1／350 日本海軍航空巡洋艦 最上 製作記錄 (一)

Few months ago, Tamiya (田宮) spreaded the news saying that there will be a new ship being released in the near future. This ship is called IJN Mogami (日本帝國海軍 "最上"). It was a heavy cruiser with a flight deck conversion. Possibly the only hybrid battle ship at the time. I preordered the ship immediately, and also search for available PE detail parts. After a long wait, nearly 2 weeks ago, I finally received the kit, but the PE parts have not yet arrived. I've been waiting for 2 weeks until today, May 16, 2009, when I finally decided to start working on the parts that do not need detail parts.

I was amazed by the fine quality of the material of this model kit as soon as I opened the box. Another thing is that this kit is unlike the previous model ships made by Tamiya. It features new tooling such as the securing ring fixed on the inside of the ship body for holding the body in place, and the decks are "screwed on" rather than glue on.

I think it is difficult for you guys to picture what I'm saying in your head, but as I working through the process of building the ship, I will take photos and post it here. You will have a better idea of what I am talking about by then.

This is how it looks like when the cover is removed. As you can see, the parts are well secured and in nice layout. On the right there is a set of PE parts for the airplanes and the crane.

In this picture, you can see everything included in the box. there are two hulls actually. One is a full hull, the other is a flat one, which you can choose to use if you want to do a water-line vessel.

First, start with the hull (apparently I've chosen the full hull version.) the walls are added on. The time was 2:34 pm. This is the starting time of this project.

The four grey parts are the opening for the propeller shaft. They will be painted in the Hull Red color soon.

These two are the ship body

The Securing ring (mentioned earlier) are being screwed on. I think Tamiya has done a good job by coming up with this idea. It sure make fitting alot easier!

The ship hull is painted in Hull Red before adding the body pieces to it. As you can see here, the rings fit perfectly in place and hold the body pieces tightly to the walls.

The body and hull are now put together. The shape looks fine, and thanks to the rings, it saved me a lot of glue (though I did put some glue just in case.)

The base is put on. I forgot to take photos when I built the base because I was too into it, but as you can see here. this is how it looks with the base.

the parts for the base is originally in black color, and the surface is pretty fine. You don't really need to paint it with black in its condition, but i did becuase I wanted to. lol

Here's a close up shot of the base. The name plate is a sticker. It says 日本航空巡洋艦 最上, which means

"Japanese Aircraft Carrying Cruiser Mogami"

Personally, I don't really like the Tamiya logo at the end.....

I've added the Propeller shafts, propellers, and the rudders. I think Tamiya did a good job on the propeller blades. They are not as thick as other manufactures', and the propeller shafts, are actually made out of metal. I really like this because I don't need to paint it with silver color like before.

Here's a look of the motive power system. The motive power system, the base, and the ship hull is now complete. They are all painted in proper color and secured in place. I need to purchase the right color for the body. Mogami was built in the Saseboro Navy Ship Yard (佐世保海軍工廠)

Tamiya has a particular Saseboro color, but it is not easily found in local hobby store; however, I've already ordered it online, and I should have it next week.

Due to the PE detail parts and Paint have not yet arrived, this is as far as it goes. I will update more next time; meanwhile, I will study the instruction before I have those parts. That way I will less likely to make mistakes while building the ship.

To Be Continued....