by Dirk Ponge
1/350 IJN Tone 1944 (Yankee Modelworks)
The IJN Tone and her sister ship IJN Chikuma were very unique heavy cruisers with all 4 gun turrets forward of the bridge. The quarter decks was free for the handling of up to six floatplanes (only five were carried by both sisters) resulting in an increased scouting capability.
At the time (2009) I started with Tone, in the scale 1/350 only resin kits were available (Yankee Modelworks and Minekaze). The YMW kit is quite nice. But there is space for further improvement.
The hull did not exhibit much detail. I used here for the first time Archer surface details rivets (actually decals, but with rows of 3dimensional resin rivets). For 1/350 scale I would recommend the smallest versions (0.2 mm) and the double row rivets. I used also larger ones and some of the finer weld beads. These surface details can be found on this page:
http://www.archertransfers.com/catSurfaceDetails.html
For the turrets I added more details (small copper strips and needles) and modified the rangefinders by using resin “sprue” and parts from LionRoar ammunition boxes. I replaced the white metal parts for the guns by brass barrels.
I had real problems with the YMW PE parts for the masts. Therefore I used turned and tapered brass rods from BMK instead.
All 25mm AA guns are from Veteran Models. For the heavy AA guns I used only the resin shields from YMW and the rest again from Veteran Models.
I substituted all floatplanes from YMW by Tamiya floatplanes (I took them from my Mogami Hybrid kit which is waiting for construction.) I hope that Tamiya will start to sell these nice planes separately.
If you have comments or questions concerning my model, please send an e-mail to me or the forum.
