One hundred and seven actually. Twenty more to build. Ummm, make that 22 as Simon kindly gave me three more (Mizuho, Bogue and Nelson)! Nelson went to the 'build later' group, along with Julian's Ajax and Graf Spee.
 |
| Japanese battleships (L to R) Kongō, Haruna, Fusō, Yamashiro, Ise, Hyūga, Nagato, Mutsu, Yamato and Musashi. |
Grand total built, including those Julian built previously and 3D printed, is currently 167.
With this many built I have been able to tick off some more of my interim targets:
- all Japanese cruisers built—completed previously
- 30 remaining—completed
- 100 built by me—completed
- all Japanese destroyers built—completed
- all Japanese battleships built—completed
- all Japanese carriers built,
- 18 remaining,
- all RN & RAN ships built,
- 12 remaining,
- all USN ships built,
- BINGO!
 |
| Musashi (closest to camera) and Yamato up close, such magnificent ships with superb lines. |
 |
| Japanese destroyers (L to R, front to back) two Kamikaze class, two Mutsuki, two Fubuki, two Fubuki II, three Akatsuki/Fubuki III, one Hatsuharu, three Shiratsuyu, three Asashio, six Kagerō, three Yūgumo, two Akizuki and two Matsu. |
 |
| Same again, comin' at you. |
Plenty to paint now, of course.
With ship building well and truly under control, I have turned my attention to painting figures. No ship building for over a week. I'll get back to the ships soon though as I have now, finally, 'scratched' the long-nagging figure-painting itch. Time to 'juggle' between ship building, painting figs and painting ships, so as to keep all the 'balls in the air'.
Super scores on the door James, very impressive totals. Those Japanese destroyers make a very impressive looking sight.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie. 'Not out' too, which is handy!
DeleteGreat work James. Very impressive.
ReplyDeleteThe battleships especially. I can see why the IJN wanted to have their decisive battle, it would have looked fantastic in their 1940 wargame with all the models moving around the gym's floor at naval HQ. 😁
Ta Ben. We have plans a-foot for just such a thing, as an alt. scenario.
DeleteWhile the making is but the first (sizeable) step, it's a great thing in and of itself. I was taken by the irony of all that anti-aircraft defence added to Fuso and Yamashiro, both of which were destined to be sunk in the 'last great surface battle' (Surigao Strait), juxtaposed to Yamato, 'bristling' with AA, who was 'destined' to be sunk by an attack of a 'mere' 250 (or so) aircraft, followed by a similar number in a second wave.
Certainly looks your plan is moving forward with great speed. It will no doubt be awesome displayed.
ReplyDeleteThanks Joe. I feel that it is under control now that I have well and truly broken the back of them.
DeleteLooks like you are very much on the home straight now, James.
ReplyDeleteYes, absolutely how I feel Richard. I'll get to the painting 'phase' quite soon now. It has been really good to get back to and finished off some long-ignored figures.
DeleteImpressive that you can keep going so well on two fronts, Ive never really thought of you as Prussia but terribly impressive!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Hilarious! Thanks Iain
DeleteLovely models there James. Ship building and painting can be quite addictive and I enjoyed putting together my 1/2400th stuff, but was glad to get back to some figures after four or five months of it.
ReplyDeleteI concur on both counts Lawrence!
DeleteMy (former RN Chaplain) grandfather would have loved to own a collection like these. But he had too many hobbies of his own to concentrate on one enough to finish it!
ReplyDeleteInspiring sight though James! What scale are they and how large a table would you need to be able to field them realistically?
Thank you Dai. There is still a way to go with finishing the last ones and painting them. The "shipyards'' have been quiet for the last couple of weeks as I have re-activated painting figs. See your comment about too many hobbies!
DeleteThe total area of a tennis court is around 35 m x 18 m, which equates to 24.5 km (13.2 Nmi) x 12.6 km (6.8 Nmi) at 1:700, so would just about do it. A double court would be better!
I can represent a mere 2.53 km x 1.68 km (1.37 Nmi x 0.91 Nmi), so will be representing segments of actions on the tabletop. I may use one and a half or twice the scale for some of the surface actions that occurred over a more limited area (e.g. Java Sea, Sunda Strait, Savo Island).
Maybe renting an indoor court for a day's game could be a future (Albeit pricey) option? :P
DeleteRegardless, this scale naval gaming does have an alure to it.
Nice ships! The Japanese Navy was awesome. I remember studying in detail the battle of Leyte Gulf years ago, but don't quite remember now: was the Yamato in this battle?
ReplyDeleteAnd I remember reading that the Yamato was "the largest battleship ever", but it seems that at least the Musashi was from the same class.
I've started (months ago) to scratch-build some myself, but from the Roman era (Trirremes), and bought a few generic 3D printed ships, generic enough that could be used either as ancient or medieval ships (well, at least for me).
Cheers,
Streletsfan1029
Thanks for dropping by. Those scratch build triremes sound great. I don't think that you have featured them on your blog yet, have you?
ReplyDelete