DaveCov's Aoshima 1/700 IJN Seaplane Carrier Chitose (00123)

[davecov]

Another little update.

I got out the airbrush and primed many of the parts:

Major components:

Photo etch pieces:

The aircraft:

That is all for now.

Dave

 

[davecov]

It has been a couple of weeks since my last report but not too much has happened. Having primed the parts I got down to painting. I decided to brush paint this build but I may end up regretting this decision.

I applied the first coat of H123 Satin Extra Dark Sea Grey but it was obvious that it would need another coat:

The other parts:

I then applied a second coat of the grey and started painting the other decks with Colourcoats Matt Linoleum (IJN10):

Some of the grey parts won't need a third coat but some will:

The inside of the crane booms, catapults and trolleys were painted grey:

That is all for now.

Dave

 

[The Smythe Meister]

It has been a couple of weeks since my last report but not too much has happened. Having primed the parts I got down to painting. I decided to brush paint this build but I may end up regretting this decision.

I applied the first coat of H123 Satin Extra Dark Sea Grey but it was obvious that it would need another coat:

The other parts:

I then applied a second coat of the grey and started painting the other decks with Colourcoats Matt Linoleum (IJN10):

Some of the grey parts won't need a third coat but some will:

The inside of the crane booms, catapults and trolleys were painted grey:

That is all for now.

Dave

Some tiny parts for sure there Dave!
.... Gotta say,those planes look very nice indeed

 

[Geoffers]

Ticking along nicely Dave

Geoff.

 

[davecov]

Thanks lads.

Having applied a third or even fourth coat of grey and linoleum, I am pleased with how things are turning out.

I haven't glued the decks or superstructure to the hull yet as I want to fit railings first. However, I wanted to see how they fit after painting. In the background, I have applied some light grey to the aircraft undersides:

The platform has been dry-fitted too:

At the moment the paints are a mix of satin or matt but once everything is varnished it won't look so shiny:

That is all for now.

Dave

 

[davecov]

Lots of progress to report.

The aircraft painting continued:

And it is now complete. Just the decalling to do:

The decks were glued to the hull:

The hull was masked for painting the anti-fouling and also to protect the hull paintwork during the task I hate more than any other - small ship PE railings. Here the forward and amidship sections has been done:

The aft section:

Superstructure decks also done:

Turning to the platform, I glued the two booms in place:

The photo-etch crane jibs did not have any blocks so I painted the kit ones and added them to the PE:

The crane booms were then glued to the platforms and later I would clean up the paintwork:

The superstructure has been glued in place along with the boats:

Another view. Not a lot to be done now:

That is all for now.

Dave

 

[Geoffers]

Lovely work Dave

Geoff.

 

[tigersteve]

Good to see your progress with this one, I will be tackling a small ship soon too......

 

[davecov]

Thanks lads

I have had a few problems with the PE aircraft cradles and they keep snapping so I replaced them with kit parts. In view of those problems, I am going to leave off the PE cable reels. The amount of grief isn't worth it!

Here I have been progressing with the aircraft. I decalled them and then painted the floats white as a base for red paint. This was not without a big problem. Whilst holding the bottom right plane with tweezers, it pinged off and did a Kamikaze dive straight into the white paint pot! I retrieved it and cleaned off the paint, leaving it in the scrappy state you see:

Turning to the Chitose, I painted the anti-fouling red and removed the masking tape. The catapults were fitted and four aircraft glued in place:

Rising Sun flag fitted at the stern:

I still have three aircraft and four davits to fit and need to apply a coat of varnish to everything.

That is all for now.

Dave

 

[davecov]

Final build report now.

The last three aircraft were glued to the forward catapults and aft:

The four remaining davits were painted and glued to each side. Final act before varnishing was to paint the Imperial Chrysanthemum at the stem with H16 Gold:

The whole ship was then given a coat of matt varnish:

It is now finished:

My thanks to @KarlW for hosting this GB.

Dave

 

[spanner570]

Cracking build Dave, and a ship away from the norm. too!

Very neat. I've enjoyed watching it come together.

Ron

 

[minitnkr]

A marvelous result on such a remarkable craft and with an excellent presentation.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Nice one Dave. Excellent result on an unusual ship.

 

[outrunner]

A very nice job Dave.

Andy.

 

[stillp]

I love it Dave! Beautiful build of an unusual and interesting subject.
Pete

 

[tigersteve]

Looks lovely ! Inspiring me to crack on with a ship build I have ......

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Blimmin Eck Dave...
... That's come on leaps and bounds since I last looked in!!
Looks absolutely great mate, congratulations, awesome stuff

 

[davecov]

Thanks everybody for your kind comments.

After my initial misgivings about brush-painting, it turned out quite well in the end and allowed me to finish it a lot quicker than if I had airbrushed it.

Dave