# Destroyer Yoshino



## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*After that Yamato build I sort of find myself stuck in anime/battlecruiser mode, so I dug out a donor hull from my stash, namely this WWII German U-Boat:*









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...so I can convert it into this really cool looking Yamato-style Destroyer (at least that's what I think it looks like):*










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My progress so far:*

































*I found that image online a few years back and was very impressed with the way the aesthetic of Yamato type vessels is retained in the lines and overall shape, while still being it's very own distinct and unique design. It looks like it would fit right in! (Not claiming any rights or privileges to the image). The shapes seemed simple enough that I figured it wouldn't be super hard to cobble together something that looks very similar without having to resort to molding pieces or venture into vacuum-forming (which I would like to try one day, though). And I knew I had enough leftover greeblies and what-not in my spares box to add a bunch of interesting detail. The toughest part so far has been re-shaping the bow. I've used quite a few large chunks of .040" sheet to rough out the general shape of the bow, and will fill in with wave putty to sand down to final contours. There will be considerably more white plastic going onto her hull before any putty touches it, however.

I'm not going for an exact re-production of the ship in the image, but I think I can hammer out something that looks a lot like it...*


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Upper level decks starting to take shape:*


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Making good progress on the upper structure. Next up will be the scratched Bridge tower.*


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

I like where you are going on this, please keep posting your progress.


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## pob63 (Jan 2, 2008)

"I'm not going for an exact re-production of the ship in the image, but I think I can hammer out something that looks a lot like it..."

You pretty much nailed it without getting bogged down by reproducing an exact replica. I'm really looking forward to this build. NICE WORK!


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Works for me!


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## Philbouq (May 29, 2014)

Wow!
fantastic project! 
I love it!!!


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Thanks for all the comments everyone! Glad to see this one is going over so well. I will endeavour to keep things updated frequently as possible.

More progress on the upper structure, got the "smokestack' looking thingie roughed out, and started on the bridge tower, using the lower half of my old 1/700 Yamato bridge tower as the donor for the bulk of the shape. Already started modifying the tower and adding bits:*


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

Looks like another great build :thumbsup: Nice shapes so far. Good that you're not going for an exact replica since that will leave you some room for adding new features.


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Thanks Perfesser! 

Latest progress, detail on the upper decks. The main turrets are from the old Lindberg 1/350 Tirpitz motorized kit, and the AA turret from my 1/700 Yamato donor. I think I will have to venture into casting parts after all, I need to replicate that AA turret for a total of eight...*


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*One of the major drawbacks to doing this kind of conversion is the amount of sanding that has to be done to blend everything together. But, I asked for it, so I got it... 😬
I think the worst of it is over, though... 

Progress this week includes chopping off the very bottom compartments of the hull and filling in with putty, and sanding to shape; getting the bow finally where I want it to be after having to use both Tamiya polyester putty and Wave to re-shape it, and gluing on some more detail scavenged from my old 1/700 Yamato donor:*






































*These end caps on the (what I assume are) hangars were not easy to make! But with some help from good ol' Wave putty:*


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Back at it again on this craziness. Having bitten off far more than I can chew, I've had very slow progress on the hull re-shape, but I think I'm about 95% done with it, so just a couple more spots to touch up, and then maybe it'll be time for the first coat of primer to see how things are looking. 

LOTS of Wave putty went into the bow and after much sanding and shaping, I've finally got it looking decent:*










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The stern where it meets the engine nozzle got more Wave putty:*



















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...and more Wave on the two lower blisters (those were motor launches from the old 1/350 Tirpitz kit by Lindberg):*












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Filled in the limber holes along each side of the hull (that took forever!):*










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I'm still working on the upper structure, and of course, went back and changed a couple of things, but overall I think it's starting to really look like the image:*


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## ClubTepes (Jul 31, 2002)

really, really cool.


