Dive Bombers Get Targets

A happy package arrived on Friday to cheer me up after a frustrating work day. 

These Tamiya 1/700 scale waterline kits arrived from Hong Kong in a little over 2 weeks. 

With extra pandemic restrictions in place, and snow, a quiet weekend reacquainting myself with scale model building was perfect. 

Started small Friday night with the IJN destroyer, the Harusame 

Angled the guns to make it look more active 

Dauntless SBD checks it out

Came with a sprue of extra pieces; gun turrets, AA guns, torpedo launchers, FOUR different seaplanes and extra ship's boats. But no instructions on how to make use of them. Huh.

It went together ok. Although I snapped struts on both masts and had to bodge them together. 

Saturday morning I brewed a second cup of tea and started on the light cruiser, the Tama. 

Historically, I'm an impatient model builder. But I realized that the reddish-brown linoleum decking on the cruiser was a big part of its look, and that should be painted before all the superstructure, guns, seaplane etc were attached. 

This also made me pause a bit while glue set on pre-assembled parts, like the bridge and funnels. 

I also remembered these, which Mikey had given me years ago.  They were champion for dabbing glue into small spaces.

Bridge and funnels. So many pieces!

Top off the aft mast sprang away into another dimension when clipping it from the sprue. Then I remembered a box of pieces from an old HO building model and cut a new top from some window panes.

The bridge and fore mast were buggers to build. I had to really stop and think out the sequence. 

 

This kit came with TWO sprues of extras!

So I guess I'll be able to do a few repairs when bits break during games. I'm thinking that I might build a  float plane or two to add to the IJN aircraft inventory. Give the Wildcats something new to chase.

I kept the painting simple and relied on the plastic for the overall grey which is most of the colour scheme. 

The decals that came with the kits were a pain. The cruiser,  being an older kit had peel and stick. The destroyer had water slide, which made the flag easier actually. But the water slide hinomaru for the aircraft are very stiff and won't conform to the fuselage. 

When I was setting aside a decal sheet, I found the mast top, returned from wherever it had gone.