AndrewCJ50 Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 Dear Colleagues The ‘A Class’ heavy cruiser Chokai was built at the Mitsubishi shipyards in Nagasaki in 1932. Following the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 which capped battleship building, many nations went on a mad dash to build the most potent 8” (20 cm) gun heavy cruisers. Before WWII up to a 1/3rd of Japanese taxes went on the Navy. Of all the Japanese heavy cruiser designs, the Takao Class was probably the most extravagant. Envisaged as flagships, the bridge structure could easily accommodate a flag staff. As Admiral Mikawa’s flagship, the Chokai led the Japanese Navy to its most astonishing victory in the Pacific War over the cruisers defending the transports off Guadalcanal in a night action of 7th August 1942. Eventually Chokai was sunk at the Battle of Samar in October 1944. Her wreck has been recently found and is perhaps the most complete warship on a sea bed anywhere in the world RV Petrel find IJN Chokai - YouTube I have been building the Fujimi Chokai on and off for a number of years. For reasons that still cannot be explained I managed to lose sprue C entirely so had to scratch build quite a lot of parts. I was helped by the 3D printed gunnery control units from Shelf Oddity and a PE fore mast structure from an old Fine Molds set. The 12.7 cm AA guns are Fine Molds NanoDread whilst the 25 mm units are PE from Veteran Models. The boats are also Fine Molds but the Daihatsu barge is from Five Star. I was pleased to add the truly minuscule ships lanterns from Five Star. These are beautifully turned miniatures in brass that can easily be lost inside your finger nails! Here is the ship at an earlier stage in the outfitting yard Hope you like it? Andrew 44 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnoldAmbrose Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 Gidday Andrew, that's a beautiful model of a very powerful cruiser, and very well presented. And such detail! I had to check twice that it was 1/700. One of the victims of Chokai's action that you referred to was an Australian cruiser - HMAS Canberra. Regards, Jeff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adm Lord De Univers Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 Gorgeous build, wouldn't get a sense of how small it is without the 20p next to it. And definitely couldn't tell you lost an entire sprue - that'll probably turn up soon! Particularly like your fitting out basin pic, I'll be 'borrowing' that idea. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 Good grief. I thought the ship was small enough alongside what I assumed was a 50p coin! Quite an amazing amount of detailing, regardless of size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewCJ50 Posted August 8, 2021 Author Share Posted August 8, 2021 Thanks Guys If you work with 1/700 long enough, you get used to it and every other scale seems enormous. Need to get good glasses to be comfortable though! Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandsaw Steve Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 Beautiful job! 👍 A lovely ocean base too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael louey Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 Beautiful model Andrew - I've always thought all the Takao class were powerful looking cruisers. - not surprising when you find out how much they exceeded treaty limits. You've done a magnificent job on the Chokai. Cheers Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gisbod Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 Lovely model Andrew, Funny how you get used to any scale, then all others seem ludicrously big or small! I’ve just gone from a 1/700 build to a 1/200… Looks fiddly! Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 excellent work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickfingers Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 mind blowing build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 The first picture made me say out loud, "Oh my! That's brilliant!" The second picture left me speechless. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norseman 3:16 Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 As the man said (or didn't) speechless... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faraway Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 On 08/08/2021 at 10:18, AndrewCJ50 said: Hope you like it? Like it ? Like it ? It’s absolutely stunning, how do you make something so small, look so big ? Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew J Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 Thank you Fellow Modellers You are very kind. For camera I have an old digital SLR from Canon, set it to 100 ASA and fix aperture to about F20, it then decides on the exposure of about 1/4 sec. Then use a photo editor to lighten the exposure further. The model is about 12 to 16 inches from the camera with the sky backdrop a further foot or so away Regards Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Derbyshire Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 Greetings Sir Very imppresive especially like the fitting out basin . Cheers Brian D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted August 13, 2021 Share Posted August 13, 2021 Incredible modelling! I love the ship in the dock picture - very smart idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autle Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 Ridiculously good, well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted October 3, 2021 Share Posted October 3, 2021 I'm not normally a fan of IJN ships but that is exquisite. Some of the best modelling I think I have ever seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryedale Wolf Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Thats very good indeed. 2 questions. How did you do rigging that small and what did you use for the 'sea'? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goji308 Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Excellent job! The scale, my mind is blown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tojo72 Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Looks great,love the weathering Japanese heavies are my favorites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew J Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 Hello Ryedale Wolf For the rigging I used Uschi van der Rosen medium rigging thread For the sea I use Liquitex medium viscosity acrylic gloss medium on blue painted water colour paper Glad you liked it Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamB Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 Fantastic diorama and build. What a brute of a ship. Cheers, GrahamB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VinBizz4786_ Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 Outstanding job man! It's a really well precised build with a wonderful result! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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