About two hours of paint still to do but here's the Akagi. In the background, the Shokaku. The Kaga arrives Monday and that completes Kido Butai, Battleship Row and most the aircraft to fight the first two months of the war.











Banzai!

You got the Hiryu and Soryu as well?

Nice work. Those two ships look good enough to sink:D.

Those are excellent!


Wheels

Okay. Done. Well, it needs the little men in white coveralls and some planes here and there but it's done. There are photos of it dodging bombs at Midway with that big red ball on the deck so we decided to put it on even though it may not have been there at Pearl Harbor.

Akagi and in the back, next into the paint shed, the Shokaku.



Traditional buzz-the-boat shot



Zero on approach. After all,this is a flying game, not a sailing game.



...and it's a very fine A6M



A trick I learned from Sundowner...spend as much time on the gear wells as the wings.



Short final





I see a spot I missed...



and another...



Sorry. No landing picture because I busted it looking at the paint.

Since you are the artist you will notice something not being painted.
I can't see anything wrong with them and they look awesome to me.


Wheels

You know, of course, about the TBD's that tried to hole her at Midway. It even impressed the Japanese who have never been particularly afraid of death. We wanted that flight to be an insight to the players. That said, look at those guns. It's going to be hard to get into torpedo parameters. On the other hand, they cannot shoot straight up and that's where the SBD's will come from.

Isn't this fun?

Those are nice shots but it is so much more believable in motion on a good monitor.

I take it youguys solved the torpedo issue in thirdwire sims or dothe torps act as guided missiles?

We have ways of getting what we want out of it that a full-on game cannot.

Short answer is no, not 100% yet.

I am looking forward to being able to try it out.


Wheels

Those 4.7 inch guns were dangerous for torpedo planes that was for sure. But you are right, straight up they weren't all that great. I have read that the originally designed dual purpose guns never worked very well in the AA role. It actually was a weakness of all IJN carriers but the Kaga and Akagi were particularly vulnerable due to their design. Since neither were originall designed as carriers they both needed extensive modification of their BB and BC hulls to accomodate flight operations. The Americans were more successful with the Lexington class designs and created the prototypical appearance of almost all aircraft carriers to follow. Heck the Kaga and Akagi didn't even have full length flight decks until 1940 and needed massive rennovation to accomodate newer models of aircraft. The Kaga was still considered slow for a fleet carrier, another problem.

Both the Kaga/Akagi and the Lexington class carried 8 inch main guns until the war started. At first there was still fear that these carriers could get caught by surface ships and it was thought that some larger calibre guns would at least give some kind of protection against cruisers and destroyers. By 1942 it was realized that fleet carriers would rarely if ever operate without at least heavy cruiser screening and as such the need for larger defensive guns was dismissed and these guns removed.

The Lexington and Saratoga carried hers in dual front and rear turrets and it was much easier to convert her to the twin 5in/38cal turrets that you found on the later Essex class ships. The IJN ships never really had a similar gun although they did have some very effective 4.7 dual purpose guns that they added to their later model destroyers and eventually larger ships. I don't think they ever mounted guns on the decks of any of their carriers, even the Taiho.

Well, given that Lexington and Saratoga were commissioned in the late '20's, I'd say that the standard carrier type was pretty much defined by Hermes and Eagle earlier in the decade (see complete flight deck and starboard island).

Of course, small and too old is another thing.

It sure looks good to me.

Keep up your good work!