Japan - Takao Class Heavy Cruiser

[emperor_andreas]

Beautiful drawing! Looking forward to the E8N, as that's one of the last seaplanes missing from the aircraft list. Might I suggest moving the info up slightly? The foremast is sorta merging with your name in the credits. And personally, I'd keep the black boot topping; makes the ship's hull look that much more sharper.

[BB1987]

I know, i too personally prefer hulls with the black boot topping as it make them look more sleek and sharp, but the real ship seems to not have that feature, so i stick with realism.

Takao as of 1932:

Seaplane is a Nakajima E4N (the E8N i'm drawing for Maya is an evolution of this one).

[emperor_andreas]

Beautiful!

[bezobrazov]

Beautiful, my friend. I'd rather, though, skip entirely the waterline darker red color you've used and have a plain transition between boot topping and above surface hull.

[BB1987]

Beautiful, my friend. I'd rather, though, skip entirely the waterline darker red color you've used and have a plain transition between boot topping and above surface hull.

Actually is a black line and not a dark red, but thats a minor detail; you mean to simply change from red to gray at the waterline without anything in between link (like Novice merchant ships)? it could be an idea, but i think it works better with hulls with a darker grey shade then mine; i have tried and i get the impression that the whole underwater part of the hull is superimposted over the rest of the ships, it does not blend well for my taste (while on Novice ships it quite often does, maye it's also a matter of skill).

Meanwhile, i'm still working and i initially tought to not post it, but then i realized it could be a nice way to show how much different was Takao's bridge after the 1938 refit when compared to the original one.

quite a massive difference don't you think? the reduced bridge looks almost bland and undetailed when compared to the massive and impossibly complex earlier one (and, at least for my taste, the greenhouse bridge is the better looking one; who cares about top weight! )

[emperor_andreas]

Agreed...I thought the other bridge structures looked much nicer.

[BB1987]

Here is the completed drawing of Takao as of 1939.


Sorry for the E8N still missing .

[Colosseum]

I miss the days when I had this much free time!!!

[heuhen]

me to, me to!

[BB1987]

here is Takao as of 1942:


the 4 single 4.7-inch guns where replaced by 4 twin 5-inchers, and the twin 13mm mounts fitted abaft the bridge on sponsons where replaced by twin 25mm ones.