Subscribers’ Gallery Maritime : I-S

I have been building the 1:700 Fujimi Chokai on and off for a number of years. For reasons that still cannot be explained I managed to lose sprue C entirely so had to scratch build quite a lot of parts. I was helped by the 3D printed gunnery control units from Shelf Oddity and a PE fore mast structure from an old Fine Molds set. The 12.7 cm AA guns are Fine Molds NanoDread whilst the 25 mm units are PE from Veteran Models. The boats are also Fine Molds but the Daihatsu barge is from Five Star. I was pleased to add the truly minuscule ships lanterns from Five Star. These are beautifully turned miniatures in brass that can easily be lost inside your finger nails!

The ‘A Class’ heavy cruiser Chokai was built at the Mitsubishi shipyards in Nagasaki in 1932. Following the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 which capped battleship building, many nations went on a mad dash to build the most potent 8” (20 cm) gun heavy cruisers. Before WWII up to a 1/3rd of Japanese taxes went on the Navy. Of all the Japanese heavy cruiser designs, the Takao Class was probably the most extravagant. Envisaged as flagships, the bridge structure could easily accommodate a flag staff. As Admiral Mikawa’s flagship, the Chokai led the Japanese Navy to its most astonishing victory in the Pacific War over the cruisers defending the transports off Guadalcanal in a night action of 7th August 1942. Eventually Chokai was sunk at the Battle of Samar in October 1944. Her wreck has been recently found and is perhaps the most complete warship on a sea bed anywhere in the world RV Petrel find IJN Chokai – YouTube

Hope you like it?
Regards, Andrew J.

You are looking at the 1:700 Fujimi kit of Kaga from late 1941 with Fujimi’s own PE and wood planking extra. Then it is dressed with Veteran models 12.7 cm AA guns, Lion Roar 25 mm AA guns, davits, Nanodread life boats and searchlights, Rainbow launches (I could go on).

The sponson supports are largely scratch built. I am particularly proud of the Zeros waiting to take off. Rather than use decals these were spray painted using my own home-made masks.

She was originally designed to be a battleship but following the limits of the Washington Treaty was converted to an aircraft carrier in 1933 initially with 2 flying off decks but this was then changed to having two enclosed hanger decks in 1935. In line with the doctrine of the time she retained a battery of 8″ guns for self defence. With Akagi she formed the 1st Carrier Division which struck at Pearl Harbour. She was sunk at Midway in 1942.

Regards, Andrew J.

Here is my 1:4800 scale IJN Nagato – very small as you can see!

Manufacturer : Shapeways (shapeways.com)

Hope you like it!
Won-Hui L.

Here’s my Hasegawa 1:350th scale HIJMS Nagato (battleship). The kit was built essentially from the box with additional parts and etch from White Ensign Models WEM.
Ian R.

Thanks to Uun Barliansyah for permission to use his images of his superb model of IJN Battleship Yamato using the Tamiya 1:350 scale kit. As you can see, Uun has also incorporated the awesome Lion Roar superdetail set (you can also use the White Ensign Models set, so do consider that one too!).
Special thanks to Uun’s ” wing man ” Branata (Tech. assistant) for his help in completing this project.
I think the images speak for themselves. Why not check out our own Les Venus and his superb model using the White Ensign superdetail set and you’ll see what two great maritime modellers can achieve… Just love these big maritime projects! Geoff

This one’s from the old Nichimo kit – 1:200th scale IJN Yamato battleship, it’s the sheer size of thing and the fact being an old kit from 1970s and meant for RC I’ve had to rebuild great chunks of it or adapt existing detail.

The hull builds up and that’s followed by all the painting: hull, main and secondary gun turrets and numerous pieces of deck equipment from boats to deck hose reels etc. Once painted and weathered you can apply the wooden deck veneer, and finish remaining build which consists of assembly of all the AA weapons, give you a clue there’s over a hundred of the things and all have replacement turned brass gun barrels for smaller 25mm machine gun mounts, some of which are open and others enclosed in turrets.

The model is cut down and incorporated into a seascape, when based up this beast is 56 inches long and 11inches wide. The next problem is to get it to client, pretty sure it’ll fit in my car with seats dropped down!

The Borodino (Russian: Бородино) was the leader of his class of warships belonging to the Russian imperial army, and the second ship of its kind to be completed. Named in memory of the Battle of Borodino in 1812. The Tsushima Borodino was sunk with only one survivor among the 785 crew members.
Read a wonderfully detailed history of this vessel and see Erick’s images…

Airfix Vintage Classics 1:76 LCM Mk 3 Landing Craft with Normandy markings and Sherman tank. Model went together very well with a small amount of filler needed on one front corner.

LCM3 was primed with Light Grey before a coat of Vallejo Steel was applied. A top coat of Tamiya XF-83 RAF Medium Sea Grey was applied (don’t worry if the application of the top coat is not consistent- it adds tone!). Tamiya X-10 Gun Metal was used on the various fittings around the landing craft and the ladder.

After main coat was dried, a full black wash using Flory washes was applied and then removed with a damp cotton bud allowing areas of shadow to retain the wash. Flory Rust was used on areas of the craft which would most likely see some rusting and the rust wash was allowed to run down the side of the craft for effect. The rust wash still didn’t give the depth i wanted so I add MIG Medium Rust modelling powder onto the rusted areas. In all, a little washing and weathering on a grey camo can go a long way!

The Sherman was simply sprayed in Tamiya XF-51 Khaki Drab and then a black wash applied. The tracks were simply sprayed in Tamiya XF 85 Rubber Black and then dry brushed with Vallejo Steel and MIG medium rust modelling pigment.

Simon T.

