1/350 Tamiya IJN Kagero

[Tim Reynaga]

Having become bored with my more elaborate builds, I thought it might recharge my modeling mojo to take on a simple Japanese destroyer – and perhaps actually finish it!





Tamiya’s of the 1/350 scale IJN Kagero seems like a perfect choice. If it lives up to the Tamiya reputation of great fitting parts, assembly should be a snap. Just to keep things interesting I picked up the Infini brass upgrade set for it too. I’m hoping to complete this one fairly quickly with a minimum of the scratchbuilding which tends to bog down my projects. We’ll see, but this should be a fun, straightforward build!




True to form, Tamiya’s Kagero hull parts fit beautifully and the hull went together quickly.




My only quibble here is the split hull design. While the waterline/full hull option here is nice, molding the lower hull separately builds in a bit of extra effort to integrate the lower and upper portions. I definitely prefer the simpler single hull approach of their earlier USS Fletcher kit. That said, the join was pretty good and only a little Mr. Surfacer 1200 was needed to blend things.

[ShaunW]

It's great to see one of your ship builds again, Tim and that etch and brass set should enhance it very nicely.

[Tim Reynaga]

It's great to see one of your ship builds again, Tim and that etch and brass set should enhance it very nicely.

Thanks Shaun!



The kit comes with a plastic base which will serve as a handy temporary stand during assembly.



The plastic kit pedestals aren’t bad, but I’ll be using these nicer brass parts from Adlers Nest.



Tamiya included neat little interior frames with caps for the kit-supplied pedestal retaining nuts, but I substituted two of these Frankenstein arrangements of plastic bits to hold the larger nuts needed for the Adlers Nest pedestals – ugly, but they will soon be hidden!





The Adlers Nest pedestals should dress things up a bit.

[JohnRatzenberger]

In your hands the combo of Tamiya ship and Infini “detail-up” should be a great result.

[Clashcityrocker]

This should turn out rather nicely.

Nigel

[B4en]

I'm still trying to pluck up the courage to do some proper ship modelling, so will follow this with interest.

[ShaunW]

Those brass pedestals add a touch of class, Tim

[Tim Reynaga]

In your hands the combo of Tamiya ship and Infini “detail-up” should be a great result.

This should turn out rather nicely.
Nigel

I'm still trying to pluck up the courage to do some proper ship modelling, so will follow this with interest.

Thanks guys!

Those brass pedestals add a touch of class, Tim

I hope so, Shaun. A few weeks ago my dad and I cut and finished some display boards from a plank of cherry wood I've had in the garage for ages.



A well executed base with brass pedestals can make even a mediocre model look professional!

[Tim Reynaga]

Before installing the decks I cut away the molded reels and filled in locator holes for other separate kit-provided reel parts. I’ll be replacing all of them with better reels from the Infini set.



The central superstructure also required a little attention, in this case small plastic shims to fill the horizontal locator slots for the stowed accommodation ladders. The stowed ladders would have hidden those slots anyway, but filling them in now will give me the option later of showing the ladders deployed without leaving mysterious openings in the superstructure.







Tamiya provided a nice etched stainless steel grille for the No. 1 engine room intake, but the brass screen provided in the Infini upgrade set was better.

[ShaunW]

And we're off! Great start, Tim and I agree, the Infini grille looks better than the Tamiya example although the latter would certainly suffice and is better than plastic. Those cherry wood bases look really nice.

[JohnRatzenberger]

I need to learn to mark centerlines like that, no more eyeballing it.

[Tim Reynaga]

And we're off! Great start, Tim and I agree, the Infini grille looks better than the Tamiya example although the latter would certainly suffice and is better than plastic. Those cherry wood bases look really nice.

Thanks Shawn. I appreciate that Tamia provided a number of etched metal parts, but the Infini upgrades are almost always better. I would actually prefer it if Tamiya were to stick to straightforward plastic engineering and leave the upgrades to others in order to keep the basic kit prices down.

I need to learn to mark centerlines like that, no more eyeballing it.

Yeah, John, my own Mk. 1 eyeballs aren't what they used to be... so taking as moment to mark things out helps get things right!



The molded door and ladder details throughout the kit look good, but most of it will be replaced with Infini brass bits.



Here are some of the new parts test fitted – they are really nice!



There will be a lot of more added details, but I couldn’t resist banging the basic structures together for a quick test fit. She’s already starting to look like a destroyer!

[ShaunW]

Those Infini parts are really nice looking and a very worthwhile purchase. She is starting to look the part now, Tim, every bit a "greyhound of the sea".

[iggie]

Very good work Tim, this promises to be a fine build
It also reminds me that I need to tackle something maritime soon...

[Tim Reynaga]

Shawn and Iggie, thanks.



Before continuing I thought this would be a good time to address a minor problem with the hull. While the detailing that is there looks great, for some reason the designers at Tamiya seemed to believe that the plating ended at the waterline!



To address this I’ve opted for a “quick fix” to create the illusion of additional plating; using the existing detail as a guide, I cut similar widths of Tamiya Kabuki tape to mark out the new plates.





Then the hull got several light coats of Gunze Sangyo Mr. Surfacer 1200 spray primer.





The strips of surfacer look a little garish now, but under the red antifouling to come the “plating” will be less prominent and should harmonize with the detail molded to the gray hull above the waterline. At least I hope so!