Kongo was the first of a four ship class
of fast battlecruisers built for the imperial Japanese Navy. She was built
during a time of much change in both the IJN and naval warfare which resulted
in many alterations during its design and construction. Heavily influenced
by British battle Cruiser theory, Kongo was designed and built in Britain
for Japan. As such her original lines were graceful and un-cluttered. But
this would be the last warship built for Japan outside of Japan. The next
three ships of the class were Hiei, Kirishima and Haruna all launched in
that order with the last being launched less than two years after Kongo.
Built as a battlecruiser, Kongo went through major modifications leading
up to WWII. In 1929, she was rebuilt with additional armor and reclassified
a battleship, losing a funnel but gaining aircraft capability in the process.
In 1935 she underwent reconstruction again. Her Stern was lengthened 25
feet and she is re-engine with oil fired boilers and parsons turbines,
increasing her speed to 30KTS. Her bridge is rebuilt pagoda
style and a catapult and rails are installed. In addition, the elevation
of her main guns are increased.
By the time WWII came around one would barely recognize Kongo. The large
Pagoda Mast and superstructure were adorned with search lights and AA guns.
In the 30s the Kongo’s were reclassified as fast battleships and were assigned
to fast carrier protection duties due their speeds. All ships of the class
were destroyed in WWII with Kongo being sunk on November 21, 1944 by the
US submarine Sealion. Up to that point, Kongo had seen action in both Midway
and Leyte-Gulf.
Kajika has released their new model of Kongo as built in 1914. I am
not sure what the relationship is between Flyhawk and Kajika, but Flyhawk’s
influence is clearly seen in this excellent kit. While the kit does not
come with photoetch, they do sell a photo etch detail set available separately,
along with a wood deck, or a deck mask. All are available from Freetime
Hobbies
The kit comes as a waterline option only, with a one piece hull with
a weighted red base plate. The molding is as good as it gets with Flyhawk’s
superb slide molding abilities, very little seam filling will have to be
done.
When measured out, the kit seems to be dimensionally correct, the hull
length is is a little difficult to be sure of, but I had several sources
list her original as built OA length as 706 feet which is just about where
the hull come out to. The beam is also about dead on, about 6 scale inches
too wide, well with my measuring capability margin of error.
The parts sprues are shown below. The parts are well laid out with separation
points that seem to make sense while not making more work for the modeler.
I have just a few comments on the various parts. |
While
I am not sure of the relationship between Flyhawk- Kajika, I am sure this
is another homerun of a model. Outstanding detail and buildability (my
made up word). With the optional Kajika photo-etch set this will be a fantastic
build.
