Profile Photo
paul teixeira
98 articles

2nd Update: Build of 1/350 Tamiya I-400 JPN Sub

July 21, 2018 · in Ships · · 10 · 11.2K

I am still plugging away with this build and have made decent progress since last build update. I am happy to inform that the customer viewed the pictures on this site and is very pleased with current status of the sub.

The biggest change since last update is the attachment of the Infini wooden deck. I thought this would be difficult but the high-quality and excellent engineering of this product helped the process go smoothly. It has its own self-adhesive, and peeled effortlessly from the backing paper. All the pre-drilled holes aligned perfectly with holes on the plastic deck. The fit was exquisite in all respects.

After attaching the wooden deck I stained the deck. I used an old Testors acrylic wash that has been sitting for ever; never thought I would need that color. Today I did some more detail painting. Attached more details and triple-20mm AA guns, as well as, all the periscopes, and antennas atop the conning tower. Now on to lots and lots of PE...aggg!

Reader reactions:
3  Awesome

24 additional images. Click to enlarge.


10 responses

  1. Coming along 'swimmingly', Paul...nice work indeed.

  2. Paul - one small but (maybe) important thing: as weathered as that sub is, the wooden deck should be also. I think (from my own experience of wooden decks aboard a ship in the tropics) that you might want to use a light grey wash and then a very thin white wash over that wood, to "age" it - those crewmen weren't out there holystoning those decks every morning. This is looking really good overall.

    • I agree. A faded ‘whitewash’ look overall to the hardwood slats.

    • I agree, I wanted to weather it but was not sure how to, or what that would look like. Problem is b/c it soaks into the wood I cant go back and fix it once applied, or at least I dont think I can? Do u have any pictures of a good weathered deck. Just like everything else in this build it lacks good photo reference so using so much artistic license in this build. I really need to find some sort of reference so I know how to apply, where to apply it? I do agree 100% and maybe try what u suggest on some scraps left over from the deck.

      • You want it to soak in, as unevenly as possible. The more "craptological" it looks, the more right it will be. Don't do it all at once, apply, let it soak in and dry, take a look, add more here and there. I did this to a wooden airplane stand for a Luftwaffe model base, and it ended up looking great. Hard to over-weather on this.

    • Here it is with the deck weathered as suggested. I used various light washes. it is done except rigging and figures added. I am not sure what to use for rigging. This is b/c I always use EZ-Line, but it just does not seem the right scale for 1/350th. Need something a bit more delicate, to scale, etc. Not sure how to use other rigging.

      1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

  3. Looking great Paul!

  4. Looking great! I recently acquired an Aurora/Monogram I-19, Don't think I can do it up any where near to your work.

  5. Here it is with the deck weathered as suggested. I used various light washes. it is done except rigging and figures added. I am not sure what to use for rigging. This is b/c I always use EZ-Line, but it just does not seem the right scale for 1/350th. Need something a bit more delicate, to scale, etc. Not sure how to use other rigging.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Leave a Reply