Those look great.  But with my current eye status and loss of feeling n my hands I could never make those weapons.  Next best thing for me might be just getting the printed ones and some sepreate brass barrels.

Anybody know of a detail set for the I-17 sub?  So far I haven't found any.  Even just the basics would do.

That looks great Ikar!!

Ben, I know the trouble. Although I just had 14 twin 25's I've been through the grind and can tell you that the 3D look great advertized, they are VERY delicate nad difficult to remove without breaking them. I've never tried Very Fire and after seeing your trouble, I think I'll pass. I do like the Infini sets very much. They are pricy and fidily but look fantastic when completed. One caution, they will make you pull your hair. Other than that I think what you have looks great in your pics. Also, look into Alliance Model Works. I don't remember the problem I had with them so I can't say if I liked them or not. I know we aren't made of money and you can chase the rabbit right down the hole if you're not careful so I'd probly reassess what you have. They look good from here.

Here are my twin Infini guns vs the Haseagawa kit's.

Yesterday I spent several hours destroying several of the IJN Type 96 triple AA guns. In fact, I now have found seven different methods on how NOT to assemble them. Here is part of the problem; After buying the VeryFire (VF) guns I found that I do not like the detail or accuracy of the gun chassis. The guns receivers / breach are way to small, but the brass barrels are wonderful. The gunners seats and controls are a joke and appear closer to 1/700 scale (I'm talking extremely small). In comparison, the PE gun chassis with the Lions Roar set are actually nice looking, but the gun component (receiver and barrels) are terrible and barely even 2D. The problems I'm having with the PE are bending and keeping the seats and controls in place. Then there is the problem of not having a good gun component to fit into the PE chassis. The kits triple type 96 AA guns are a joke and nothing more than a square block with a couple lumps for definition and the barrels are terrible. Then came the experiments of trying to use the PE gun chassis with the kits gun receivers that were drilled out to accept the VF brass barrels. Problems occurred when trying to cut down the kits part to fit into the PE chassis.Later came several other mixes of parts without the success, hence the seven different methods of how to destroy seven 1/350 IJN Type 95 25mm triple AA guns. 

VF kit components

VF gun sets without the PE for the sights, seats, controls, or breach

three different variations 



So currently I am stepping away from those guns till I can figure out a method how I can have something I am satisfied with to add to the Yamato that can be consistently replicated. I looked at the Veterans Models after market replacements that while a little more money than the VF, the look better engineered. Likewise I looked at the one piece 3D resin printed versions. They also look fairly nice with the only item in question would be the barrels which I already have 30 sets from the VF purchase. Part of me feels like I am cheating the modeling experience (read challenge) if I buy the fully assembled 3D gun sets. It would also mean that I gave up on trying to create them myself and I would be a looser / lame modeler. 

Heck, who am I kidding, the after market suppliers are there for a reason. If there already is a great product available to enhance the Yamato build, shouldn't I just pursue it? Humm,....decisions, decisions.

WOW icar, that looks really nice!

Sorry for the slow updates, tis the season I guess. 

I jumped in with both feet first on the single barrel IJN Model 96 25mm machine guns. Here are the assembly instructions.



After a closer look at the VeryFire (VF) resin and brass/PE parts and comparing them to the kit parts it is my opinion that the kits gun base and receivers look better than the VF versions. With that said, the kit gun barrels looked terrible and it was missing a gun sight or armor plate, etc. So I decided to use the square gun platform from Lions Roar (pay no mind to the ugly flat PE guns).



In addition to the gun platform I used the model kits gun base and receiver, remove the barrel, drill a hole to accept the brass replacement, and use the gun sight and other PE from the VF set. Last was to add an armor plate made from sheet plastic to the front of the receiver for personal protection. After my Frankenstein assembly of components, this is how it came out.



The two guns atop the last photo are my replacements for those on the side of the superstructure. They were made with VF components and sheet plastic for the shields. The three shown on the lower right were the folded PE, the kit, the VF in the dark gray resin, and my modified configuration.

Next update will be the triple 25mm gun sets.

Ben

I finally got somewhere on the carrier and almost done.  The only thing I have to do are the aircraft.

Next will be the Kagero and the I-17.

Nothing that a little sake won't fix.

Ikar: Ohhhhhhh, those sound cool!

Ben: Wow, yeah they look much better than the kit parts. And a massive migrane too!!!

Those will look far better than the kits guns.

I finally decided to buy replacement IJN Type 96 single and triple guns for my 1/350 Yamato build. During the purchase I also got some additional ammunition boxes as many of them are missing on the older Tamiya kit. The triples have 10 per box and the single barrel contains 16 of them. The ammo boxes come with 30 per box.

Sooner or later I will have photos of my progress, I promise.

