by Atle Ellefsen
1/700 IJN Chogei (Pit-Road)
Ask any naval architect what are the most fascinating ships to work with; the answer will in most cases be “warships and passenger ships”. This is also palpable in the plastic model market, where the lion’s share of available kits is warships. As a sturdy runner-up however, liners have been popular since the hey-day 50’s when polystyrene injection kits were invented. Still there is a living community, albeit rare, of peculiar persons willing to pay an arm and a leg for a discontinued liner kit. I am one of those – and a naval architect by profession. So what could not be better than a combination of my favourites, the Pit-Road Skywave series 1:700 scale Imperial Japanese Navy submarine tender “Chogei”?
Paint it white, remove the armament and you have a classic, elegant and seaworthy yacht. One of those rare subjects that you did not know existed, that makes you jump in your chair when you discover it on the net, and makes you kick out an order without hesitation. Sometimes it’s nice to keep it in its box we all know, but after 5 years in storage it was time to build it. The kit is excellently moulded and detailed. I decided to build it basically out of the box as a diorama with two Ro-35 subs alongside, and two midget Koryu subs arriving after a mission. The submarines are also Pit-Road. Gold Medal IJN Auxiliary Ship PE was used, WEM Colourcoat Kure Grey and Teak, Tom’s Modelworks 1:700 crew, and lycra and stretched sprue for the rigging. The model was spray painted with an airbrush. Weathering powder from Artitec, water-effect is from Warhammer (..nothing else of that sort in the house but the water effect is great). Base is Ikea (a lot of other Ikea in the house though).
Chogei, the “Long Whale”, was launched on March 24th 1924 by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding in Nagasaki. She operated as a submarine tender through the 1937 conflict in China and saw close battle in WWII. All without major incident, up to July 30th 1945 when she was attacked by Sir Rawling and Admiral Mitscher’s task forces, and subsequently hit by a bomb that wrecked the bridge. Captain Mizobatane survived and her bridge was repaired right afterwards. Following the Japanese surrender just a few weeks later, she was used to repatriate Japanese troops and civilians throughout South-East Asia until she arrived at Hitachi Zosen in Mukaishima for scrapping, September 20th 1946. Chogei’s sister Jingei was sunk west of Okinawa, during an air attack October 10th 1944.
Her particulars were:
