Japanese Class A 1/16

[MFR1964]

Made the jiggs and the sanding is done, for now she is in storage untill spring, tempartures way too low to play around with epoxy resin.



Before i made the jiggs i boggled the brains on what kind of SD could be used, placed the 2,5 SD from the type XXIII in front for the size, seems possible to me.



The boat placed between the jiggs, used some straight scrap wood to make this, added threaded bars, so i can fixade or rotate the boat.



Added wall filler to the plug and made me a extra large sandingblock, time to sand away!!



Did several passes with the filler and sanding, now she is ready for a skin of glasscloth and epoxy, have to wait for higher tempartures, she is safely tucked away on the wall.



Since i want to mold the tower also, i made the topside from styrene, did several passes with copper sheeting but this wasn´t a succes so i went with styrene, first new item on the list was, the peroscope protector, so next pass will be the wheel at the front, working on that right now.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Made a vid to show the plug, enjoy

https://youtu.be/XOYIriMyGxE

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Thanks for the pics Bart,

I think those pics shows a nice replica of a class A tower, there are some things which are not right, especially as i compare them with pics made in WW2, like missing the two big tubes used for both the entry and peroscope, the japanese simply welded plates between them to cover up, on your pics those places are flatwelded.
They may have used some original parts, like the wheel and housing for the antifouling cable.

Manfred.

[Von Hilde]

Nice display. the rope is not authentic part of the antifowling gear, pully assembly Somebody just thought it looked like it should be like a Barn pully.with a rope. Heavy cable was used, origionally. The Ha 19 tower was removed at the Nimitz museum, for what reason, I dont know. Most likely it was so rusted it may have been unsafe. Still a couple towers up in Alaska rusting away. Too bad all the old stuff is rapidlly dissapearing. Like the guys that were in them.

[bwi 971]

Can this be of any help?

The picture is from inside the Kure Maritime Museum (Yamato Museum) in Kure, Hiroshima, Japan.
Found a video too between 00:15:57 and 00:17:59

Grtz,
Bart

[Von Hilde]

Manfred, I just realised that the picture of the tower in front of the Capitol building had been published backwards. in other words the photo negative was flipped mirror imiage. In other words the side being viewed with the civilians is actually the starbord side. The holes in the hull with the windows where the people are viewing the interior were cut in the starboard hull only at the Mare Island shipyard where the restoration for the war bond tour was completed.. and the aft lower section of the tower starboard had a damage hole right where the armor met the hull. This was from one of the destroyers that engaged Sakamaki's boat before he could enter Pearl Harbor. He then escaped and ran aground on the east side of the island. The vessel recieved more damage dragged off the reef, as well. Several detalils of the wreck were overlooked at restoration due to no knowledge of the vessel. One being the antifowling rigging wires re attachment and the other major mis conception was absence of the complete prop cage. Aparently most of the wrecks recoverd had major damage in that area so no restoration people had the proper rigging. Only surviving representation is on the Ha8 in Groton sub museum. Geene and Dave took some good pictures of the cage, altho it too is been bent and re straitened, close to original, but not perfect. Glad to help if I can.

[MFR1964]

Von, i've send you a PM with my mailadress.

Manfred.

[Von Hilde]

pictures wont load for some reason Ill have to e mail them

[Von Hilde]

I have missplaced most of the actual fotos I took years ago, but here are a few Hi res you can blow up for detail

[MFR1964]

Thanks Bart,

The shape is there!!, loads of work to do for getting her a smooth skin.
As promised some pics on building the tower,



Still had to make the front and backplating on the tower, used a piece of paper and some backlight to get the right proportions.



After cutting the paper template a dryfitt on the tower, i use a packagetube from David, which has the right diameter of the hull.



Did pretty much the same with all other templates and started cutting the copper plates.



I allways like to be sure, one of the countless dryfitts, this time with the copper plate.





Heated up the soldering iron, and went loose, since there are weldinglines, i made them up with solder, at first i wanted a tower for the sub itself, but now i want to build a complete one and make a mold, have to order rivets first.
Yeah, i know, need some hatches on the outside also , for now not that much pics from the tower on both sides, Von!! help me!!!!

