Iron lance of the IJN Tatsuta and her
sister ship Tenryu were tough Japanese light cruisers commissioned just
after the first world war and used in WWII. Tatsuta followed Tenryu into
the Second Sino-Japanese war then, during WWII, fought at Wake Island,
off Guadalcanal, and extensively in the waters around New Guinea before
catching a torpedo from USS Sand Lance in 1944. The vessels of the Tenryu
class were new designs intended to lead destroyer flotillas. Long, thin,
and fast for cruisers, their only flaws were in their light armament
| The Tenryus were the first modern light cruisers of the IJN. This
ship type, the 3,500 ton or small-model cruiser, was somewhat new and without
many contemporaries. Essentially, they were enlarged destroyers with some
design cues inspired by the Royal Navy’s Arethusa and C class light cruisers.
To quote on their anticipated role, from LaCroix and Welles “Japanese
Cruisers of the Pacific War”: “they were intended as high speed,
protected flotilla leaders or destroyer squadron flagships…… to accommodate
the flag officer and his staff, as well as facilities for command and control.
Tactically, they were to lead and sustain torpedo attacks by the destroyer
flotillas, or squadrons, against the enemy fleet, and to protect the destroyers
against gunfire from enemy destroyers and any accompanying light cruiser.”
The Tenryus mounted four Type 3 14cm 50 cal guns in open backed shields
as their main battery, all mounted on the centerline. Also included in
their armament were smaller AA guns and two unshielded Type 6 torpedo mounts,
each carrying three of their 53cm diameter torpedoes, also mounted on the
centerline. No reloads were provided for.
They incorporated destroyer type machinery and three sets of geared
turbines driving three shafts, along with a mix of coal and oil fired boilers,
to achieve a high speed of 33 knots. To keep weight down and to increase
the hull strength required in a ship with a high length to beam ratio (for
speed), high tensile steel was used in their hulls. Light armor for
protection from 4” shells was also installed. The new bow form, commonly
called a spoon bow, was adopted from the new Isokaze class destroyer. |
For a more in-depth look at the Tenryu class design, please see Dan
Kaplan's review of the Tenryu here. More can be found in the TROM
here.
This new Limited Edition "Super Detail" version from Hasegawa
adds finer detail options to this newly tooled kit. The kit is depicted
in its early war appearance from 1941 to 42. |
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| SPRUE A & B |
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| The hull is molded into halves on the A and B sprue.
Each have features sharp detailing with nice hull plating detail.
Degaussing cables are molded on as they were from around 1941 on.
I'm not a big fan of the molded on anchors as this restricts you to displaying
your ship under way. The hull halves have interior bracing to help
hold their shape. Also on the sprue are the funnel halves and the
bow fore deck. |
Click to
enlarge image |
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| SPRUE C |
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| The waterline base plate and various superstructure walls and platforms
are featured on the sprue. Detail is pretty good overall. |
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| SPRUE E |
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| The main decks are molded on the sprue with nice surface detailing.
Gun platforms, the main mast, and the bridge parts as well as other details.
Bridge windows can be represented by flowing black paint into the recesses. |
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| SPRUE J, K, L, N, R, S, & T |
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| Many the finer details are molded on these sprues. I've left
them connected to make it easier to photograph them. Hasegawa is
taking a modular approach to molding some of these parts. The main
guns are finely detailed with separate gun shields. Boat davits,
mast parts, and other fine detail parts are included here. |
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| BONUS PHOTO ETCH |
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| A brass fret is included with hand rails, funnel foot rails, new platforms
and even a new fighting top and bridge assembly. |
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| MISCELLANEOUS |
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| Plastic rod is included for fabricating some platform supports. |
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| DECALS |
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| A new improved decal sheet includes markings for December 41 and July
42 (after anti-aircraft weapons was increased). |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| The instructions are two sheets, extra large with painting
and marking guides and several well illustrated subassembly drawings showing
where all the parts go. I am showing the images broken down into 8 pages
due to their large size.
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| CONCLUSION |
|
 This
new kit from Hasegawa is light years ahead of the original offering with
complete Photo Etch. It should allow you to build a great kit with
nothing else to buy. This is kit #HSGS0038 1/700 Japanese Navy Cruiser
Tenry "Super Details" Limited Edition . with a list price of $62.99 US.
Thanks to Hobbico
(Great Planes) Model Distributors for the review sample. They are your
US distributors for Hasegawa. |
