Tamiya 1/700 IJN Ayanami

Ayanami (綾波, lit. 'Twilled Waves') was the eleventh of twenty-four Fubuki-class destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy following World War I.

Construction of the advanced Fubuki-class destroyers was authorized as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's expansion program from fiscal 1923, intended to give Japan a qualitative edge with the world's most modern ships. The Fubuki class drastically improved upon previous destroyer designs; so much so that they were designated Special Type destroyers (特型, Tokugata). The large size, powerful engines, high speed, large radius of action and unprecedented armament gave these destroyers the firepower similar to many light cruisers in other navies. Ayanami, built at the Fujinagata Shipyards in Osaka was the first in an improved series, which a modified gun turret which could elevate her main battery of Type 3 127 mm 50 caliber naval guns to 75° as opposed to the original 40°, thus permitting the guns to be used as dual purpose guns against aircraft. Ayanami was the first destroyer in the world with this ability. Ayanami was laid down on 20 January 1928, launched on 5 October 1929 and commissioned on 30 April 1930. Originally assigned hull designation "Destroyer No. 45", she inherited the name of her predecessor on 1 August before her launch.

In her original construction, Ayanami was over 200 tons overweight. Following the 4th Fleet Incident, which saw major cracks develop in the hulls of several IJN vessels as a result of severe weather, which occurred only a year after her commissioning, Ayanami and the rest of the ships in her class were quickly taken back to the shipyards to have added top weight reduction and strengthening of the hull. Ananami served throughout the early months of the Pacific War before being sunk by gunfire from the USS Washington at Guadalcanal.  

As mentioned in an earlier ship preview, I built a lot of 1/700 waterline ships back in the early 1970s when kits like this cost around 75cents. They were all built to a similar very low standard as I didn't bother cleaning up sprue gates or even painting the model. What appealed to me was the sheer variety of ships available from the four companies;  Tamiya, Hasegawa, Fujimi, and Aoshima. These are all concerns that are still active in the modeling industry.

One thing all of them had in common was a flat, red base for the rest of the ship and a weight to add a bit of heft to what would otherwise be a very light model when done. As you can imagine, the level of detail was adequate, but nothing like what can be reproduced some 50 years later.

Portions of the superstructure are already molded onto the hull of the ship and one simply uses the first five construction stepts to build the guns, stacks, and other parts of the super structure. The final two steps attaches these to the hull along with things like torpedo tubes, boat davits, ships boats, depth charge racks, and masts. The final step is to attach the waterline section and weight. Paining is very simple as it is an overall dark grey. While larger ships had teak decks, destroyers apparently did not. There is a small decal sheet and while it is probably toast, it is worth trying to salvage as I doubt one can find a replacement.

This would be a good kit to initially get involved with 1/700 ships. Its fairly minimal parts count means it can be finished in a timely manner and it certainly won't take up much space on your display shelf.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Ayanami_(1929)

March 2025

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