1/350 Hasegawa Akagi Complete.

Aha!

      You got it with number two! The sense of motion is definitely there!

Hey wildman... the carrier and base are coming along nicely. I really admire the little details (too many to list). Take your time on the aircraft as we all want you to keep your fingers and sanity. 

I was going to vote for #2 as well (not that it matters any longer). I was wondering if you were going to paint the pupils and finger nails on the crew figures as well (just joking).

I'm happy for you and its enjoyable to see it pitching in the water. I still look forward to every update.

Ben

Thanks guys, the light smoke wins.

I didn't get much done to the planes last night due to visiting with our daughter and grandaughter, they are far more important anyway. I was able to get to the hobby room after we got home and spent about 45 min putting the last of the PE on the 8 completed Kates. Tonight I'll start the paint on them and continue the painting on the Zeeks. I'll also need to build up the Type 99 #80 Mark 5 special AP bombs, which were a turned down 40cm (15.7") AP projectile with fins and two tail fuses. These bombs were 92 inches long and weighed 1756 lbs. Now that is a big bomb! 15 of the Akagi Kates carried these lead by Cpt Mitsuo Fuchida.

White bands indicating a dummy bomb

12 Kates Carried the torpedo.

modelcrazy

With a little grey added?

It does add motion and life doesn't it?

 

this is my favorite. I think you could go between light smoke and this one. I had nothing, light, dark rolling one after the other and i think it definitely adds a feel of motion. With your scene i think it adds to it. From the picture and earlier comments about them adding water tothe smoke i think the dark one wouldn't be as realistic. In the end tho i was leaning toward light because i liked the shape of the smoke you created there best. This one with just 'a touch of grey' looks great!

Yes sir.  Adds a big sense of motion to the scene.  If you add any, just a tinge to the top.  Kaga's not showing any at that distance though.  But our point of view is a lot closer.

With a little grey added?

It does add motion and life doesn't it?

I like #2

I'd say the light, but a tinge of grey in the top part where it's coming from the stack.

She's looking amazing Steve! As far as the smoke I would say #1 with no smoke or #2. Only thing I will say is if you don't know what it's suppose to be it, it kinda of looks like more water coming out as it's colored similar to the spray along the side of the ship. Maybe a more grayish color for better separation? Even though the cleaner white may be more accurate. Again it's looking fantastic

Love the first one.  You can see all of the ship, which is what I want to see.

Second one also very good.  I might pull the aft end down a bit, since it seems to block a bit more of the ship than the first.

Both add sense of motion and realism.  The one without now looks "funny" somehow after seeing it with smoke. 

This is a fabulous build and I take my hat off to you, sir.  Can't wait to see it completed with sailors and planes.

Bob

I'm certainly no judge, but I think #2 light smoke is my personal fave.

Reminds me of this pic on wiki:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Japanese_Navy_Aircraft_Carrier_Kaga.jpg

Excellent job as always btw.

OK boys, here they are. This is the best I can do with cotton.

Considering ship speed and wind, which do you like better?

1. no smoke

2. light smoke

3. medium smoke

4 heavy smoke

All of these can be changed a little and/or repositioned a tad, but they're pretty much what they are.

If you were to judge this at the IPMS, which would you prefer 1, 2, 3, or 4

I made three new mist patterns last night. Not a easy feat when it cotton gets that thin. Sprayed some hairspray on them and set them asside to dry. I'll take some pics tonight but I may have to just go without. How well, nothing will look better than something that doesn't look real. One can only do so much with cotton.

Got the first coat of light grey on the 5 Zeeks and made up the PE gear for the 8 Kates I have done so far. These are taking considerably more time than expected.

128 days left.

Okay?

     Well, I gotta say she's  got some bad rings Eh Wot? The pattern needs to be thinned and stretched a little to match the pic. Now if you'll notice the smoke is rather translucent by the time it gets to the water and twists from the effect of air flowing alongside the hull. If you can even get closer than you are, you probably won't get " Judge-Ding" for the end result. Da$%^%# good Job!!!! 

Looks awesome.  The water is convincing. 

Yeah, I agree. Easily done I would think. Since it's not attached I can take it off and pull it apart more or do another. I firm it up with hairspray.

Steve i think the concept and your portrayal here is fitting for the scene. Definitely think you need to set the scene with the water and show the effect of steaming into the wind. Comparing the photo to your depiction and thinking about how the exhaust would react the leading edge of your exhaust stream looks too straight. In the picture the stream appears to fold over itself. Maybe try twisting that front portion over so it looks like it's being blown backwards?