This is my Liberty Ship build from the Trumpeter 1:700 scale kit.
It’s built out of the box with Humbrol paints; I also used stretched sprue for the rigging and it is weathered with oil paints.
The project depicts a lone liberty ship under attack by a surfaced U-boat.
Tony M.

This bust is one of Mitches Military Models VC series of 1:10th scale busts.

It’s of the Captain of HM Submarine Upholder a U class submarine, sadly the boat and her Captain and crew are on eternal patrol as the boat was sunk with loss of all aboard.

The figure comes with a replica of the VC but I added Upholder’s war flag showing her ops and victories over Axis shipping in the Mediterranean theatre where she operated.

Ian R.

The model is from the standard injection-moulded Italeri kit from 2011. It is in 1:35th scale.
I have actually bought some figures for this boat and most importantly, this model will be a part of bigger diorama ;) of course if you wanted to I can send you photos of that when I end everything ;) (Yes please Michal – don’t forget )
More information from the building – everyone can find in my blog -> http://afv-diorama.blogspot.com/
Best wishes Michal T.

The Model was the Hasegawa Nagato in scale 1:350. I used the photo-etch parts from Lion Roar with the exception of the rails, here I used the Hasegawa rails extra for the Nagato. The wooden deck is from Shinsengumi.
I won different awards with the Nagato – amongst others the Award “Best Model of Show” in the D/CDN Maple Leaf Modellers in IPMS Baden- Söllingen/ Germany.

1:142 scale
All deck details were scratch-built.

Build log here:
http://www.modelclub.gr/forums/index.php/topic,32642.0.html

Nikos K.

This was the White Ensign Models kit built straight from the box, Piorun was a sister ship to the Royal Navy’s J,K and N class destroyers commonly known as “Kellys”. She was an N class vessel that was given to the free Polish Navy and operated well with Royal Navy units.
I decided to show her on patrol off the Normandy beaches after the Normandy Landings in a rough sea.
To give the impression of the ship being in a choppy sea it was built full hull; I left off the prop shafts and rudders as they wouldn’t be visible. The figures came from Fujimi.

The Panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee needs no introduction in the community of Naval historians, nevertheless the inter-war Panzerschiff concept remains one of the most radical of the pre-war period. The post Great War treaty of Versailles allowed Germany some 10,000 ton cruisers. In fact the post war allies were rather worried about the rise of Soviet Russia and hoped some German cruisers in the Baltic might prove a deterrent. The Panzerschiff design came out during Germany’s post war democratic period. The design was extraordinarily radical with two battleship turrets carried aboard a light cruiser hull and powered by 8 MAN diesel engines. The design was so tough on weight the ships were slightly underweight and needed ballast. MAN wished they could have been allowed more weight to have produced heavier, more robust diesels. The result was a ship with extraordinary range potential, and with the help of auxiliary supply ships, to operate distant ‘cruiser warfare’. In the new era of radio direction finding, signals intelligence, aircraft reconnaissance and radar cruiser warfare turned out to be not viable.

The Trumpeter 1:700 kit is now rather old and shows its age. This model has 3-D printed turrets from Micromaster, barrels from Master, ships boats, searchlights, light AA, paravanes, reels all from Flyhawk. The characteristic shuttered scuttles on the upper deck have been laboriously added from a Lion Roar set. The masts are all scratch built brass

Hope you like it.
Andrew J.

A few years ago I made a Polar Lights SNN Seaview for a friend of mine as a birthday present. It was a build straight from the box with a few minor details added.

I sanded the front smooth and masked out the windows, the inside was painted orange – in the movie it looks orange. I made the doors of the conning tower smaller and made a radar from a piece of photo etch mesh and added an antenna.

It was sprayed with Humbrol light grey and the sides sprayed with a lighter shade; underside was sprayed white.

I put the sub in a display case for a 1:18 car and finished of with some sand and little stones from the garden – this was fixed with white glue. I put some washes on it and painted some highlights, and sprayed on a future coat for a shiny look.

The background is sprayed in some shades of blue.

It was a nice project that reminds me of my youth in the sixties when the series was on the Dutch TV. In the series if the sub was under the surface you hear a frequent……Pinnnnggggg…….. :)

Gerhard La C.

Heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen during the op. “Cerberus”, February 1942, scale 1:350.

As a little gag a couple of German sailors stand at the stern with a special greeting to Winston Churchill!

Dirk B.

Painted and fitted out as she would have looked after leaving Norway heading for the Atlantic.

Here is my take on the Airfix Severn class lifeboat, hope you like it.
All the best Mike Moore

Tamiya 1:700th scale waterline kit.
This is the Tamiya kit which was modified with a lower hull (running three quarters of its length made from Modelboard and detailed using White Ensign Models updates for the ship including the main ship detailing set and German Light AA weapon set.
At the time I built this (approx. Jan 2008) the colour scheme was correct as far as I knew, but since then more information has surfaced on the ship to say otherwise. Ah well next time I build it I’ll adjust the colour scheme. The ship as quite a lot of 1:700th scale Gold Medal Models figures on it around the upper areas of the superstructure.
Ian R.

Very good! Must be one of the best Revell kits. Considering the number of pieces the kit has very good detail and shape. With the exception of just a few small areas, the pieces do not give any problem. The crew is an additional Revell kit.
Erick Navas

Here is my diorama SMS Konig 1914 made from the ICM kit in 1:350 scale.
Lou C.

This is my model of Italeri’s 1:35 scale Schnellboot Type S100 on a sea base.

Hope you like it, it was a joy to build.

All the best, Mike Moore.

This is Trumpeter 1:200th scale kit, it was built for a colleague who supplied me kit plus updates he wanted applying to model. I had to add a few replacement parts myself made from brass rod, etc.

Ian R.