Destroyer Kagero 1941 Imperial Japanese Navy Aoshima 1/700

It is my first battleship kit. I built it in November 2014.

I wanted to make one naval ship model as expected. I found “Random Japanese Warship Details” books, incidentally, which I dropped in at the Tamiya plastic model factory Shimbashi store after a long absence. Because it was recommended on the internet that, at first, the beginner should make one destroyer somehow, I bought this Kagero, meaning “a filament of air” in Japanese, without anything thinking, just taking the model from the top of the piles of many naval ships in a hobby shop.

They are “Random Japanese Warship Details” No.1 and No.2. There are many detailed commentaries and illustrations that are very interesting. As for the price, one book is 600 yen, it’s reasonably high-cost performance.

There are a few small parts. The top right corner parts are a common parts group of the waterline series. I do not see them all using armaments and airplanes for this ship.

My only experience with a naval vessel was Nichimo’s 30cm series battleship Mutsu when I was in third grade. That Mutsu was not painted; I put grease in a screw box next to the motor gear and did a launching ceremony with my friends in a pond nearby. I first put the ballast on the bottom of the ship and attached the upper and bottom.

There seems to be the part where something like a rubber mat of the antislip called linoleum is spread on the warship; now I’m masking the brown linoleum area. As for the color, unique color is sold by Creos, but probably it’s OK to mix wood brown and dark reddish-brown.

Except for the three main gun turrets, all parts are attached. The masking covered the area little by little while cutting the tape to a scrap.

Now I think the destroyer’s side is somewhat different from this box art picture. The model itself is too simple. If I feel it’s short, I give detail by myself. So, I decide to use the parts of a handrail, porthole, and rain cover for destroyers, using the photo-etched parts of Ocean Spirits.
What is this small one? There is only around 0.2mm in size. So small parts are rare with the tank model. There is not that I experienced only the etching of the bolt of the AFV Club kit.

Rain-cover of the porthole, it’s too difficult for me. I was not able to adhere neatly. If it was 1/700, I think it’s no problem to drill small holes and paint them black. I glued the fishing line as the IJN degaussing cable.　I felt some improvements occurred, anyway…

I added handrails and a bow and stern pole. It’s a nice feeling.

I glanced at this picture, and the middle of the mast detail is brilliant, but carefully watching, it’s a box picture! The total length is around 17cm, the size of the Magic Marker. A size AA battery looks enormous.
（26-October-2014)

The assembly order is different from the ordinary shipbuilder; now, I blew the ship’s bottom color. I should have painted it just after the joint of the upper and bottom.
（06-November-2014)

According to the instruction,
Commissioned: November 6, 1939,
Displacement: 2,033 long tons (2,066 t) standard
Length: 118.5 m (388 ft 9 in)
Beam: 10.8 m (35 ft 5 in)
Speed: 35.5 knots (40.9 mph; 65.7 km/h)
Complement: 239

Armament: (1941)
• 6 × 12.7 cm/50 Type 3 DP guns
• 4 × Type 96 25 mm AA guns
• 8 × 24 in (610 mm) torpedo tubes
• 18 depth charges
• 2 x paravanes

Kagero was disabled by a naval mine in the Gulf of Kula, Western Solomon Islands, on May 8, 1943. Then she was attacked by Allied aircraft and sank southwest of Rendova.
Kagero participated in the Pearl Harbor attack, the Rabaul capture operation, the Indian Ocean raid, the Battle of Midway, and the second Solomon sea fight of the Guadalcanal area.

In the Battle of Tassafaronga, the Lunga-bay torpedo night attack sank US heavy cruiser Northampton, seriously damaging three other US heavy cruisers with other destroyers.

Though I wondered whether it was a wet decal flag of the Rising Sun, I waited around 15 minutes. It did not come off at all; I checked the decal, but it’s only this water transcription type and soaked it in water for around 15 minutes, and it did not come off at all. It was only a stick-on decal…

The painting guide of Aoshima is not so kind. I painted such small parts as bridge windows, cutters, and the motor launch with reference from the box art.

Possibly should I change the pole of the cutter (boat) from appearing outside to inward? Aoshima’s instruction indicates them outside.

I assembled it ordinarily and added handrails and antenna lines. I did washing lightly and drew iron rust here and there.

It is a considerably small warship. The antenna lines are metal wires 0.07mm in diameter. It’s my first time, so this model is a trial for lining the metal wire. Exciting work. It became a very real-looking model…

I didn’t know the attaching the way of after-mast even checked the instruction manual. One of the legs is short, so I judged to attach it like this photo.

Warship model-making is so interesting. It is my ship model of the memorable first after a great deal of puzzling for assembling. A destroyer is small but a hard worker. The next one will be sized up a little. I will probably make a light cruiser.
(08-November-2014)