IJN Yonaga, 1/2000 scale

[sequoiaranger]

It will be tiny, fersure, but...!

The idea stems from my "Furashita's Fleet" carrier (plus inspiration from Albano's book, "The Seventh Carrier") that has a side-view drawing and backstory at:

http://www.combinedfleet.com/furashita/yonaga_f.htm

I may add components, but the basis will be a stretched Akagi flight deck. I want the slant-down forward (from the middle) and slant-up rear flight deck look of the Akagi, as well as the tallness of the flightdeck supported on pillars fore and aft. This will all be on top of a stretched Yamato hull, with a "modern"-looking island on the left side (like Akagi and Hiryu, the only left-side-island carriers built).  Since there is, curiously, no Shinano made in that scale from which to swipe an island, possibly the Arromanches or Illustrious kits will donate. The Akagi side-mounted exhaust stack will now be on top of the island, tilted out to sea, in the manner of several Japanese WWII carriers.



It may look good next to my 1/2000 "angled-deck" USS Enterprise that I did a long time ago!

But I have another build in the pipeline first (Twin-engined Zero), but have plenty of time to do the ship GB build, too!

[sequoiaranger]

The hull will be a "stretched Yamato", lengthened to 1,000 ft long (conveniently 6" at 1/2000 scale). I have joined two such hulls/decks, and built a plastic boxwork support underneath at the joint so a little cantilever pressure doesn't split it open on me. Speaking of boxes, using various kit boxes I built a "pagoda" platform to elevate the miniscule ship to where I can see its profile more easily while working on it. I have begun cutting/expanding the "Akagi"-like sides to fit the "Yamato" hull shape. I was going to use the various kit flight decks and just expand them outward up the middle, but the raised detail would either have to disappear, or look odd next to the smooth .040 plastic sheet I will be using for the middle portion of the deck. So I will arrange the perimeter superstructure, then custom-make an entire flight deck, then cut off edge slivers off the kits (with AA guns and "stuff") and add those to the perimeter.

I made the "island" from various kits and bits, plus some sheet (white) of various thicknesses. I carefully shaved off the row of life-rafts from an "Arromanche". This will be a left-side island, so the original Akagi curved smokestack (located mid-ship starboard, below the flight deck) will be "turned around" and curved outward like other Japanese island smokestacks. I will have a crude radar, with backstory, eventually. The coin is an American quarter (about 2cm in diameter) for size comparison.

[sequoiaranger]

Combining various 1/2000 ships plus generous scratch-built pieces, I now have the understructure of the Yonaga complete. I need to add a boat deck to the rear, and scratch-build the flight deck to match the understructure. I had to add a "lip" to the front of the island, as the island will sit over the "bend" downward of the forward flight deck (and without the lip there would be an overhang). AA guns, sponsons, and flight deck supports fore and aft will just about do it. I've been pawing around the various 1/2000 carriers I have for aircraft. (PS--the drawing is facing the opposite way of the model!)

Coming along!

[sequoiaranger]

The flight deck is cut out and the three lifts gouged out. A Shokaku flightdeck is beside it for comparison (and I swiped the rear round-down to later put on the rear of the Yonaga). Since the Yonaga hull is a stretched Yamato/Satsuma*, the Yonaga flight deck will be like a stretched Shinano. Next is slicing off the Shokaku (2 of them, actually) deck edges with the guns, and attaching them to the sides of Yonaga's deck. The "busy" raised deck markings of the Shokaku model will be semi-duplicated in paint or decal on the final deck (+ fishing line for arrestor wires) of Yonaga.

*--(Furashita's Fleet)

[Thorvic]

Looking good so far, its quite a size virtually a IJN Super Carrier even if 1/2000 scale !!!!!.

I take it that its going to be somewhat bulkier and more impressive than a Shinano ?
So when do you scale it up to 1/700 

[sequoiaranger]

>Looking good so far, its quite a size virtually a IJN Super Carrier even if 1/2000 scale !!<

Thanks. So far, so good.

>I take it that its going to be somewhat bulkier and more impressive than a Shinano ?<

Hmmm. Yes and no. Shinano was converted into a carrier far too late in the building of its battleship beginnings, and was thus handicapped by poor hangar deck space and was "over-armored" and ponderously heavy. My Yonaga is a "from the bottom up" conversion, was not hampered by wartime expediencies, and thus was more intelligently designed. Yonaga will be larger than Shinano size-wise, but not displacement-wise, and have a 100-aircraft capacity (Shinano was capable of operating only about 50 aircraft due to design/conversion limitations). She will not have an armored deck like Shinano, either. But, she will be faster (c. 32 knots), but not quite as fast as her Shokaku contemporaries (c.34.5 knots).

