IJN Torpedo Cruiser Oi
Reviewed by Timothy Dike
| The Japanese converted a couple of their light cruisers to be used as Torpedo Cruisers. The Kitakami was one such ship with a potent array of 10 torpedo launchers located amidships. With the deadly sucess of the Japanese torpedo, this could have been a formidable weapon, but advances in carrier avaition doomed it's use. The Oi was later converted to a high speed transport. | |||
| The hull is well detailed with lots of sharp well defined features. Most of the superstructure is molded to the hull and has little side detailing, so a good set of photo etch doors and hatches is a must. |
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| The weapons are the typical sharp Pit-Road quality and
even the funnel grills look nice.
The decal sheet includes flags and ship markings. They are well registed. |
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The instructions are good, consisting of a little history
and several exploded views showing the various subassemblies. It is straight
forward and easy to follow.
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| Typical of the water line series of kits this one has a painting guide on the back of the box with color numbers for the Pitroad and Guze Sangyo line of paints. The art work is pretty detailed and includes rigging. |  |
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| Conclusions:
This is a nice kit for anyone wanting to build an IJN Torpedo Cruiser. It is identical to kit #47 the IJN Kitakami. Add a some PE rails and rigging and you have a real nice representation of one of Japan's best class of destroyers. This is kit #W46 and has a current retail of $28.00 US. |
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