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Showing results for tags 'Yamamotos flagship'.
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Hi all, thought I'd post my second 1/700th WWII warship in the form of Aoshima's IJN Nagato 1942, 'Retake edition'. Though she didn't see much active service during the war in 1941 Nagato had the distinction of serving as Yamamoto's flagship and it was from her decks that the order 'Niitaka yama nobore' (Climb Mount Niitaka) the attack on Pearl was given. She participated in a few battles, notably the Battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf where she received minor damage but after an undistinguished career was relegated to coastal defence duties acting as a floating anti-aircraft battery. Following the Japanese surrender, she became the last floating IJN battleship ending her days at the bottom of Bikini Atoll following the 'Operation Crossroads' A-Bomb tests, (it took two detonations to sink her). The original Aoshima moulding has been around a long time though it has been constantly updated. This particular kit was issued in 2011 and included extra runners for armament, aircraft and boats which are a nice bonus though I preferred to replace most of these with PE and brass parts. I really like these IJN designs especially those huge pagoda masts which must have provided a great panoramic view for the crew I'm sure but also ideal for being spotted and easily identified from a distance and duly shot at! A lovely little kit that really benefitted from a dedicated PE set, (from a company called Longxing), brass barrels and yardarms (Master) and wood decking and anchor chains (MK1). The paint was provided by courtesy of Tamiya, Mr Hobby Aqueous and Lifecolor acrylics with the weathering/contrast modulation completed using Abteilung 502 and Mig Oilbrusher oils and their pastel powders. As with my earlier Dreadnought rigging was done using Uschi Superfine and Standard line and slow curing CA. Kagero's superb Nagato book helped with all necessary reference material, particularly the rigging diagrams and the excellent ModelWarships.com forum, one of which was helpfully titled 'Calling All Nagato Fans' which contained a lot of interesting detail images and data on the old battlewagon. The model appeared in last months issue of Airfix Model World magazine along with a tutorial on creating water bases for anyone interested. I have a few more old war horses underway including Fuso, Yamashiro, Hood and Tirpitz, all waterline and in 1/700th scale along with most available aftermarket stuff which I'll be posting later. Thanks for looking and hope you like it... Melchie And a couple aged for effect