Tamiya IJN Kagero

[Tim Reynaga]

Having become bored with my more elaborate builds, I thought it might recharge my modeling mojo to take on a simple Japanese destroyer – and perhaps actually finish it!

 

 

 

Tamiya’s of the 1/350 scale IJN Kagero seems like a perfect choice. If it lives up to the Tamiya reputation of great fitting parts, assembly should be a snap. Just to keep things interesting I picked up the Infini brass upgrade set for it too. I’m hoping to complete this one fairly quickly with a minimum of the scratchbuilding which tends to bog down my projects. We’ll see, but this should be a fun, straightforward build!

 

 

True to form, Tamiya’s Kagero hull parts fit beautifully and the hull went together quickly.

 

 

My only quibble here is the split hull design. While the waterline/full hull option here is nice, molding the lower hull separately builds in a bit of extra effort to integrate the lower and upper portions. I definitely prefer the simpler single hull approach of their earlier USS Fletcher kit. That said, the join was pretty good and only a little Mr. Surfacer 1200 was needed to blend things.

Edited December 23, 2023 by Tim Reynaga

[Tim Reynaga]

 

The kit comes with a plastic base which will serve as a handy temporary stand during assembly.  

 

 

The plastic kit pedestals aren’t bad, but I’ll be using these nicer brass parts from Adlers Nest.

 

 

Tamiya included neat little interior frames with caps for the kit-supplied pedestal retaining nuts, but I substituted two of these Frankenstein arrangements of plastic bits to hold the larger nuts needed for the Adlers Nest pedestals – ugly, but they will soon be hidden!

 

 

 

The Adlers Nest pedestals should dress things up a bit.

[S-boat 55]

I shall follow along with interest, I've a couple of Tamiyas cruisers so will be interested to see how one of their kit goes together 

[Draz87]

Will you be doing the rigging on this one too?

[Tim Reynaga]

1 hour ago, Draz87 said:

Will you be doing the rigging on this one too?

There will definitely be some rigging, but a 20th century DD is much simpler than the sailing ships I sometimes do! Anyway, there is quite a bit to get done before then...

 

 

Before installing the decks I cut away the molded reels and filled in locator holes for other separate kit-provided reel parts. I’ll be replacing all of them with better reels from the Infini set. 

 

 

The central superstructure also required a little attention, in this case small plastic shims to fill the horizontal locator slots for the stowed accommodation ladders. The stowed ladders would have hidden those slots anyway, but filling them in now will give me the option later of showing the ladders deployed without leaving mysterious openings in the superstructure.

 

 

 

 

Tamiya provided a nice etched stainless steel grille for the No. 1 engine room intake, but the brass screen provided in the Infini upgrade set was better.

[Tim Reynaga]

 

The molded door and ladder details throughout the kit look good, but most of it will be replaced with Infini brass bits.

 

 

Here are some of the new parts test fitted – they are really nice!  

 

 

There will be a lot of more added details, but I couldn’t resist banging the basic structures together for a quick test fit. She’s already starting to look like a destroyer!

[ArnoldAmbrose]

7 minutes ago, Tim Reynaga said:

She’s already starting to look like a destroyer!

       And very sleek. But then, most of them were. She's looking very nice, Tim. I've done IJN Yukikaze in 1/700 and would like to do her and a couple of others in 1/600 in the future. I'd have to scratch build them though, I think. In the meantime I'll admire your build here. Regards, Jeff.

[Bertie McBoatface]

I am very impressed by those pedestals. She’s looking good so far Tim 

[Tim Reynaga]

5 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

I am very impressed by those pedestals. She’s looking good so far Tim 

 

Thanks. I agree, those Adlers Nest brass stands really are nice. A few weeks ago my dad and I cut and finished some display boards from a plank of cherry wood I've had in the garage for ages. 

 

 

A well executed base with brass pedestals can make even a mediocre model look professional!

[Bertie McBoatface]

2 hours ago, Tim Reynaga said:

 

A well executed base with brass pedestals can make even a mediocre model look professional!

 

And a slipshod base ruins the best of them.

 

That cherry is gorgeous.

[bismarck builder]

hi tim

i some how thought she would be bigger still i have my popcorn and a chair

gary r

[Tim Reynaga]

 

Before continuing I thought this would be a good time to address a minor problem with the hull. While the detailing that is there looks great, for some reason the designers at Tamiya seemed to believe that the plating ended at the waterline!

 

 

To address this I’ve opted for a “quick fix” to create the illusion of additional plating; using the existing detail as a guide, I cut similar widths of Tamiya Kabuki tape to mark out the new plates.

 

 

 

Then the hull got several light coats of Gunze Sangyo Mr. Surfacer 1200 spray primer.

