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IJN Myoko

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"MSW crew-mate Anthony Kochevar (ajkochev) sends us a fine build story of his latest 1/700 subject, IJN Myōkō-class cruiser, Myoko, in this MSW "Build story"!



the vessel...
The Myoko along with her three other sister ships, the Nachi, Ashigara, and Haguro were the four Myoko class cruisers before and during WWII. Myoko was laid down at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on October 25, 1924, launched and named on April 16, 1927, and was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy on July 31, 1929. She was named after a mountain in Niigata Prefecture. She served valiantly during the war and participated in many battles and campaigns.

She underwent several refits during the war as well. The model is depicted shortly before the end of the war just before the camouflage scheme has been applied. The ship survived the war and was awarded to the British Navy. In September of 1945 she was towed to the Strait of Malacca and scuttled off Port Swettenham, Malaya near submarines I-501 and I-502. The following statistics were taken from Wikipedia.

Name: Myoko
Ordered: 1924
Builder: Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
Laid down: October 25, 1924
Launched: April 16, 1927
Commissioned: July 31, 1929
Struck: 10 August 1946
Fate: Scuttled in the Straits of Malacca, 8 June 1946
Class and type: Myōkō-class cruiser
Displacement: 13,300 long tons (13,500 t)
Length: 201.7 m (661 ft 9 in)
Beam: 20.73 m (68 ft 0 in)
Draft: 6.32 m (20 ft 9 in)
Propulsion: 4-shaft geared turbines
12 boilers
130,000 shp
Speed: 36 knots (41 mph/67 km/h)
Range: 8,000 nmi (15,000 km) at 14 kn (16 mph/26 km/h)
Complement: 773
Armament: • 10 × 203 mm (8.0 in) guns (5×2)
• 6 × 120 mm (4.7 in) guns (to 1934) or 8 × 127 mm (5.0 in) guns (from 1935)
• 2 × 13 mm (0.51 in) machine guns
• 12 × 610 mm (24 in) torpedo tubes[1]
Armor: • Main belt: 100 mm (3.9 in)
• Main deck: 37 mm (1.5 in)
• Turrets: 25 mm (0.98 in)
• Barbettes: 75 mm (3.0 in)
Aircraft carried: 2



the model...
This is Hasegawa’s kit that was retooled in 2007. The kit is excellent and when I opened the kit the first time I really thought that the long slender hull and deck looked really cool. The fit of the kit is pretty good but the deck, hull and waterline pieces have a bit of noticeable fit issues. The superstructure is well done and only a few pieces needed replaced or created using photoetch and styrene. The instructions were not the best I’ve seen, the trouble being the portions that it told you to alter/replace pieces for the different versions of the ship were sometimes hard to find and understand. I was able to also find several good quality photos of this class of cruiser online to use as a reference.

The photoetch sets I chose were Gold Medal’s IJN Destroyer/Cruiser set. I was very impressed by Gold Medal’s Yamato set but this Cruiser one was very disappointing. It does not have embossed pieces, and the railings are slightly overscale. The 1993 copyright date on the sheet told me when this set was first created. Hopefully Gold medal will redo the sheet with embossed pieces since so many new and retooled IJN cruisers have been released. Next time I’ll use the Gold Medal IJN auxiliary set for the catapults. I also used Tom’s Modelworks IJN Aircraft Carrier Set A. Why this set you ask? Because it has a excellent variety of parts for any IJN ship. The funnel grills from the set where used and the wind screen was cut down and used as photoetch windows. Several other pieces from this set were used as well to replace or help scratchbuild certain pieces.









I like to make things movable on the model and I redid the torpedo launchers to swivel from the bottom instead of getting glued to the underside of the deck. This also provided a means to create a bit of the internals of this area, even though it will really not be seen.















The paint was Tamiya Kure Gray and the Linoleum color was a craft store enamel by the name of “Spice Brown” that I really liked to represent the linoleum color. This is my first ship I’ve modeled with the Linoleum deck and it was a big learning experience for me. I messed it up in a few areas and had to try and cover my mistakes. I will definitely do things differently next time but learning is what modeling is all about. The gold lines on the deck are just VERY fine stretched sprue painted gold first, then cut and glued to the deck over the molded on lines. All in all, I think the model turned out okay, minus a few mistakes I made with the paint. I love planes and boats on ships, so unfortunately I pack them on, even though it was not accurate. Ironically, this is the first ship I’ve modeled in the IJN that actually survived the war.
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About the Author

About Anthony Kochevar (ajkochev)
FROM: UTAH, UNITED STATES

I've modeled ships as a teen and started the hobby again in 2005. For some reason I got into the history of the Japanese Navy at this time and started building ships of this navy. I also do N Scale model railroading, reef aquariums and a few video games.


Comments

Beautiful work Anthony! Bravo Zulu. Kenny
NOV 13, 2008 - 02:37 AM
Anthony, your work is always so amazing and I love what you did with the torpedo launchers! Very inspiring work!
NOV 13, 2008 - 06:59 AM
Splendid work Anthony, you have really done her justice. Frank
NOV 13, 2008 - 10:09 AM
Nice Myoko! I really like the way you detailed her!
NOV 13, 2008 - 11:28 AM
Thanks everyone. I had a hard time with the linoleium deck near the bow but I got it looking pretty good again. When I found out this was a build feature, Mr. Smith generously offered to post a few more photos for me of the build process. They are in the feature now, Thank you Mr. Smith.
NOV 15, 2008 - 05:44 AM
Heck of a job on the Myoko, I have the Nachi and did a lot of things as you did with this one. These 1/700 kits that have been upgraded are worth a look see for sure. I used Toms' Model Works PE IJN Cruiser set along with a few bits from GMM's for mine, Toms' rails were much better than the GMM ones even though they are curved up for the bow end. The Morskie Monograph on the Nachi came in real handy for upgrading the mast and several other parts from the kit. Good work on a nice kit.
NOV 15, 2008 - 12:41 PM
WOW! Kenny stole my BZ, but you earned another. BZ!!
NOV 17, 2008 - 04:19 AM
great job and great mini-lessons, LOTS of great ideas and tips... thanks for sharing! cheers
NOV 18, 2008 - 05:01 AM
So many good ideas from Anthony - and while I do my best to follow the tips and advise, I still get lost over slip mats, paper punch, and wrapping wire around a drill bit and cutting it in 3's great ideas.
DEC 05, 2009 - 10:55 PM