1/600 IJN Heavy Cruiser Mikuma (Imai)
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by David Flynn |
1/600 IJN Heavy Cruiser Mikuma (Imai)
This was an ambitious little project for me that I worked on and off between November and February. I converted an Imai 1/550 scale Mogami to a 1/600 Mikuma to add to my collection of 1/600 scale ships. I cut the hull length down from around 14 to 13 inches, and the beam from 1.75 to about 1.4 inches. Yet, the model is not as slender as it should be, particularly near A-Turret. I filed down the stack and forward superstructure. Most of the original parts were poor, so used catapults, planes, boats, 5-inch guns, 25mm guns, etc. from a Lee Yamato and a few Airfix kits.I used Testors enamel paints on this one. I decided that Flat Brown out of the jar seemed to be a good match of color renderings I have seen for the linoleum decks. The gray mix is not quite warm enough, and the red oxide hull is a little too red.
For comparison, the last two photos show the Mikuma with a few other 1/600 scale models of contemporary cruisers: an Airfix HMS Belfast (early War), a Lindberg USS Cleveland, and an Aurora USS St. Paul.
The overall result is a little disappointing to me, but I think it better than the original. Plus, I had a good time building it, and learned a lot (in case I want to try this again). Thanks for reading and looking. I hope it is good enough to post.
