¹⁄700

Building Hasegawa's IJN Nachi

"MSW crew-mate Dade Bell sends in a beauty of a build story, centering on Hasegawa Models 1/700 scale, IJN Nachi!

History:

The IJN Nachi was the second Myoko class heavy cruiser. As with her three sisters, she had an excellent combination of speed (36 knots), range (8,000 nm at 14kn), and a devastating main armament of ten 8" guns. She was commissioned in November 26, 1928, with her career in World War II starting in 1942 in the Dutch East Indies. She was a key member of the Battle of The Java Sea, and in March was involved in the sinking of HMS Encounter and HMS Exeter. She was damaged in 1943 at the battle of the Komandorski Islands, and was involved in action at Kiska. At the Battle of Surigao Strait in 1944, she was damaged again.

The Nachi was sunk in Manilla Bay, November 5, 1944, by three waves of aircraft from the USS Lexington and USS Ticonderoga. She was hit at least nine times by torpedoes and rockets. Two large explosions broke her in two and she sunk in the middle of a large oil slick. 807 of her crew, including her captain were lost, with 220 surviving.

The Nachi's loss turned out to play a larger strategic role in the American war effort, as USN divers later found a large set of code documents in the wreckage. These documents were all the more important because the Nachi had been the flagship of the Second Striking Force...

The Model:

This is the Hasegawa 1/700 IJN Nachi with full hull and photo etch. I had this kit hanging around for a while and when the Cruisers of The 20th Century campaign came along, I decided I'd dust it off and build it.






With all of the other projects hanging over my head, I decided to keep this build as OOB as possible, with the exception of the always wonderful Fukuya Works barrels and of course, tippet line for the rigging. The flags are from Tauro.