This is the 1/350 Mogami from Tamiya, as modified with the  aft flight deck. During the Battle of Midway, Mogami was damaged in a collision with her sister Mikuma, and by U.S dive bombers that destroyed an engine room and her No. 5 turret. She limped back to Japan, to be repaired and rebuilt as a hybrid carrier, similar in appearance to the Tone class cruisers. In 1944, she sailed with carriers Hiyo, Junyo and Ryuho during the Philippine Sea battle, and in October was finally sunk at Surigao Strait by the cumulative damage from American cruiser gunfire, aircraft bombs and a final Long Lance torpedo from destroyer Akebono.

The model can be built in either a full hull or waterline version. The hull, deck and superstructure parts are highly detailed. The hull has very fine raised horizontal plating detail with recessed portholes with slight eyebrows. The superstructure and deck parts are beautifully detailed. The decks contain a number of molded on fittings and hatches, and there are placement holes for additional attached pieces, so a combination of mass painting of small deck parts must be combined with rather painstaking hand painting on these. A small sheet of stainless steel PE is included in the kit, with parts for a portion of the crane, aircraft props, a trolley and catapult cradle for each aircraft, as well as a few structural pieces. These are not optional parts, as there are no plastic alternative parts in the kit. To fill in the PE blanks, I used various railings and other pieces from the Gold Medal Models IJN Takao set. The kit provides more than enough F1M Petes and E13A Jakes to accurately populate the aft flight deck, so you’ll have a few extras should you choose to stick to the historical compliment. I added eight single 25mm antiaircraft guns along the flight deck (leftovers from the Hasegawa Mutsu kit) – an addition that was made just prior to her sailing for the Marianas.

Weathering was done with dark washes to add contrast and highlight shadow areas. Grey, brown and ocher pastel was brushed on the hull to simulate rust and wear. The sea base display was made with Liquitex brand Heavy Body Acrylic paint applied over waves and swells made from Liquitex modeling paste, all of which is laid down on a thin plywood base. The color was custom mixed from blue, green, black and white, applied in a manner like frosting a cake, mixing in more white where the sea is kicked up and made foamy. The ship is in a starboard turn, creating a smooth area of water where the aircraft can taxi up next to the side of the ship, and more easily be hooked up to the ship’s crane.

Bill Kluge