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Gakken
Pacific War 27 - IJN CA Myoko Class
Myoko, Nachi, Ashigara,
Haguro
Review by Tom Kristiansen |
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| Bookseries | Pacific War | |
| Book Title | Pacific War 27 - Myoko class | |
| Author | ||
| Publisher | Gakken, Japan | |
| ISBN Number | ISBN 4-05-602067-1 | |
| Published | 2000 | |
| Retail Price | 1700 JPY | |
| Subjects | Imperial Japanese Navy Heavy Cruisers Myoko, Nachi, Haguro , Ashigara | |
| Language | Japanese text + a handful english captions | |
| Gakken
Pafific War Series
The Pacific War series from Gakken
are devoted to land, sea and air -vehicles and equipment used during at
the pacific theater during WWII. The naval-titles are highly regarded by
IJN modeling-enthusiasts as a fantastic source of information of Japanese
IJN ships. Altough the
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Pacific War 27 - Myoko class
181 pages:
21 color-photos of 1/200 Superdetailed
Nachi
81 BW-photos
8 tactical maps
1 illustration
8 linedrawings
4-page foldouts:
- photo of supermodel 1/200 Nachi
- 1/350 photoscale top+side of 1/200
Nachi
- B/W photomosaic of Myoko
- B/W photo of Ashigara
- illustration of Ashigara , close
to 1/350 scale
- linedrawing 1/350 Myoko top +side
- linedrawing Myoko internal structure
(top) + hullprofiles
- linedrawing Myoko internal structure
(side) + platforms
The Myoko-class formed the first generation of the japanese 10,000 tons cruisers. They were built in the period 1924 to 1929 and was limited in tonnage by the Washington Treaty, the advanced designs and building techniques used in these ships mounted maximum aramament and highest possible speeds. The cruisers used inclined side armor and had a thickness of 100mm (4"). The protection against torpedoes was strengthened in the form of an arched protective bulkhead inside the main armor belt.
The japanese construction-doctrine
in the 1930's was to make every warship-design superior to all comparable
classes of other navies. After 2 modernizations in the 1930's, the constructors
suceeded in their design-doctrine with the Myoko-class (and the later Takao-class)
since the design was the most powerful design in almost all heavy cruiser-categories.
The 6-4.7 in single mounted guns were replaced by 5 in AA in twin mounts,
and the four sets of three fixed torpedo mounts on the main deck were replaced
by two quadruple rotating mounts on the upper deck. But this was not without
tradeoffs. The added protection and armament combined with the large, almost
battleship-like brigdestructure on the Myoko and Takao-class had a tendency
to make the ships a bit top-heavy in rough sea. Later designs had a lighter
brigde-structure.
The supermodel of Nachi is very complex and extremely detailed. It will surely inpire many modelers to add extra details to their models. However great the detail-level is I cannot help myself to get distracted by some imperfections to the model. The finish is somewhat rough. The hull is not properly sanded with fine sandpaper, portholes are not properly alligned , the railings are in some places bent, some rigging is slighly twisted and the overall model is to shiny. The lightreflection clearly enhances small imperfections in the hull. A dull flat clear should have been sprayed onto the model before the pictures was taken in order to mask these imperfections. A pity really - since the model has a greater detaillevel than most of the other models I have seen in the Gakken Pacific War series. The modeler have done a fantastic job, let there be no doubt about that, but a flat clear finish would have helped a great deal!. The wuality of the photos are as always great. Focus is sharp and the photos are LARGE. Several of them span over 2 pages. No need to find your magnifierglass - you can see every detail!
A photodocument-chapter with 48 BW-photos gives an ilustrated history of the lifespan of the 4 cruisers. Each ship has its own chapter. Some of the images illustrates some features I have never thought about before. Like the windshield on the open topdeck of the brigde. The windshield are placed under the observationdeck on the brigde so that the wind that collides with the superstructure are pressed up through this windshield and thus pushes eventual seaspray up and away from the lookouts on the open brigde.
It would not be a real GakPacWar-volume wihtout linedrawings of the subjects and nr 27 has its share of them. The foldouts are particulary interesting with a beutiful illustration of ?? by Yuiko Mizumo. But unlike other PacWar volumes nr27 does not have drawings devoted to the superstructure. A pity but it may be because this volume probably does not need them if one are interested in the class as it was in WWII. To my knowlegde only minor changes/refittings in the armament was given to this class after the second reconstruction.