 

 

The strips of surfacer look a little garish now, but under the red antifouling to come the “plating” will be less prominent and should harmonize with the detail molded to the gray hull above the waterline. At least I hope so!

[S-boat 55]

The effect plating has come out well, nice smooth edge to it, 

[Tim Reynaga]

On 12/28/2023 at 1:22 PM, bismarck builder said:

hi tim

i some how thought she would be bigger still i have my popcorn and a chair

gary r

Thanks Gary. I have an old (1976) Nichimo version of the Kagero in 1/200 in the stash, but this smaller one should keep me occupied for a while! 

 

On 12/29/2023 at 5:14 AM, S-boat 55 said:

The effect plating has come out well, nice smooth edge to it, 

Thanks - we'll see if it works after the paint is on...

 

 

Getting back to assembly, the stainless steel representation of the bridge deck provided by Tamiya looks good, but the Infini brass part fitted here is a little more detailed. Also, five indistinct nubs (representing pedestal-mounted12cm binoculars) have been removed from the deck of the navigation bridge forward to be replaced with aftermarket parts later. 

 

 

 

The 3.5 meter range finder atop the bridge is quite nice, and the Infini set’s various hinged and sliding doors plus footrails really dress it up. I also appreciate that Tamiya designed the range finder to be secured with a poly cap so it can be easily turned or taken off – handy, since I don’t want to damage it as I work on neighboring details!

 

 

This is the bridge structure assembled with the new brass deck but otherwise out of the box. Surprisingly, the clear plastic windows look reasonably good test fitted here, but they will soon be replaced with etched brass parts from the Infini set.

[Tim Reynaga]

 

The brass deck part represents the linoleum the IJN used as a nonslip surface for many steel decks. I painted it with Tamiya’s Linoleum Deck Brown lacquer (LP-17).

 

 

 

This is the navigation bridge with new 12cm binocular mounts, binnacle, and helm 1/350th scale “NanoDread” plastic parts from FineMolds. The wheel is from a White Ensign Models ship’s wheels set.

 

 

 

These add-ons were very simple and look good, but I’m afraid they won’t be all that easy to see through those tiny bridge windows!

[mick]

great start

[ArnoldAmbrose]

9 hours ago, Tim Reynaga said:

These add-ons were very simple and look good, but I’m afraid they won’t be all that easy to see through those tiny bridge windows!

More's the pity. They looked very good. Regards, Jeff.

[bismarck builder]

i love it its going to be very atmospheric will you add crew

[Tim Reynaga]

3 hours ago, bismarck builder said:

i love it its going to be very atmospheric will you add crew

Thanks. Normally crew aren't provided for clean, unweathered pedestal-mounted models such as I'm building here... but there are some astonishingly good 3D printed figures available now so I probably won't be able to resist bending tradition and adding crew!

 

There are details for the exterior of the bridge structure as well.

 

 

 

Stainless steel bridge wing supports were provided in the kit, and the Infini set contributed all the brass parts including window frames, footrails, ladders, and supports for the signal deck aft. There were brass life rings in the set too, but I opted for more three dimensional resin rings from North Star Models.

 

 

So far the Infini Model parts fit the Tamiya kit precisely, and I love their attention to detail such as in providing representations of both the individual handgrab and frame type ladders.

[Thom216]

That is a high level of detail going on there!

[Tim Reynaga]

23 hours ago, Thom216 said:

That is a high level of detail going on there!

Thanks! Tamiya makes great fitting models, and the Infini detail set is really a pleasure to work with.

 

Final details for the bridge top include two signalman’s platforms and some rails.

 

 

 

 

 

The rails are simple direct fits, and the signalman’s platforms come as single parts; just roll their rails around a suitably sized drill bit, fold the platforms up, and they’re good to go!

[Thom216]

8 hours ago, Tim Reynaga said:

...

The rails are simple direct fits, and the signalman’s platforms come as single parts; just roll their rails around a suitably sized drill bit, fold the platforms up, and they’re good to go!

 

That, and you are working at near the level of an Atom!

[Tim Reynaga]

1 hour ago, Thom216 said:

 

That, and you are working at near the level of an Atom!

Actually, my last destroyer model was half this size in 1/700 scale, so these bigger parts are a bit of a relief! 😄

[bismarck builder]

its still impressive 

[Tim Reynaga]

 

The kit funnels come with nice plastic top screens that are even molded open, though they are still too heavy. A small wind baffle between the uptakes of funnel No. 1 is provided as a separate etched steel part.

 

 

The Infini upgrade brass screen parts, though tiny and challenging to precisely shape and attach, are huge improvements. The uptakes inside the funnels even come complete with multiple directional baffles. Cool.

 

 

 

Footrails are also provided to fit over the shallow representations that come molded on the funnel sides. The delicate brass parts are fussy to attach and are actually a bit overscale... but the fineness and complexity they add to the model are worth it!