by Anthony Kochevar
1/700 IJN Taiho (Tamiya)
The model took about two weeks to build. The nets are spray painted bridal veil which was then cut to size. I did not have an 1:700 photo etch kit so I used 1:350 photo etch ladders for the railing and smoke colored nylon thread for the rigging. All details were scratch built with ether styrene or melted and stretched plastic runner.
UPDATED 15-08-07
I built this model in May of 2007 at the time, it was the first model I’d done in about 20 years and the tooling is probably that old as well. After doing a few other IJN ships I decided to redo her, adding photoetch and scratchbuilt details. The model took over a month to redo and I was glad to get it finished. It was a lesson to me that it is best to do a model right the first time instead of redoing it. Tom’s IJN carrier photoetch was used(love this stuff!), along with styrene, wire and stretched sprue. There are a few aspects of the model I’m not completely happy with. The deck for one, I don’t think is very good. I also tried to do camouflage netting on the sides of the bridge and fire control turrets, I don’t know if I completely like the look.
I do however like the smoke funnel, it was shaved of detail and everything completely scratchbuilt back on, and boat being launched on the rear cranes has also been enjoyed by others who have seen the model. I’m very pleased with the “Tony” aircraft on the back of the flight deck. I’ve wanted to do this plane for a long time but could never get the camouflage paint to look good. I finally decided to try painting the base color of the plane with Testors Flat Gull Gray then drawing the camo on with a sharp Olive Green watercolor pencil. I do the same thing for wear lines on my planes, but use a silver pencil. I’m very pleased with the look of these planes.
