Building the IJN Soryu in 1/144 Scale By Bill Waldorf
Part 7Hello again fellow modelers! Well, it has been 9 months, Almost 800 hours and a couple thousand parts and I have finally completed the IJN Soryu. It has been a long road. As I write this text I am still working on the last 7 aircraft. As you may or may not know, the model has been accepted into The Patriot Points Navel and Maritime Museum in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. I leave tommorrow morning to deliver the ship( Sept. 5th). The schedule here has been hectic. I wanted to do a little weathering on the model but due to the time constraints I will not be able to. Therefore she will go in pristeen condition. Enough of my babbleing! Lets check out the photos.
In these first five pictures you can see the brige assy. is near complete except for paintwork. The bridge is built in three main sections out of shaped balsa wood forms then wrapped with sheet styrene.I then added the uppermost deck and the main gun director. You can see the many different parts from p/e brass to cast metal. Other small details are scratchbuilt. I was fortunate to have alot of drawings to help in construction. 
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Here you can see the bridge assy. completed. Note I have added the mainmast and other details. 
Fwd. end of the ship looking from Port side. Note the Chrysanthemum shield on the bow. This is actually a decorative chair nail I got from a local wood specialty shop.It's the rite shape but a little oversize.I used it anyway! 
Full view of port side.Note comm. antennas and Vals on aft end of flightdeck.
Port side aft shot. You can see the comm. antennas a litttle better here.Note they are in the lowered position.I made these from N scale Model RR radio towers with some modifications.Note the Val dive bombers here too. You can see the safety netting also made from P/E mesh.
Same view but at a different angle.
Aft end of flightdeck looking fwd. The Val dive bombers are an Arii kit. Out of production now. I was lucky to get these from a fellow Modelwarships.com follower. He was going to do a 1/144 Carrier but decided against it but still had the A/C models. He offered them to me and I jumped on it. More on the A/C later in pt. 8. Note I have added safety netting on aft end of flightdeck, made from painted bridal veil.Flag from LH Dockyard. All A/C are individually numbered also using Micro Scale model RR decals in N scale.
Another view of the stern this time looking from stb. side.
Stern again looking slightly underneath from stb. side. Note all the underdeck bracing.Props and rudders are clearly visible here too.
Nice shot of the bridge assy. from stb. side.Note lifeboat assy. 
Stb. side of the bridge assy. again, looking slightly underneath. 
Another shot of the bridge or island assy, stb. side. 
Couple of shots of the bow area.
More shots of the bridge assy.
Funnels looking from pt. side. Note I have added the stay wires. 
Another bow view.
Good overhead shot of the bridge assy. from stb. side. 
Full view of the ship from stb. side aft.
Full view stb. side fwd. 
Full view from pt, side fwd. 
Fwd . pic of the Bridge assy. 
Two more views of the stern. 
Props and rudders from stb side.
Nice view of the funnel assys. 
Epilog: Well, I hope you enjoyed the photos of the Soryu. At the time of the writing of this piece, the model is already at the Patriot Points Musem in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. More on that in pt. 9. Stay tuned for Pt.8 in which I will go over the a/c construction. See you soon!! Thanks again to Tim and all the staff at MW.com.

Any questions anyone has or if I can be of any assistance, please feel free to e-mail me at bjsww@earthlink.net.

Bill Waldorf Lowell, Michigan, 49331

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