... seems I should have bought this one instead of the Nagato.... oh well!