Revell kits to watch out for in 2013

Two "naval" spots from Revell:

Spot one:
1/700 RN WWII "HMS Kelly"

For WWII destroyer actions a re-release of an old Matchbox kit methinks, HMS Kelly (a WWII RN J-K Class Destroyer), waterline to boot (see below):

I just hope Revell release the other Matchbox waterline ships of yore too:

• USS San Diego
• USS Indianapolis
• USS Fletcher
• HMS Exeter (very tasty, I do have a 1/500 scale kit of this "but" in 1/700 is far better)
• HMS Duke of York
• HMS Ariadne
• KM Graf Spee
• KM Narvik Class "Z" Destroyer
• KM Bismarck.

Spot two: 
1/1200 WWII "IJNS Shinano"

I have already got this one but it is nice to see it releases from the back catalog (see below):

Model on and good hunting!

Note: Still trying to spot that J-K class destroyer in the model shops!

1/1200 IJNS Shinano: Finishing Touches

Obviously a big yellow line was needed down the middle of the Shinano's flight deck to stop the aircraft falling into the see or crashing into the control island superstructure (see below). As they say at Tesco's "Every Little Helps":

The most amazing thing here is, that this means that I actually did some "decalling" (unheard of). I obviously wasn't feeling myself (see above and below). The decals almost look as if they are a straight line too, being "four small decals" merged into one. If I was to be completely honest here I would have to say there was a "bit" of profanity at one point ;)

My saving grace as always was my trusty MicroSol and MicroSet decal "fixing" solution. The result, the IJNS Shinano departs into the relatively placid waters around the Sea of Japan (see below):

An armoured flight-deck, massive AA defence and no prominent Japanese "Red Circle" to guide enemy bombing attacks in means that the "aerial" war lessons have been learned well by the Japanese Navy (see above and below):

It's such a pity then that the USS Archerfish was hiding beneath the waves nearby and slipped a full load of torpedoes into her belly. The IJNS Shinao was sunk on her sea trials before making a war mission, taking with her over two thousand souls.

That completes the naval section of 2011 methinks. Next up it may well be back to "tanks and the like" but what scale?

1/1200 IJNS Yamato gets some TLC ... highlighting

Three sisters (IJNS Yamato [bottom], IJNS Shinano [middle], IJNS Mushashi [top]):

The Yamato (right) gets some highlight work done (see below [right]), I decided to plane her aircraft white as per the Shinano 'air group'. The Mushashi's (see below [left]) planes are painted green, so at a glance I can tell the models apart!

Just playing around with the camera seeing them sideways from above. To highlight I added Tamiya Nuetral Grey XF-53 to the Games Workshop Adeptus BattleGrey, then added some Anita's Acrylics Cream White:

And then skewed at an angle (Yamato [top], Mushashi [bottom]):

It's a nice feeling now the battleships are done! I'll have to do the same to the Shinano now ;)

The 1/1200 IJNS Yamato gets a lick of paint ...

The IJNS Yamato gets the flat black (XF-1 Black) Tamiya treatment (see below):

The artistic long shot (see below). IJNS Shinano is base coated with Games Workshop Adepoptus BattleGrey (Grey) and Tanned Flesh (Pink) :

A close up of the Shinano "air group" (see below) complete with 'tricky' red markings:

It is slow progress less than an hour a per night but bit-by-bit I am getting there! Then blink and something quite spectacular happens to the IJNS Yamato ;)

(See below) The Yamato is base-coated Games Workshop Adeptus BattleGrey for her steel deck and Vallejo "Game Color"[Sic] Leather Brown as the stand in for Games Workshop's Snakebite Leather (Decking).

The IJNS Mushashi appears in Blue Peter style, "here's one I prepared earlier", to act as painting guide reminder so I can get the end result looking pretty similar. They also stand together posed nicely as the 'pack of three Yamato sisters' Japanese from the Revell "Mini-Ship" series.

Still not finished "highlighting" still to do.

1/1200 IJNS Shinano continued ...

Did you know that the Shinano was a "pink lady" as her deck was a "sea shade of pink". As I quote from the model build on modelingmadness:

"...the flight deck of the Shinano was a very un-military shade of pink!  (The box art from the old Tamiya 1/700 scale model actually depicts this.)  According to Lynn Lucious Moore's “Shinano: The Jinx Carrier” (US Naval Institute Proceedings, February, 1953) the steel flight deck was covered with, “...a thin, shock-absorbent latex-sawdust...” composition.  The origin of the wood is unclear, but Japanese red cedar (sugi) or Japanese red pine (akamatsu), both common in Japan, would account for the pinkish color noted by observers.  The deck would have undoubtedly have been camouflaged before she entered service, but it had not yet been done when Shinano was sunk on her way to final fitting out.  The improbable color is well attested by several eyewitnesses, both former crewmen and civilian workers."

Pink, as I have been told by a former merchant seaman of many years, is also probably the most effective paint camouflage you can use at sea (true/false? please discuss). Whether it is as effective when painted all over your flight deck I know not. Note: My "pink" was Games Workshop Tanned Flesh, again chosen just to use it up. At least the Japanese seemed to have moved away from advertising their carriers with large "Rising Sun" roundels perfect for adjusting the US dive-bombers bomb run as per Midway. A plane in the hanger gets a little bit of painting attention (see below):

The plane is painted white, with a black engine cowling, grey windscreen/glass and then the tricky Japanese roundel (well it certainly is in 1/1200) applied in red and then its jagged curves are touched up and smoothed out by careful application of white.

Then the many pieces of the "layered back bit of her hull" are assembled and her flight deck is put on and the little carrier group (see below) is painted as per their comrade down in the hanger. The IJNS Yamato now appears for a bit of mutual moral support, after all it is 1944 and US planes are everywhere!

Looking quite cool but there is still quite a bit of painting still to be done.

The IJNS Yamato begs for some more paint (see above). Her turn has come ;)

IJN Shipyards: IJNS Yamato and IJNS Shinano (1/1200)

The recent eBay purchase of the Revell IJNS Shinano kit comes under the glue and black undercoat, the ever faithful Tamiya XF-1 Black (see below):

The only complication with the Shinano (in contrast to her sister hull on the Yamato) is, by virtue of her aircraft carrier conversion, her "rear" is stacked into many (three to be exact) layers that have to be painted then glued together thanks to their relative inaccessibility to a paint brush at a later stage. 

Top and bottom assembled on the Shinano (see above). All that is needed is a base coat of dark grey. I am using up a pot of Games Workshop's Foundation Adeptus BattleGrey at the moment (just to use it up). To be fair it has a nice thick coverage.

The IJNS Yamato being in the vicinity of the matt black starts getting a bit of an undercoat too! Steady progress, though not at breakneck speed ;)

Naval Dreams: IJNS Shinano in 1/1200

Well I never thought I would never bag this chap. Sometime in the late nineties I physically picked this kit up and put it back down in a model shop in London (Hannants to be exact). It goes without saying I ahave always regretted that moment and yes since that time I never, never saw it again, but by the wonder that is eBay it is now mine :) 

If you are interested I got it from the eBay store listed below, at time of writing there were still four left:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180755561995?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Also I found an interesting link to the origins of this 1/1200 figure range with some elusive "collector items" which were planned but never made (see link below)

http://www.shipmodels.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/casadio.htm

I am saving this one for a long winter night ;)