by Steve Shrimpton
1/700 IJN Ayanami (Tamiya)
This is one of the ageing Tamiya IJN destroyer kits and although they are not up to the highly detailed modern kit standard, they are still useful if you want to represent IJN destroyer development between the wars as I do.
This model shows the Ayanami as launched in 1929, when she used speaking tubes for communication and no shields on the torpedo tubes. The kit was detailed using Skywave accessories and GMM and WEM PE sets. The masts were built from brass rod. She was painted using WEM Colourcoats and weathered with watercolour washes and pastel chalks.
Reference: Warship Profile No 22, various IJN internet sites