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*I knew one of the biggest challenges on this build would be the pod hanging underneath the ship. Took about three evenings to work this thing up to it's current shape, with only a couple of tiny details to add I'm real happy with what I got for my efforts:*


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Got snowed in today, so I spent most of it fiddling with the upper and lower fins/stabilizers/antenna masts, dressing up the parts with some cut-and-paste bits out of my spares box:

Upper fin 2.0:*


















*Lower fin:*


















*Still a long way to go, but not too bad so far me thinks:*


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Boy trying to find time to work on this thing is exceedingly difficult these days, so I'm surprised I have this little bit to update with. Got the port and starboard AA pedestals built from tube and sheet plastic with Wave to form the lower conical part:


























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## daytime dave (Jan 14, 2017)

It's looking good as you progress. Nice imagination and fabrication so far!


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Thanks daytime dave!

Here's a bit of a preview of what the finished turrets will look like I hope. I need to cast copies of these two examples I salvaged from the old 1/700 Yamato kit. The barrels are so small I hope I can get good molds from these, otherwise I have to manufacture six more of these by hand... ugh.*


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## aussiemuscle308 (Dec 2, 2014)

awesome work so far.


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## Philbouq (May 29, 2014)

Great work yeah! 
And instructive 
Thanks a lot for sharing all these steps


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

@whiskeyrat 

I only just saw your message in my profile.

Member editing and images are still 2 of the issues we are having since the site migration. (It is effecting all their other migrated sites as well, so it is not just an issue with our site or your content.)

VS-Admin is working on both of them and slight changes occur each day. But, I remember seeing your images recently and not sure why they have dissappeared now.

I went back through your posts above and tried to edit back in the images - I could access a post url for. Currently there are none shown in the first post. And I was only able to see one full image that was still visible to me.

If you can review them and see what is there now or is still missing. For any remaining issues can you use the - report button - this time though? I will see them faster and the will also go to VS-Admin directly.

It's only a small consolation but nothing has improved in this process since you made your profile message and today though - unfortunately.


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

I still am not seeing any images and only a few links in the posts I reviewed. Which show as temporary errors.

Did you load your images as attachments or to a media gallery or show case?


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Hi MFR, yes I must have posted my images under the "models" category which I see no longer exists or was moved or re-named. In any case, if I were able to edit my posts I could simply re-upload the images and re-build both of my threads that way, but I still can't edit.*


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Thanks for the update. The member edit is supposed to be the next area with a resolution coming soon.


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

Milton Fox Racing said:


> Thanks for the update. The member edit is supposed to be the next area with a resolution coming soon.


Ok, edit function appears to be restored, I've re-built the thread with the missing images now, should be good to go. Now I can start back up on this thing...


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Alrighty, well a little more progress on this thing, I was waiting for a solution to the editing function problem and now that I can post again, here's Yoshino with her first coat of primer, and some more detail added to the thrusters on each end of the hangars, and a refined main mast/stabilizer. Found a few flaws and gaps that still need filling but it looks like I got 99% of the filling that was necessary. The submarine this thing is built on has almost disappeared altogether...*


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Glad to see the build progression back! 🤙


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

Looking great


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Happy that the Labor day weekend gives me enough time off to sit down and grapple with Yoshino for a little while... decided to get on with the panel scribing before I add too much more finicky detail which might get in the way of scribing later. As it is, I should have done this before I glued all the stupid blisters and hangars all over the hull...*


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## jkirk (Feb 19, 2020)

Wow, I love conversions! This is too cool!


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

Yeah, this is looking way too much like it belongs on the show


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*During this first coat of primer phase is where opportunity still exists to change things that I don't like and/or upgrade other parts of the model, and so it is with Yoshino I tore up the bridge tower and rebuilt the entire upper section, and got quite a bit more detail slapped on it, along with more upgrades to the other parts of the superstructure. Much happier with the bridge tower now. Scribing is about 80% complete at this stage:


























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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

whiskeyrat said:


> *During this first coat of primer phase is where opportunity still exists to change things that I don't like and/or upgrade other parts of the model, and so it is with Yoshino I tore up the bridge tower and rebuilt the entire upper section, and got quite a bit more detail slapped on it, along with more upgrades to the other parts of the superstructure. Much happier with the bridge tower now. Scribing is about 80% complete at this stage:
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Wow! Quite an improvement there. Looks like you either thought this out a lot or did a lot of trial and error fitting to see what works best.  The detailing with the little ports and scribing are really bringing it to life.


