by Nye Nava
1/700 HTMS Maeklong, 1938 (S&S)
In 1935 The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) ordered 2 training sloops from Mitsui Bussan Kaisha Company, Japan for the first naval development project. These were the first two RTN warships that were seaplane capable.
HTMS Maeklong's keel was laid down on 24.07.1936 at Uraga Dockyard in Yokosuka, Japan and commissioned on 10.07.1937. The ship was named after the Meaklong River, a major river in central Thailand. She was 1,400 tonnes full load and her dimensions are 85 x 10.5 x 3.7m. She carries 4 x 120mm guns (two each at stern and bow), 1 x twin 20mm machine guns, 2 x twin 45cm torpedo launchers, 2 x DC launchers and 2 x DC racks. She also carries one Watanabe WS-103 seaplane.
The ship was designed primarily to serve a couple of missions; patrol ship in wartime and training ship in peacetime. One of her wartime missions was in 1941, after the Battle of Koh Chang with the French Indochina Fleet.
She was assigned to join a special task force for laying mines and shore bombardment off the Saigon coast, French Indochina Territories called the "Tien Operation." This was was cancelled.
This kit comes from a Japanese manufacturer, S&S. It has good accuracy and details, few modifications are needed. I used GMM, Lion Roar and FlyHawk PE sets for railing and other details as well. Crew comes from Eduard pre-painted naval figures.
