Tamiya 1/700 ZUIKAKU Aircraft carrier

[gaz45]

This is my entry to this GB
Another first for me a floaty thing





Sprues


























????????????



2 strips of metal weights



Decals which there is very little



Instructions











The history part




Zuikaku (Japanese: "Auspicious Crane") was a Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Her complement of aircraft took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor that formally brought the United States into the Pacific War, and she fought in several of the most important naval battles of the war, before being sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

One of six carriers to participate in the Pearl Harbor attack, Zuikaku was the last of the six to be sunk in the war (four in the Battle of Midway and Shōkaku in the Battle of the Philippine Sea).

In 1941, Zuikaku, under the command of Captain Yokokawa Ichibei, and her sister ship Shōkaku comprised Carrier Division 5. On 26 November 1941, she left Hitokappu Bay for the attack on Pearl Harbor as part of the Kido Butai ("Mobile Force"). Her aircraft complement consisted of 15 Mitsubishi A6M fighters, 27 Aichi D3A dive bombers, and 27 Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers. On 7 December, she launched two waves of aircraft against American military installations on the island of Oahu. In the first wave, 25 dive bombers attacked Wheeler Army Airfield and five fighters attacked the airbase at Kaneohe. In the second wave, 27 torpedo bombers, armed with bombs, attacked the airbase at Hickam Field and 17 dive bombers targeted the battleships USS California and Maryland on Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor. California later sank, while Maryland escaped Pearl Harbor with moderate damage.

Zuikaku '​s aircraft also attacked the Australian bases at Rabaul on 20 January 1942 and Lae in New Guinea on 21 January. In April 1942, she took part in the Indian Ocean raid, striking the British naval bases at Colombo and Trincomalee on Ceylon, and sinking the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the heavy cruisers HMS Cornwall and Dorsetshire, also with the help of Shōkaku.



Japanese.aircraft.carrier.zuikaku.
Zuikaku at Kobe on 25 September 1941 after launching, awaiting delivery to the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Career (Japan)
Name: Zuikaku
Namesake: Japanese: ("Auspicious Crane")
Laid down: 25 May 1938
Launched: 27 November 1939
Commissioned: 25 September 1941
Struck: 26 August 1945
Fate: Sunk by air attack in the Battle of Leyte Gulf on 25 October 1944
General characteristics
Class & type: Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier
Displacement: 29,800 normal tons, 32,000 tons full load
Length: 257.5 m (844 ft 10 in)
Beam: 26 m (85 ft 4 in)
Draft: 8.9 m (29 ft 2 in)
Propulsion: Kampon geared turbines,
8 boilers,
160,000 hp (119 MW),
4 shafts
Speed: 34.5 knots (63.9 km/h)
Range: 7,581 mi (6,588 nmi) at 18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h) Fuel: 4100 tons
Complement: 1,660
Armament: 16 × 5 in (127 mm) Type 89 guns
36 (last 96) x 25 mm Type 96 anti-aircraft guns
Aircraft carried: 72 (+12 spares)
December 1941:
18 x Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero"
27 x Aichi D3A1 "Val"
27 x Nakajima B5N2 "Kate"

[DBMiller]

Good luck painting all those tiny planes! At least mine only has 2 of them!

[gaz45]

Time to start the build which shouldn't take too long

first up the gun assemblies





The funnels





The bridge





The rear deck where i had to drill a 0.8mm hole









and the boat deck





Now for the hull and what i think is the gun mounts around the edges





and adding the weights and hull bottom







I will need to do a little painting before continuing with the buils as some of the life boats will not be easy to get to to paint .

Thanks for taking a look.

[mincemeat]

I just learned about this aircraft carrier today, how funny! Good luck with this, I'm looking forward to seeing the progress.

[gaz45]

Right next update i got the little planes primed along with the lower hull







This was then painted up with vallejo model air pale blue grey rlm76



The life boats were painted up with tamiya xf-54 dark sea grey







For the deck i needed to drill out some 0.8mm holes



i masked up the lower hull to paint the bottom with tamiya xf-9 hull red







I have got the little planes painted up out of the way and they are waiting for a clear coat and some decals the planes were painted up using tamiya xf-12 j.n.grey, xf-11 j.n. green and revell semi gloss black depicting 3 different types as follows

A6M2 Zero (ZEKE
D3A Type 99 (VAL)
B5N Type 97 (KATE)





Thats where i'm upto thanks for taking a look and as always your comments are always welcome

[Homerlovesbeer]

Hey cool build. Lots of interesting parts there. I will be following your build.

[shortCummins]

crikey I though 1/72 was too small! there's no way I'd be able to cope with such a small scale, my hat is firmly tipped in your direction

[gaz45]

thanks for your comments guys much appriciated

[m0gb0y74]

Looks really good

[gaz45]

Now with the top deck in position and painted up with tamiya xf-55 deck tan and vallejo pale blue grey rlm 76 and the guns attatched after some of them painted with tamiya x-10 gun metal





















After that was clear coated and dry all was left were the decals which were not the best i must admit









and the little planes decaled up which was tricky and put in place





Here it is all finished


I'll put more pics in the reveal section thanks for looking and all your comments

[Homerlovesbeer]

Nice all done, good job