DRUMS01

I appoligize if I'm slow to respond. The notifications don't work, again, and my phone doesn't seem to be able to log on

I did a little checking on thte history of I-17.  It was on patrol near Pearl Habor to attack any ships that might make for open water and later actually fired on California when it tried to hit a fuel depot.  About the only damage they did was to make some holes in the ground and damage a minor building somewhere, but it did panic the coast.  Oddly enough the next night was the battle of L.A. that dropped a bunch of shrappnel and some unexploded rounds on the city.  The I-17 was sunk in August 1943 by a ship and Kingfisher attack in the western Pacific.

Nice, some of the Japanese subs were huge. 

My next two IJN projects just arrived.  I hsvr the Destroyer IJN Kagero and submarine I-27, carrying what looks like a very familiar 2 man sub behind its conning tower.  They list it as Japanese Navy submarine I-27 w/a target.  Both are 1/350th and later I will order the PE or detail set for Kagero but I don't think I'll be able to find something for the sub, but I'll try.

The carrier looks great 

Ben, I used Lifecolor for the Akagi and really liked it. My problem is that it's hard to find individual paints. I'm probably just not looking in the right place. 

Your carrier is looking really nice so far IKAR01. This little bits are going to look super once they have a coat of paint.

Speaking of paint, sorry about the lack of updates, but have been trying to educate myself on Lifecolor paints, specifically how to mix / thin, with what mediums, ratios, air pressure, what primers to use under it, etc. I hope to have some photos with some color applied real soon. 

I ordered Lifecolor thinner but received Lifecolor airbrush cleaner in its place. After checking various sources I found some of their thinner but it seems very expensive to me. I've been informed by several people who have been using Lifecolor for quite some time that they do not use their thinner and instead mix distilled water and windex to a 60/40 mix. They say the windex gives the paint a better flow and bite thus sticking to the plastic in a more uniformed way (better).

So I now have the "stuff" and will be giving it a go shortly with photos forthcoming. 

Ben

It looks like it's clearing up.

Here's another asttempt at a couple shots:

AWS web services is having issues - it's wreaking havoc across the web.

This is the only photo that I can post today.  It seems there is a problem with the hosting service.  

They said they are working the problem and hopefully have it fixed soon.  Y just trued diwnloading from my camera again with no luck.

modelcrazy

That is really looking sweet 

What I hate is brushing a small part off onto the floor whithout knowing it. My wife will hear me say "I SWEAR it was RIGHT HERE!" 

 

Followed by some CG verbage.  I do the same thing, and more often now with my senior moments, in loud AF style so it can be heard over the J-79's.

That is really looking sweet 

What I hate is brushing a small part off onto the floor whithout knowing it. My wife will hear me say "I SWEAR it was RIGHT HERE!" 

Even worse my fingers can't feel the pressure and they just open up enough to let the piece fall somewhere between the pickup point and the contact point, or sometimes the tweezers go with it and land somewhere else.

Here's the next set of pictures.  It took about a half hour to get tehm because I think my camera is smarter than I am.  At times it doesn't want to focus as I carefully push the trigger and other times it might focus but not trigger the shutter.  But here they are:

That sounds good- best o' luck Ikar! Hope you find what you're looking for.

I know what you mean about tweezer launches. They're like a miniature catapult- capable of hurling PE all the way across a room. 

I'll check them out.

I put more PE on my carries, lost a few pieces that managed to slip out of the tweezers into the black hole in the floor, hopefully they won't be noticed.  Hate it when I can't feel the pressure and they open up like that.  I'll post a couple shots later today.

Andy's Hobby has the Myoko in stock for around $44

Try HobbyLink Japan 

goldhammer88

Took a look at Mega and scalehobbiest, only saw one newer ship in 1/350...ddh 181 class helo destroyer.  Fujimi, and they think it's made of unobtainium- $346.48.

Lot of WWII IJN stuff in that scale mostly from Aoshima and Fujimi.

 

 

I think I'll pass on that one... 

Took a look at Mega and scalehobbiest, only saw one newer ship in 1/350...ddh 181 class helo destroyer.  Fujimi, and they think it's made of unobtainium- $346.48.

Lot of WWII IJN stuff in that scale mostly from Aoshima and Fujimi.

I just ordered the I-27 sub and the Destroyer Kagero.  I'll check on PE for them next time.  Where can I order the JMSDF ships?  I checked Sprue Brothers and Free time but didn't see them, just a couple detail sets.

I have the Atago, nice kit and not huge.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/trumpeter-04536-jmsdf-ddg-177-atago--140558

and Trumpiter makes a few others as well.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/trumpeter-04534-jmsdf-ddg-175-myoko--1275834

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/trumpeter-04533-jmsdf-ddg-174-kirishima--153711

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/trumpeter-04532-ddg-173-kongo--106159

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/trumpeter-04537-jmsdf-murasame-destroyer--147323

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/trumpeter-04539-jmsdf-takanami-destroyer--147321

Pit Road makes a few as well.

Google trumpeters site and go to 1/350 ships.  They have several more modern self defense kits, and listed by kit number.  Makes it a little easier to search your usual suppliers.

With all their listings for US, GB, Italian and Russian ships from WWI, it's suprising they don't have anything in earlier Japanese hardware.