>So when do you scale it up to 1/700<

The THOUGHT is there, but the will is weak. However, I WILL be doing a "contemporary" whiffed US super-carrier (Bon Homme Richard--also a "Furashita's Fleet" member) in 1/700 someday, virtually a stretched and angled-deck Yorktown. The Yonaga and Bon Homme Richard are "ranked" equally for the war game from which they were derived.

[Thorvic]

Well IJN Yonaga should look quite impressive when built even in 1/2000 scale especially if placed alongside contemporary carriers from the same period in the same scale. Should confuse a few of them will familiar IJN carrier features but on a size they tend to associate with Shinano  .

Its probably doable in 1/700 especially with the new range of updated kits coming out although probably will be an expensive exercise given the price of those new kits !. However the super Hornet class sounds interesting as obviously it will be somewhat different to the more familar Essex class that did follow them - one to look forward to seeing when you get round to building it.

G

[beowulf]

sheesh....and i thought what i was doing was small .............you sure that didnt come in a kinder egg?   

[sequoiaranger]

My Yonaga is a pre-war carrier design meant to incorporate contemporary design elements. I was always amused by the spindly "sponsons" that were a characteristic of Japanese carriers to hold up the AA guns hanging out over the edge of the flight deck (see Akagi below):

Yonaga has them, too, but beefier--.030 and .040 round stock, ends carefully cut at 45 degrees to use to "hold up" the deck-edge AA guns. I now have installed the "W" supports (made from crane bits of other 1/2000 ships) for the overhanging ends of the flight deck, so now I have to seal up the gaps in the side, PSR a bit of hull, add a few fiddly bits, and will be "finished" with the construction and ready to do the painting, aircraft, etc. The pic below isn't a very good one, but remember....it didn't cost you anything!

[sequoiaranger]

I want to have a few "Misago"s...

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=4125

...on board my Yonaga. They will be painted the typical Japanese naval light grey with black engine cowls in the standard of the time. I took various 1/2000 scale aircraft out of various 1/2000 carrier models I have. I have some that will be "Zeroes", and some that will become "Misago"s. I had some 1/1600 French (Arromanches?) twin-engined bombers (light gray in picture) that were WAAAAY too big to be my Misagos, so I clipped the wing root, wing tip, engine, and trailing edges of their wings and attached them to the fuselages of....some (dk. gray in picture) attack aircraft that were slightly larger than the Zeroes. Behold! Misagos! Pretty neat, eh? Especially in this small of scale (standard pencil shown for comparison--note Misago fuselage about as long as exposed pencil lead!):

[GTX]

I hope you are going to super detail those aircraft...

[Taiidantomcat]

Have you been able to unsquint your eyes yet? Thats incredible

[sequoiaranger]

>I hope you are going to super detail those aircraft... <

I am looking in my parts bin for a suitable throttle quadrant for the cockpit.   

>Have you been able to unsquint your eyes yet?  Thats incredible<

It's small, but not un-do-able. I would hate the flight deck to be bereft of aircraft.

Though tricky, I did a special masking so the "wooden" flight deck would be surrounded by "metal" work. I still have to add various "metal" strips and outlines, and detail the upperworks, but the hull and deck are now done. I lost the tiny radar so have to make a new one, but the two-tone grays of the hull can be seen. Coming up will be a Hinomaru on the deck near the bow, some white deck striping, red-and-white striping of the rear round-down, and of course the aircraft.

[sequoiaranger]

Lots of work got done over the weekend. With still some minute detail-painting to do for the ship, I finished the aircraft and put them on the deck---six "Zeroes" and two "Misagos" (out of four donor aircraft components, only two emerged after the "errors" inherent with working on THAT small a scale!). The Hinomarus on the aircraft are a touch with a red pen---thank goodness the early-war Japanese naval aircraft didn't have white surrounds to the markings!!



The Hinomaru on the flight deck is the smallest one on a sheet intended for 1/72 aircraft. The striping on the rear round-down is some small American flag decal. The national flag flying off the stern (another pic, later, when I'm 100% done) is a 1/48 KILL MARKING (!).

[sequoiaranger]

Here is the "IJN Fleet at Sea" with three other 1/2000 ships, most notably the Shokaku (OOB) for size comparison. (If you are trying to identify the "cruiser" on the left, that is Furashita's Fleet "Chichibu").

Then here is the rear end of the Yonaga, showing off her "kill marking" flag, the arrestor wires, and the sponsons on the sides:

Then here are the eight aircraft lined up ready to take off (first and second aircraft are twin-engined "Misagos", and the "bridge" and radar are now painted.