1/350 IJN "AKAGI"

[Quaralane]

Very excellent work here, Tim

 

[Belugawrx]

Hey Tim
I just went through this build from the start, and I gotta tell ya, You have got some patience threshold!!
This is truly amazing...
The realism you achieve in something sooo small... Wow
Those utility boats look as if they could be models unto themselves.
Very very nice work sir.
I will be following from now on.
Keep up the great work
Cheers

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Gotta love those Master barrels!

 

[Buck]

The amount of work and details youve put into this baby is simply astonishing. Cant wait to see more pics.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Thanks guys and ok, some more pics then



Dry fitting the decks, with some of the deck photoetch started in foreground:


pe parts before painting, the two gray ones are to be painted black


Some of the deck pe is painted



Brass prop shaft experiments I cut 5 peices of brass rod to fit as (the 4) prop shafts...I polished one, in the way I was going to use..and then I put the other 4 into a vinegar/salt bath for 3 days and let it almost dry out, and this is what I got. I don't know what to think...do you think they do look more realistic for shafts that have been at sea for awhile? Or should I polish them up and install shiny? hmm......



Some more shots for the wood deck dry fitted on the hull...






Cheers, Tim

 

[Quaralane]

One marvelous piece of work, no matter what you decide for the props, Tim

 

[Buck]

Ive never had to ask myself about whether a ship shaft was realistic. Im truly impressed with the effort you put into every piece.

 

[Jimi]

this is the most insane PE building i have ever seen in my life, you must have the patience of a saint to deal with all of that, kudos to you sir!

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Thanks for the comments guys!!!...thats really nice of you and I REALLY appreciate the encouragement!! Trust me on that


well I took the plunge this morning! First time working with dry transfers...was I nervous about them? Youbetcha!!! You only get one try with these things and everything (30+ transfers) must line more or less perfectly over 30" of deck (with no visual clues or guidelines provided by the transfer instructions as to exact placement) or I will have a major visual problem on my hands! So...slow and careful was the motto here!

So...I put the #1 line on...and it turned out ok I think. (phew!!) One thing I found is you must burnished down the leading edges of all the little pieces QUITE well (more than I would have thought) or they will pull up and split. This happened to me on one of the pieces when I was pulling up the cellophane (very slowly!), but I noticed it right away and laid it back down before any damage was done. Here's some pics:

Laying down the line after positioning with tape:


After burnishing and removal of cellophane: (not without incident)



One down, 31 more to go! ... This one line took me over a half hour. Everything about Agaki has a million parts it seems


**edit** A question for anyone...do dry transfers vary as to quality and ease of use? The quality is here for sure, but I found I had to burnish the h3ll out of these ones to get them to stick to the wood! Cheers to all model ship builders ...and especially those who have commented on this thread! -Tim

 

[Buck]

Whoa. Id be nervous too. Havent done much dry transfers in many years, but my experience is the quality (especially the adhesion) deteriorates over time. At some point, dry transfers on sheets will completely refuse to stick.

 

[Quaralane]

It's been AGES since I worked with dry transfers. So I have NO advice there, other than be patient with it

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Thanks guys! I found I was able to speed up the process a bit once I got used to them a little. Dry transfers sure give a different look, but one I like for this application as you can slightly see the wood of the deck coming through the line, as you would on the real thing. You have to look close to see it, but its there

Alternatively, masking/airbrushing the straight lines would be doable I think, but I sure wouldn't want to try to do that middle figure in the pic below with tape/airbrush





Cheers, Tim

 

[Quaralane]

Certainly looks really sharp there, Tim

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Thanks buddy!

Tried some of the larger transfers and got the stern deck almost finished:





Cheers and thanks for looking! - Tim

 

[Quaralane]

Looking really good, Tim

 

[JMac]

Unbelievably good. Amazing work. You are a vastly more patient modeler than I...

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Thanks gentlemen. A small update with Agaki's, almost done, new hat on:

I placed what I had done for the deck so far, onto the hull to check/mark the longitudinal alignment of the stripes for the middle part of the deck. Better to double check as you get one shot at the transfers






Once the deck is fully decaled (tranfer-ed?) , I will be sealing it and then turning it upside down to add the pe underdeck supports you saw a couple of pages back. Thanks for viewing! -Tim

**edit** for what its worth)... to "warm up" the transfers (these ones are 6 years old) and to make them more pliable/willing to come off the cellophane topper and lay down nicely, I borrowed my wife's blow dryer. It has a very low setting and I used that to warm them a tiny bit once they were taped in place on the deck (but not yet burnished down)...then I did the burnishing. It made a difference I found. Thanks again, Tim

 

[Belugawrx]

Very nice...
For a build of this magnitude, I have one word,.....
TRIPOD... for pics,.. and clean, white, background....
Looking absolutely Stunning
Cheers

 

[Quaralane]

Definitely looking sharp.

And, as to the pics thing, a timer can be a world-saver in an of itself

 

[Buck]

Turning the hull upside down? If that doesnt make you nervous...

Always impressed by your progress on this beauty.