My thought in looking at the Kaga pic, is that you have about the same wave and wake size/pattern.  Kaga's smoke is streaming aft more due to her speed and wind, where your depiction is more straight down.  Minor nit in the big look.

Don't know how much time you have invested in it, or to do another in a more streaming fashion.

Would hate to see the judges ding it for that, you've gone overboard on a trophy winner.

OK guys, here she is without the aircraft and crew. The exhaust is not attached and I wanted your feedback on it. If I add it, it will be more spread out on the water and blended in with the water using acrylic varnish. I may be able to thin it out some more.

Here is the Kaga, similar layout, stack wise, to the Akagi. Pictures of the Akagi under full steam are rare and I can't find any that aren't computer generated.

Here she is.

Here's what it look like landing

Here are my first 13 out of 36 aircraft so far. Still a lot of PE to install and all need paint.

Ikar, yes, I made up some exhaust and I'll take some pictures with it. It's not attached and wanted some feedback on it before showing it that way. The Japanese would add water to the exhaust to cut down on the smoke particulates so their exhaust looks more the bottom of a waterfall then an exhaust plume.

The Japanese were going to build two Amagi class carriers out of the battlecruisers Amagi and Akagi but the Amagi was severely damaged during an earthquake in the drydock,  so they scrapped her. They took the battleship Kaga to convert instead to keep within the Washington Treaty. Converting the ships was less expensive than building new. 

You deffinitely need a litle head shrink help after this one

Whoever designed the conversion of a battlecruiser into that monster and gave it about 10,000 more tons should have had it too.

I have a question.  Not knowing much about wqrships, shouldn't there be some kind of exhaust showing near the water?  I don't know, I'm just going by what I saw in TOra, Tora, Tora.  Air Force guys don't usually find themselves near big metal things in the water.

I'm recreating Pearl. First wave.

Well those paint schemes are fine for pre-Midway as I am sure after refitting from the Indian Ocean campaign and before Midway her crew repainted the existing planes. Also Fuchida didn't fly in the Midway campaign as he was recovering from surgery.  He was on the ship's bridge when Akagi was bombed.  After the Indian ocean campaign all of the carriers were carrying tired old birds that took their best mechanics to keep them operational.  They were tired old birds during the Midway battle but they looked good.

Marcus

I'm really looking forward to these planes .

See!

 The Japanese learned early on,The paint being perfect didn't make them fly better. Seeing that amount of wear and tear is what I expect to see from dios about W.W.2 and the Battle for freedom with the Bombers that flew over Europe. Never do though.Or even single Aircraft!

OK, so, it doesn't look like much but this

Represents two day of work. I'll install the PE canopy frames and give them a primer coat to see where I may need to add some filler. 8 Kate's and 4 Zeeks (plus the one I already assembled) so far which leaves 19 Kates and 4 more Zeros to build.

The Zeros are the same IJN light grey top and IJN light green/grey underside but the Kates, well the Kates can be a variety of green tops with slotched, peeling paint and a variety of other schemes, mostly green though.

Now I know some of these are fictitious but it does show the variance of the Kate paint schemes.

Fuchida's mount was green with peeling paint. Several pictures to refrence.

All are going to be fun, seriously.

I should be receiving the last of the AA guns tonight so I'll get those built and on so I can take the last pics before I add the planes and crew

domer94

shes not the sexiest of vessels for sure

No but she's a mean looking one.

Thank you Ikar, and Domer

I applied the last coat of the acrylic varnish last night and am waiting the the AA PE set to come in (probaly in the next couple days) so I can finish the last of the 4 25mm guns, add the chrysanthemum and spray some future to give some areas, hull mostly, a wet look.

I made the cover for it last night then worked on about nine of the aircraft. I ground off the canopies and started removing the material in the middle. The bit slipped and one Zero I melted beyond repair (now I have 4 spares). Tonight I'll grind out some more before working with the file for more precise control. Eventually I'll have them where I can drop in the PE interior. That's the toughest part of the process, the rest is just attaching the exterior pieces IE. stabs and wings, and PE to the plane such as the landing gear, wheels, gear doors wire canopie and the like. I'll most likely have one of the maintance cerw in each plane monitoring the gages as they're idling

I'll have one more picture session before going dark. I want the final revial with the planes and crew on the deck.