Sunday, March 4, 2012 Several have asked for more ship models, so here comes another one. This is the Japanese destroyer "Mikazuki" in 1:700 scale by Hasegawa, assembled by myself in 1985. This was assembled without painting which is why there are reflections from the flash off the surface of the plastic. The color of the plastic matched that of the original ship, which is why I didn't paint the model. Length - 14 cm.. The "Mikazuki" was a Mutsuki class destroyer. This class was constructed 1926 - 27. Length over all - 338 feet 9 inches Beam - 30 feet Draught - 9 feet 8 inches Weight - 1,772 tons Speed - 37 knots Crew - 150 officers and men Armament - Four 4.7 inch 45 caliber DP guns Twenty 25 mm. anti-aircraft guns (WWII) Five 13 mm. anti-aircraft guns (WWII) Six 24 inch torpedo tubes A note about the Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedo - this was developed in 1935. It used pure oxygen and a gasoline engine to give it a range of some 40,000 meters / 25 miles (at most). This left a minimal gas trail in the water. However, developing the pure oxygen system came at the price of several explosions, costing several technologists and workers their lives. For thse of you who are interested, or just curious about the IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy), there's a good web site at http://www.combinedfleet.com It's the best site I've been able to find thus far. Enjoy!