1:700 IJN Destroyer 'Shikinami 1944'

The destroyer Shikinami 1944 in 1:700 scale from Pit-Road

A plastic kit of the Japanese destroyer Shikinami as she was in 1944, from the Japanese maker Pit-Road. 1:700 is the most common choice of scale for warships: the model fits a cabinet at home and can be added to a larger group of ships in the same scale. The year in the name refers to the late wartime form of the ship, not to her original state from the 1930s.

The real subject

Shikinami was one of the destroyers of the Fubuki class, which the Imperial Japanese Navy introduced at the end of the 1920s and which for its day was a very heavily armed type. The main armament consisted of 127 mm guns in twin turrets, completed by powerful mounts for large-caliber torpedoes. During the war the ships of this class went through changes in which guns gave way to anti-aircraft automatic weapons and radar equipment. Shikinami served in the southwest Pacific and in 1944 was sunk by an American submarine in the South China Sea.

Building and painting tips

You will make the build easier if you finish the hull and the decks first and only then fit the superstructure and the armament. Apply liquid cement for plastic with a small brush along the edge of the joint and leave the small parts on the sprue as long as you can. The masts and rigging can be done with stretched sprue, the railings with etched parts. Spray the paint with an airbrush in thin coats; on Japanese ships the deck areas are usually set apart from the gray hull. A restrained wash will bring out the hatches and openings, while overdone weathering looks coarse in this scale.

Who the model is for

• collectors of the Imperial Japanese Navy
• modelers building a fleet in a single 1:700 scale
• more experienced builders used to small parts
• those interested in the war in the Pacific and in destroyers of interwar design

The model is supplied unassembled and unpainted. Glue, paints and accessories are not included in the package, unless stated otherwise.