The mechanics-section features tables, documentcopies and photos of the mechanical fire-direction computer. 6 CG-pictures shows the light AA-armament from several angles. A whole lot of text in japanese would surely make this section interesting, but westeners would not use too muh time with this section.
The historical section has 3 parts:
Designhistory, operational history and a section devoted for Ashigaras
midwar-period visit to Europe. Several photos in this section shows Ashigara
in this peaceful naval-meet. Harmonic!
Conclusion
It is a genuine Gakken PacWar-title and - although the text is japanese - a must-have title to have if you plan to superdetail one of the ships of this class. Beeing a difficult person to satisfy once a standard has been placed, I must say I feel the lack of the superstructure-drawings that are featured in other Gakken books. But that is me in a nutshell! The Gakken PacWar 27 is a super title to have in your naval libary and I do not regret for a second that I bought it! The visual quality in for instance the supermodel is invaluable. The words told by these pictures well exceed over 1000 times the normal phrase : one picture says more than a thousand words. ..And with a picture that says more than a million words... - What more can you ask for? :)
This title is (if not sold out) available
from Hobbylink Japan and
retails for 1700 JPY ; about $16 USD; € 14 Euros
Review by Tom Kristiansen
Gakken Pafific War Series - March2004 (Japanese text)
GAKPW-01 Pearl Harbor Attack
GAKPW-02 The Battle of Malay Sea
GAKPW-03 The Operation In Indian
Ocean
GAKPW-04 The Battle of Midway **
**Discontinued**
GAKPW-05 The Battle of Solomon Sea
GAKPW-06 The Battle of Guadalcanal
GAKPW-07 Battle of Rabaul ** **Discontinued**
GAKPW-08 The Battle of Mariana Sea
** **Discontinued**
GAKPW-09 The Battle of Leyte Sea
GAKPW-10 IJN's End
GAKPW-11 IJN BB Yamato Class #1
GAKPW-12 Mitsubishi Zero Fighter
GAKPW-13 IJN CV Shokaku Class
GAKPW-14 Carrier Strike Force
GAKPW-15 IJN BB Nagato Class **
**Discontinued**
GAKPW-16 IJN CA Takao Class ** **Discontinued**
GAKPW-17 IJN Submarine I-Goh
GAKPW-18 IJN DD Toku Type
GAKPW-19 IJN DD Kagero Class **
**Discontinued**
GAKPW-20 IJN BB Yamato Class #2
** **Discontinued**
GAKPW-21 IJN BB Kongo Class ** **Discontinued**
GAKPW-22 IJN CV Taiho & Shinano
GAKPW-23 Akizuki-class IJN Destroyers
GAKPW-24 IJN Shiden-Kai
GAKPW-25 IJA Armored Division
GAKPW-26 IJN BB Ise Class
GAKPW-27 IJN CA Myoko Class
GAKPW-28 Japanese vs USA: Analysis
of Bases
GAKPW-29 IJN Interceptor Raiden
GAKPW-30 IJN BB Fuso Class
GAKPW-31 IJA & IJN Experimental
Fighter
GAKPW-32 IJN CA Kuma, Nagara, Sendai
Class
GAKPW-33 Mitsubishi Zero Fighter
Vol. 2
GAKPW-34 Tank & Tank Gun
GAKPW-35 IJN A-Target & Kohryu
GAKPW-36 IJN Kairyu & Kaiten
GAKPW-37 IJN & IJA Naval Auxiliaries
GAKPW-38 IJN Heavy Cruiser Mogami
Class ** **Discontinued**
GAKPW-39 IJA Food, Clothing &
Shelter
GAKPW-40 Reppu & Reppu Kai
GAKPW-41 Battleship of the World
GAKPW-42 IJN Type 1 Bomber
GAKPW-43 IJN Matsu Class DD
GAKPW-44 IJN CA Furutaka, Aoba Class
GAKPW-45 IJN Warship True History
** Discontinued/sold out from the publisher - March2004
Hobbylink Japan says that Gakken
has no current plans at this time (march2004) to reprint the discintinued
titles.
If Gakken decides to reprint the
titles, HLJ will notify their customers on the book-section of their web-pages.
