by Nye Nava
1/700 HTMS Chaophraya (Kobou Hiryu & Pit-Road)
HTMS Chaophraya (chao/phra/ya) was the first of four ships that the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) ordered from Chinese in the end of ’80's; a modified Chinese Jienghu-III class. These four ships formed a new frigate squadron of RTN a.k.a. the “Chinese ships squadron” and were the workhorses of the fleet at the time.
HTMS Chaophraya is 1,924 tonnes full load and the dimensions are 103.00 x 11.33 x 4.80 m. She carries a 8 x single C-801 (Eagle Strike) launcher, 2 x twin 100/56mm DP guns, 4 x twin 37/76mm AA guns, 2 x 0.50" machine guns, 2 x five barrel RBU-1200 anti submarine rocket launchers and a 26 barrel Chinese made decoy launcher. The ship's name is a famous river that runs through Bangkok, Thailand’s capital.
I added a lower hull to a kit and built a new main mast and FCR tower amidships from brass wire and sprue to replace the solid white metal ones. I made this kit with the HTMS Kraburi that shown in the gallery before, and took a long time (4 months) to prepare a drydock where would she sit. The drydock and facilities are from Pit-Road. Oil storage is from Tamiya. Dockside equipment came from a variety in my spare parts box, i.e. generator is modified from DML’s Tomahawk box launcher and cranes are modified from Tamiya’s truck. I used GMM and Lion Roar PE sets for railing and other details as well. Crew comes from Eduard pre-painted naval figures.
