1/48 SB2C Helldiver--Attack on Yokosuka and IJN Battleship Nagato, 18 July 1945 (finished)

[easixpedro]

25 minutes ago, Uncarina said:

I also like the added dynamic of the smaller scale aircraft. Also, will you be adding flak bursts?

a second vote for smaller a/c...I like it!  Not sure about flak, mostly as I don't know how I'd pull it off.  I will be adding the concentric circles/bomb splashes to the water like what's shown in the 4th picture.  I can't seem to find many photos showing damage to the port facility--the war ended a month later and the surrender ceremony was held just off the base--every ship essentially pulled into Yokosuka. Even the cranes survived...either it was really good targeting and they didn't want to damage a port they knew they'd be using, or their bombing really wasn't very good.  Probably a little of both?  

[Collin]

Fantastic idea....can't wait to see this finished.  

 

Funny looking at YO-KO-SU-KA harbor (that's how we pronounced it) from an overhead view.  The carrier pier is surrounded by some pretty steep hills...at least that's what I remember walking onboard CV-62 (which all brand new nugget JO's did before they earned the right to "fly aboard").  

 

Cheers

Collin

[easixpedro]

3 hours ago, Collin said:

The carrier pier is surrounded by some pretty steep hills...at least that's what I remember

Great minds think alike!  Built it last night...or at least started it. has gone through some serious changes over the years as the port was built up--from what I can tell, the cliff went straight up to the pier during the war and afterword they started pushing it back to make room.

 

 

Managed to make some more buildings too.  Starting to fill in and it might work out...

 

Love this shot.  There's a sense of action and the perspective looks cool.

 

Here's a great shot of the carrier piers circa 63.  You can see the cranes are still there as are the majority of the buildings. They've started cutting up the cliff though.

 

And a great shot of one of the cranes.  Have to figure out their names and do a post on them--still have no idea how I'll make 'em.

 

And last couple of pics. A few years ago I'd seen an overhead shot of a Whale being launched from the Coral Sea while she's pierside. It's crazy! But for the life of me, I can't find it.  These are from the same 'test,' but I can't find that specific picture.  Background was that in March 1962 the higher ups wanted to see if they could do it, so they did. That had to have been one hell of a cat shot (with no wind over the deck, ALL the oomph is coming from the cat and for a heavy A-3, that's a big push...)

 

 

More soon.  Need to order some 1/350 Helldivers and Hellcats.  Randolph's Air Group was the second wave, and I think Yorktown was first. Figure have a Yorktown Helldiver pulling up by the cliff and then a couple of Randolph Hellcats rolling in below the big Helldiver.  I'll tinker with them and see how it looks before committing.

-Peter

Edited June 16, 2022 by easixpedro

[Oldbaldguy]

Holy crap!!  In that NaNews cover shot there are Tigers, Furies, Skyrays, Spads, Whales and an S-2/C-1 on deck.  That’s pretty much everything in the inventory at the time and a boatload of ‘em!

[easixpedro]

All I'm saying, is that a smarter fella would've painted the itty-bitty buildings before assembly. 

 

Making some progress during the long weekend. Really slow as I try to paint things that are less than a square inch...

 

 

 

Still have to make a bunch of cranes and all the ships to line the quays. Was hoping to finish this prior to Nats,  but don't think it'll happen.

[Oldbaldguy]

Good ‘un!  The overhead shots of this are just grand.  Can’t wait to see what you do with the middle ground.

[easixpedro]

Serendipitous moment as I was trying to make the water columns.  Realized that a clogged super glue bottle kind of looked like it would work to replicate an explosion.  Even better, gel super glue allowed me to make the columns and they dried clearish and white. And it holds its shape too! 

 

So here's the scene now. Columns are approximately where they are in the picture of the attack. Nagato took at least two hits: one on the bridge and one aft, which I've tried to replicate. 

 

 

 

Still painting buildings...would try and peel 'em off, but that would destroy the base for sure.

