The Imperial Japanese Navy ship Chokai, was a Heavy cruiser, Type A, of the Takao class. As a heavy cruiser she was named after a mountain, a volcano in the Ugo province whose name means “Bird Sea.” The Takao class cruisers were among the best looking, and powerful, cruisers of the Japanese navy.
Chokai had an event filled career. Details of this career are available at Combined Fleet, http://www.combinedfleet.com/chokai_t.htm" TARGET="_blank"> http://www.combinedfleet.com/chokai_t.htm The greatest event of Chokai’s career came in the Battle of Savo Island where she was the flagship of the attack force that sank four allied cruisers. Chokai’s luck ran out at the battle off Samar she was struck by fire from several American warships that most likely touched off her own torpedoes. The serious damage that occurred led to her being scuttled.
I received my kit of the Chokai several years ago as a gift from the late, and very much missed, Garry Beebe. It is a 1/700 scale kit from Aoshima. Note, when I set up the images in my gallery I mistakenly referred to this as a Tamiya kit. I have no idea how old this kit is, as the instructions are all in Japanese. At some time in the kits career two sprues of upgrade, and much more detailed, guns, boats, aircraft, and various fittings were added to the kit. The decals for the aircraft included in these sprues is noted as being from 1994.
On the whole this is a fair kit. Like all the similar warship kits of this era it is waterline only. There are several large sink holes, including one large under the starboard anchor, that due to my inexperience with Mr. Dissolved Putty I did not fill properly. The upgraded anti-aircraft guns, aircraft, and boats are certainly more detailed than the kit’s original items. The two biggest disappointments were the instructions, and the decals. The instructions were fine, except they were in Japanese. This especially really hurt as I had no idea of what color to paint her. The decals, except for the newer ones that represent the “meatballs” for the aircraft, are a total loss. I tried to use two of the decals, the windows for the bridge and the Japanese ensign for the mast top and neither would even come off the paper backing, no matter how long I soaked them. With help from friends here on Armorama I managed to get an idea as to the colors, and I used a sharpie pen to represent the windows. I haven’t managed yet to replace the ensign.
This is the first ship I’ve completed in quite some time and I’m glad I did. As always I see plenty of room for improvement. My plan is to put her in a ocean dio. She’ll be recovering one of her three spotting planes. The first coat on the base is drying now. I’m already checking out a Hasegawa Tatsuta cruiser I picked up cheap at an auction.
By the way I’ve been experimenting with different lighting and camera settings and that is why the colors aren’t consistent between the various photos.