Manfred.

[bwi 971]

Great stuff Manfred as always

Grtz,
Bart

[MFR1964]

You gotta love free days off, finally my plug is born, pictures



One of the stages to get things together, used weights for gentle compression.



One step to go for getting the three main hull parts together.



Finally glueing the frontpart to the middle section, used a piece of wood to keep it at the right height, rearpart ready at the background.





Last two pics, she is ready in the rough, during the glueing i had some time to add some more plating at the conningtower, i'll make a update about that later.
For now i will make the jigg like David did with his, have to add some attachments points at both ends for spinning her around, to be continued.

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

I Agree Ken, most interesting, in the beginning i was not aware that subs where used at Pearl Harbour, i stumbled on a video at You Tube were they discussed about a picture taken during the attack, it showed the contours of a Class A japanese sub, most interesting to view.

As for me working in the shop, there is progress,



All parts are done, sticked them together with painterstape.



All three parts together, had to support the front and rear to keep everything together, she's still pretty rough with humps and bumps, nothing that cannot be sanded away.



Right now i'm doing this, glueing all parts together, only the parts with the lead on top are allready glued down, have to wait 24 hrs after each glue session.
When everything is glued down, i can marry all three parts, before doing that i'll sand them roughly into shape.

Manfred.

[Ken_NJ]

Wow, this is interesting hearing all this. Something I never heard before. Keep up with the history lesson! Maybe it's own thread. And always like watching your work Manfred.

[Von Hilde]

Manfred, thats the way the Japanese built them in the Kure shipyard. 3 section modules, from different subassemblies built in different shops. Some were shipped in sections to secret IJN bases in the Pacific. They were assembled at the destinations, such as the Allutian islands and Baha Mexico. Some were assembled and deployed from surface vessels as well. I assume you are aware that the boats were dynamic divers and no balast system. They sat low in the water, at rest. Some of the animated videos of the C class mother subs, depict them launching from below the surface. Didnt happen. The launch procedure from the Mothers was to get within target range which was relitivly close because ther wasnt sufficient battery to power to run at speed, One thing being the drag underwater would slow the boat more when the tower was under and required more power, which would deplete the batteries quicker. Once in position, the mother would remain submerged until dark, then surface. The mini crew would board the boat and launch crew would release the tiedowns from the mother deck. The mother would just open the flood gates and dip away from the semi boyant mini. The mini would then make the first leg to the target on the top. Basiclly tower slightly above the surface so the Officer could see thru the observation ports. Running on low power at a couple knots untill time to dip under to perriscope depth on the torpedo run. They didnt have much of an operational range. around 30 miles at cruise speed, so the idea of making it back to the rondevous point was slim to none. The attack force of the 5 Pearl Harbor boats had a contingabcy plan of escape. Infact it is now come to light, the crew of the 5th boat that was never found, actually ran aground at Pearl City during the evening after the attack around 8 pm. They managed to signal the I24 that the had success and were going to plan B. There were maps found aboard one of the minis that ended up on the beach, showing a "Safe house" location, in Pearl City. Also ther was an account of a Navy pilot that flew in from the carrier that was inboubd to Pearl harbor. He was on his way to Sundy service athe the Navy base and stumbeled into the attack. The Airplane he was in was unarmed and was shot down by a couple zeros. Crashed on the highway in Ewa beach just outsid of Pearl.. He parachuted safely and was trying to get to the base, as the attack was still in full force. He flagged down a truck leaving Pearl city, that was in a hurry. The driver. a Japanes American had a passenger, who was Japanese as well, but was soaking wet and in his typicle Japanese underware, basiclly a diaper kind of cloth, The driver refused to give the pilot a ride to the base and speed off. The significant detail of the underwar is, the escape orders were to strip off all uniforms down to the underware and leave everything aboard the boat. Besides the paper containing the plan of escape there were uniforms found aboard some of the recovered subs but no bodies. A little history lesson for you to contimplate while you build one.