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Thai navy coastal defense ship HTMS Thonburi


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My latest finish is this tiny 1/700 coastal defense ship used by Thai navy just before WWII.

HTMS Thonburi was built in Japan for Thailand. She and her sister, HTMS Sri Ayutthaya, were commission in 1938. Together, the two sisters represented the largest surface units of Thai navy until long after WWII. Packed with 4 7.9inch guns on such a small hull, they had a very respectable fire power. They had such an aggressive appearance that the local people called them battleship. 
 

Thonburi was engaged by a French light cruiser at the battle of Ko Chang, during Franco-Thai war, in January 1941.

Caught nearly unprepared, Thai navy lost two torpedo boats sunk while Thonburi was heavily damaged. She later capsized in shallow water. Although salvaged later, she was never returned to combat ready status, serving as a floating headquarter until decommissioned. Her superstructure and fore turret are preserved as a monument. 

Seed hobby released a resin kit of Thonburi in 2020. The resin parts are very well-cast and easy to assemble. The supplied PE and turned gun barrels are also very good. 
However, the deck is lacking in detail. I tried to add deck as many deck fittings as I could based on limited reference. 

Overall, this is a quick and enjoyable project. I can recommend it to anyone looking for a ship model from a lesser known navy. 

Nanond

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Absolutely delightful model - sheer finesse :clap2:

I particularly like the weathering and sagging rigging, wire or stretched sprue??

The base is wonderful and really effective - is that resin or acrylic gel?

Congratulations

Rob

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Gidday Nanond, I've never heard of these ships before, thanks for sharing them. Despite their small size they certainly look mean beasts, not to be messed with. And to me they show their Japanese ancestry - the turrets and the bow.

     You've done a superb model of her. Regards, Jeff.

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3 hours ago, Seahawk said:

Beautiful model.  Love the wood decks.  Very convincing water too.  How did you achieve the rectangular windows on the launch?

 

"Call yourself a pocket battleship?  No, THIS is a pocket battleship."

Hi!
Thank you for your comment. The windows on the launch are PE parts. 

 

1 hour ago, robgizlu said:

Absolutely delightful model - sheer finesse :clap2:

I particularly like the weathering and sagging rigging, wire or stretched sprue??

The base is wonderful and really effective - is that resin or acrylic gel?

Congratulations

Rob

Thank you!  The rigging was done with a few different materials. The sagging ones are 0.03mm metal wire, which sags almost naturally. The base is water color paper, painted and covered with acrylic gel.




 

 

17 hours ago, Richard E said:

When I grow up I want to be a battleship just like my mum and dad :)

 

Excellent modeling and presentation, I think ship models look "right" when they're displayed in a real world working setting.

Thank you. Yes, she is like a baby BB:) 



Thank you all!



 

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What a beautiful model of a wonderfully strange looking vessel, I've never seen anything quite like this before, it looks like a Warhammer corvette !

If it wasn't for the lighter I wouldn't have believed it was 1:700, lovely job.

 

Cheers

 

David

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  • 2 weeks later...

That's an interesting and unusual subject, which is well bought to life with this excellent build.

 

Looks like a compact little pre-dreadnought; presume not much engine space required for the coastal defence role, but certainly heavily armed for her size.

 

Edited by Rob 1
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  • 2 years later...

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