-Peter 

[LSP_Kevin]

Wow, that's awesome!

 

Kev

[Uncarina]

Well done! I really like the historical tie-in, and the pyrotechnics add a lot to the dynamics.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[easixpedro]

2 hours ago, Uncarina said:

Well done! I really like the historical tie-in, and the pyrotechnics add a lot to the dynamics.

 

Cheers,  Tom

thanks guys!
 

Up next, I need to figure out all the smaller vessels. On the pier next to Nagato was the Harushima Maru. She took a direct hit and snapped in two before sinking. Oddly enough she was originally a US ship captured at Corregidor. The Japanese converted her to a mine layer. http://www.combinedfleet.com/Harushima2_c.htm Don’t know how I’ll do a sinking ship, along with an explosion, but it seems like an acceptable challenge!

 

Heading off to the in-laws farm in Iowa for the weekend, so no updates till I get back and start building.

-Peter

[JeepsGunsTanks]

Damn, this is another super cool build!  I dig on some BEAST action!  

 

Off topic, but like almost on topic. In the movie, the Bridges at Toko-ri, when they were mooring the aircraft carrier, they had all the Skyraiders up on deck, tied town and running at full throttle to dock the ship. Was that really done?

[Oldbaldguy]

9 hours ago, JeepsGunsTanks said:

Damn, this is another super cool build!  I dig on some BEAST action!  

 

Off topic, but like almost on topic. In the movie, the Bridges at Toko-ri, when they were mooring the aircraft carrier, they had all the Skyraiders up on deck, tied town and running at full throttle to dock the ship. Was that really done?

I read something about that years ago.  Somebody will know.  Seems very impractical to me - overcoming the inertia of tens of thousands of tons of ship in motion with the prop blast from a handful of airplanes.  Tug boats would be easier, cheaper, more effective and they were readily available.

[easixpedro]

2 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

I read something about that years ago.  Somebody will know.  Seems very impractical to me - overcoming the inertia of tens of thousands of tons of ship in motion with the prop blast from a handful of airplanes.  Tug boats would be easier, cheaper, more effective and they were readily available.

I can't remember where I read it, but they did on occasion do it. Essex class carriers weren't nearly as big as the later super carriers, so a bit easier to move with the thrust from props and jets. 

 

As for the movie, cool to see them walking out the main gate and see all the same buildings. The IJN HQ is still there and is now the Commander Naval Forces Japan HQ. Went in there a few times for meetings and it's a cool piece of history. The entire  base is dotted with caves and tunnels from world War two. Occasionally they'll open them up for tours...super fascinating stuff.

[Pete Fleischmann]

Dude that’s sweet-

love it!

P

[easixpedro]

OK gents, back from an extended weekend.  Always good to get away from it all. The in-laws have a plot of land in NE Iowa and it's rather idyllic (even for this mountain man). Even better, there's no cell coverage and a perfect way to escape from "life." Last post I'd made, I had to walk a ways up into a pasture to get a single bar signal--my reward?  A metric ton of chigger bites.

 

Last night I sat down and started making some cranes and the first of many midget subs.  The Japanese started building them to prepare for the eventual invasion of the main islands. They'd planned over 700, and built close to 200 by the time of this strike. Here's a good write up about them: Japanese Navy Ship Types--Kairyu type Midget Submarines (ibiblio.org)

 

Here's a couple of pics of what I'm attempting to make.

 

Check out the bomb blast damage to the windows. The buildings are all intact, but obviously some blast damage from bombs in the harbor.

 

Here's the approximate locations of the photos. had a good chuckle as I was looking at them--I rode my bike to work every day and parked it at a bike rack in that exact location of the subs in the first pic!

Will continue making the subs and some more of the cranes.  Also need to figure out how to make all the detritus, without overdoing it (and making it look appropriate for the scale).  Was discussing adding windows to the buildings with my son. I think just a black strip of decal to represent them. He thinks otherwise.

Whadya think?  

Appreciate everyone following along and all the comments!

-Peter