Thanks Thomas… but OMG - ten of these mounts? 
I am just grateful that Hatsuzuki embarked only one!
Tim, No words…the emjoi speaks for itself!
Cheers,
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After the Kitakami you could do a rusty old freighter with a deck cargo of locomotives. That should be a few rivets and rails. 
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And now for some repairs…
I’ve tried to be careful with handling the launcher while adding all those rivets, but I was annoyed to discover that my previous repair of the forward starboard handhold broke off again. Not only that, I couldn’t find the part this time and so had to fabricate a new one!
First the broken supports had to be drilled out…
…then new .010 inch support rods inserted, cemented, and cut to .015 inch lengths…
And finally the new handrail is fitted. For strength I replaced the entire rail with a single piece going all the way back to the door. I’ll trim it to final length after the cement dries.
I also managed to knock off two of the tiny etched torpedo tube hatch handles and one of the handwheels.
The hatch handles disappeared into the void, but fortunately I had some spares.
As for the wheel, I scored one of my few wins against the Carpet Monster under my desk and actually recovered it!
Repairs done.
And so the torpedo launcher is finally finished!
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Gotta admit… it did strike me that this launcher now looks a little like a 19th century bolted-together locomotive…!
Wow - stunning and outstanding! And great repair work, too.
Come on, only nine more and you’d be good to go for the Kitakami. You will be faster with every launcher you do 
That’s Justine amazing build - I wonder if they paid that much attention to detail when they built the real thing back than…
Cheers
Jan
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very impressive
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Wow - stunning and outstanding! And great repair work, too.
Come on, only nine more and you’d be good to go for the Kitakami. You will be faster with every launcher you doThat’s Justine amazing build - I wonder if they paid that much attention to detail when they built the real thing back than…
Cheers
Jan
very impressive
Jan and Edward, thanks. I too wonder why the Japanese didn’t pay closer attention to details like the riveting when they built the real thing - why did they rivet it together anyway? Top weight was a chronic problem with IJN ships, and electric welding (which they used on the hull and superstructures) would have made the funnel, torpedo launcher, and gunhouses all lighter for no loss of strength…
Anyway, I thought the torpedo launcher was finished, but I forgot the final elements – the small access ports over the curved shields forward. I am not sure of their purpose, but they appear to be located immediately above the torpedo warheads. I surmise that they may have been there to provide access to the detonating fuses for arming immediately before firing.
I couldn’t find suitable parts among my ship-related bits in the scrap box, but, oddly enough, some simple compartment latch fittings from a Hauler etch set for a 1/48 scale German Kettenkraftrad tractor look like they will serve nicely. Now the launcher is ready for paint.
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One just has to love auto correct - makes “Justine” out of “just one” likely due to one small typo… didn’t see it before you quoted it…
Anyway, now that’s really a great torpedo launcher, a model in a model, and I can’t wait to see it under paint! Fantastic!
…was riveting possible just cheaper at the time, and may the welding have been limited to certain advanced shipyards? Just a thought, as I do not know…however, I’d assume those destroyers were considered secondary, expendable units, so lesser effort was put into building them…?
Which is definitely not the case for your model!!
Cheers
Jan
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…was riveting possible just cheaper at the time, and may the welding have been limited to certain advanced shipyards? Just a thought, as I do not know…however, I’d assume those destroyers were considered secondary, expendable units, so lesser effort was put into building them…?
Cheers
Jan
I don’t know either, but I suspect that since the skills for welding are more sophisticated than those needed for riveting, there were fewer workers available to do it. My grandfather’s sister worked at the Kaiser shipyard in Richmond, CA during WWII and was always proud that she had been a welder rather than a “Rosie the Riveter.” Also, the IJN’s excessively complex designs (compare Hatsuzuki’s multi-faceted100mm main gunhouses to their USN equivalent, the simple, boxy 5inch/38 twin) may have been easier to accomplish by riveting…
Anyway, for my part I’m past ready to be done with riveting! After completing the funnel and torpedo launcher, though, it was impossible not to take another look at those main guns…
The previously applied riveting looks good enough on the sides, front, and around the barrels. Unfortunately, thinking it wouldn’t be all that visible anyway, I had abbreviated the riveting on the top and top rear to a single line of double-rivets down the middle of the sloping roof aft.
I still wasn’t entirely happy with the compromise, so I added in the missing rivets to one of the gunhouses as a test.
And of course, comparing the result with the original simplified version, I had to go back and finish the job for all four!
The two forward gunhouses now fully riveted. After repairing some minor handling damage there, I’ll complete the riveting on the aft pair this evening.
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The true curse of the modeler…
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Not sure why this wasnt coming up on my notifications after I tagged it, anyway … just caught up … WOW … some absolutely beautiful super detailing continuing here Tim. The funnel and Torp launcher are outstanding … superb work
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Well done Tim !
We’re the gun houses armor plate ? If so , perhaps that has something to do with rivets vs welds …
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Your rivet dealer must love you 
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The true curse of the modeler…
Yes Rory, I know that’s right!
Not sure why this wasnt coming up on my notifications after I tagged it, anyway … just caught up … WOW … some absolutely beautiful super detailing continuing here Tim. The funnel and Torp launcher are outstanding … superb work
Thanks John. None of the individual details amounts to much, but the cumulative effect should be good, I hope.
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Well done Tim !
We’re the gun houses armor plate? If so, perhaps that has something to do with rivets vs welds …
Thanks Richard. The Hatsuzuki’s 100mm gunhouses may look formidable, but they were made of thin mild steel with no armor plate. They provided next to no protection against shellfire or shrapnel, and they could even be penetrated by heavy caliber machine gun fire. They pretty much only kept the gun crews dry from the weather! I suppose the thin metal components of the gunhouses could have been welded together easily enough, but my guess is that the IJN chose riveting because of a shortage of appropriate specialized dockyard facilities and trained personnel.
Your rivet dealer must love you
No kidding, Thomas! Unfortunately Archer Fine Transfers is no more 
. I wrote Woody Vondracek shortly after he retired and shut the business and he was kind enough to accommodate my request for a last set of rivets, but that amazing resource is now gone. RIP Archer!
I see that Ultra Cast in Canada still has some Archer weld beads - perhaps some rivets too ?
I see that Ultra Cast in Canada still has some Archer weld beads - perhaps some rivets too?
Thanks for that Richard. I noticed a few of the Archer rivets on E-bay also, so they should be somewhat obtainable here and there until stocks run out. Fortunately, I now have all I need for this project. It would be great if someone else picks up the idea and continues manufacturing them – these things are so useful!
Moving right along…
I was excited the other day to see Veteran Models’ announcement of their new 1/200 scale resin IJN Ammunition Box Set coming out this April.
Nichimo’s kit ammo box parts, molded directly to the AA platforms, are uninspiring:
Also, there aren’t enough of them in the kit to depict the ship in her final fit.
As a specialist antiaircraft destroyer, Hatsuzuki had a lot of these things aboard. She’ll be needing 10 of the “Upright Type” 25mm ammo boxes and over 20 of the smaller “Flat Type.” I wasn’t looking forward to scratchbuilding 30 or so boxes, so these resin replacement parts will definitely be put to good use.
Go Veteran Models!
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The moulded ones are seriously… Yuk… Looks like the resin ones will save the day
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