Finally finished my 1/350 Akagi, and it took way longer than I planned

That splinter shield work with the scribed weave caught my eye, because I did somthing similar on my 1/350 Yamato a couple years back and nearly lost my mind on the same part. Mine were from Evergreen strip stock and after the fourth one warped on me I gave up and bought pre-etched versions, so hats off for sticking with the scratch route. Mine still look slightly lumpy and I've made peace with it.

For the handrails, what saved my sanity was a folding tool from Hold and Fold. Before that I was bending everything with flat tweezers and every rail came out wavy. Once I had a proper fold, the railings went from my least favorite job to something almost relaxing. The foil-backed flag trick is a good one. I did the same on my Yamato with some kitchen foil and white glue and the curl has held for two years now with no droop. One thing I learned the hard way: keep the foil layer thin or the glue shows through as a darker patch.

Rigging was the part that nearly ended my build. I used Uschi thread and the static cling nearly drove me up the wall til I started touching a grounded radiator first to dump the charge off my hands. Made a bigger difference than I expected. What did you rig with, out of curiosity?

Funny reading this while my own Akagi sits half-finished on the shelf of doom, been there about a year now. I stalled out right at the flight deck decals, the ones with all the white tie-down stripes along the edges. Every time I look at that sheet I close the box again and go paint a tank instead.

I did learn one thing before I stalled though. I gave up on wire for rigging pretty early and switched to stretched sprue, and honestly it suits me better. You pull it thin, glue it with a touch of liquid cement, and if it snaps you just stretch another piece. No shine to fight either, which was my big problem with the wire stuff, it kept catching my desk lamp and looking like fishing line. The flag trick you mention is a good one. I did something similar on my Bismarck with a bit of aluminum from a soda can backing, though I painted mine flat and it dulled the color down a bit. Next time I'll seal it first. Maybe your build will shame me into getting back to mine. Or maybe I'll just buy a second kit and pretend the first one was practice.

Reading this while my own 1/350 Bismarck sits unopened in the closet, bought six months ago and too scared to start. I've only done 1/700 ships before and even those had me swearing at the masts, so the idea of photo-etch at that scale is intimidating. The bit I keep worrying about is dust, honestly. Did you plan a case for it from the start, or is that something you're figuring out now? At that size a decent cover seems like half the budget again.

The deck plank lines were what ate up my evenings on mine. I did a thinned oil wash along each plank seam with a fine brush, wiped the excess off with a rag dampened in lighter fluid. Worked way better than a full wash over the whole deck, which turned muddy on me the first time I tried it. Took two passes to get it looking right.

Curious how you weathered the flight deck, if at all. Mine came out a bit too clean for a carrier that saw actual service and I keep meaning to go back and add some exhaust staining behind the funnels.

Rigging the curved funnel on mine taught me to drill every anchor point before the superstructure went togather. Trying to punch a tiny hole into an assembled funnel was how I cracked mine, and rebuilding that part from spares cost me a whole weekend. Rigging across the entire ship ended up around 40 hours, and I swore it would be my last rigged build, then started a Kongo three months later anyway.

Curious what you used for the flight deck color. The early war tan is tricky, and every mix I tried came out too gray until I added a drop of yellow ochre to the base. Yours looks warm in the photos, so I'd like to know your recipe.

Update: tried that plank seam wash trick from the reply above, thin oil along each line with a fine brush, wiped back with lighter fluid on a rag. Night and day compared to my first attempt at a full deck wash, wich went muddy and never relly recovered. The seams pop now without looking dirty. Also gave the whole thing a careful dust cover spot on the shelf away from the window.