by Nichol Caballero
1/350 IJN Mogami (Tamiya)
The model:
I scratchbuilt several parts around the ship such as the loop antennas, yardarm rails, lattice support structures for the searchlights, and the crane. No aftermarket stuff was added to the model but I did use the PE supplied with the kit. Most of the railings are either scrap or scratchbuilt. Main deck railings were scratchbuilt using telephone wire. The figures are also scratchbuilt using paper and glue (which was a very hard and mind-blogging task for a 15 yr. old!). There are 25 figures on the ship including those inside the bridge.
All paints are Tamiya and handpainted. the only can-sprayed part was the red waterline (very dumb approach I suppose :D). The decals went on nicely. I only built one plane, the 'Jake', because I carelessly lost the decals for the 'Daves'.
Rigging is kept to a minimum and made of strecthed sprue. I mostly based the rigging from the box art.
The diorama:
In Mogami's history, she was heading to Sunda Strait in early 1942. The diorama is completely fictional and depicts the Mogami heading to the strait passing through the enormous limestone islands scattered around Northern Palawan, Philippines.
The island and most of the waves are made of flour dough, painted over with acrylics and watercolor-based paints. Foliage is left-over Woodland Scenics parts. The sea was painted a light blue tone near the island's coast then a very deep blue the farther away. I used Elmer's Clear glue in 3 coats to gloss the water. When dried, it leaves a very pleasing water effect, although a con to this method is that it leaves lots of air bubbles.
The kit went together nicely, and parts quality and detail is very nice (see my review of the Mogami on this site). Except for the lattice supports and all the other parts that could have been sought with other alternatives.
See my work-in-progress build of this model in the forum.