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## Russ31073 (Jul 8, 2020)

whiskeyrat said:


> *Making good progress on the upper structure. Next up will be the scratched Bridge tower.*


That is looking super cool!


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Crawling ever so slowly forward with this project, here's a tiny update. I knew I would have to fabricate the engine nozzle fins from scratch, and dreaded it. But, sheet and tube styrene combined with the ever steadfast Wave putty yielded reasonable results:*



















*Temporarily tacked on to the stern to see how things are shaping up back here...*










*Also fabbed up the front of the superstructure where the forward AA turret will sit (if I ever get around to casting those copies...)*


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Woops forgot to add a couple of little details, the little bolster side pieces at the bottom of each fin and the tiny pipe at the rear of the top pod:*


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Merry Christmas everyone! My hoped-for Christmas present this year was one that I had to make myself. Specifically, the AA guns for Yoshino that I have been putting off and off until I have reached the point where I'm essentially done building the rest of the ship, and these are now the very last parts I need to fabricate. The major reason I was dreading this part was because I was very unsure of how the tiny guns would turn out. I was (and still might be) pre-disposed to the notion that, at the very least, I would have to manufacture the barrels from scratch like I did with Yamato. That was a PITA. But, I appear to have garnered some small success with my casting attempts. To wit:

These are the main bodies of the turrets, cast in clear resin. I need eight but only cast six as a trial for this first batch. Considerable bubbles, but no matter because after primer and paint they're invisible. The castings turned out pretty sharp, too.










These were cast with the gun barrel inserts (minus the rest of the barrels because they broke off long ago), my thinking on casting these was possibly drilling holes into the inserts and gluing in the (aluminum tubing) barrels:










These were the only two salvageable guns from my entire first casting. I pulled my mold directly off the runner of another 1/700 Yamato kit in my stash:










Assembled AA turret. Even with the slightly warped guns it looks halfway decent:










Comparison of partly molded turret versus fully molded. If I can get truly good castings from my mold for the guns I think I will try to go that route first, and save building the guns as a last resort. The real challenge is getting all the air bubbles out of the tiny mold spaces. Too many air bubbles and the guns won't be solid enough to be handled without breaking:










The various molds I made from silicone rubber 2 part putty. I was skeptical about its efficacy but much to my surprise worked quite well. There is definitely a technique to applying the silicone properly in order to capture all the detail and eliminate air bubbles:








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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Merry Christmas!


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

Brilliant work


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*At last some decent looking guns!! I had to try a different casting compound for these little suckers, because the clear resin I used for the main turret bodies proved to be too thick and slow curing to be of any use for parts that small. Even though I did get a couple of useful parts from it, this new stuff is way thinner, cures in less than fifteen minutes, and is much easier to work with. Phew! I thought I was going to have to build all these little barrels but not only do I get to avoid that noise, now I have all my materials and some technique on how to make my own parts for future builds, something I've always wanted to try.

The guns on the left all cast in the new material. The closer turret is 100% clear resin for comparison. I'm sure they'll look a bit different after primer:*










*I almost forgot these little guys! There are two each side that go between the four larger forward turrets. Fortunately, I have the original guns for these; all of which are in one piece, so I don't have to cast new ones:*










*Seated next to each other on the port side of the hull:*


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

*Finally, after much sweat and tears (but no blood!) I finished all the AA turrets, big and small. No easy task, but I made it hard on myself so there we go. Here she is just about ready for the next stage of primer, just a couple of small fins left to glue on and a little sanding touch-up:












































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