Yamashita Hobby 1/700 IJN Mutsuki
History of IJN Mutsuki
The IJN destroyer Mutsuki (睦月, Name translated as January) was the first ship of her class of twelve destroyers built for the IJN. All ships of the class carry the names of months! During the Pacific War, she participated as part of the invasion force during the Battle of Wake Island (December 1941) . She also provided cover for the invasion force during Operation R and Operation as well as other Solomon Island invasions during 1942. On the 25th of August 1942, during her participation in the Guadalcanal Campaign, she was sunk by a B-17 in the Eastern Solomons.
The kit
There are two versions of the same kit, NV11(020439) and NV11SP (020484). The latter comes with a photoetch sheet, which you can use to detail the ship more. The standard kit costs roughly 9€, while the SP one is ~15€. I think the 6 Euros extra is well worth it as the PE parts are designed specially for this kit, so you get a very good building experience. The PE parts are also why I bought the NV11SP version of the kit.
It comes in a standard side-opening box with a lot of smaller sprues inside, as well as the PE sheet. It’s very obvious that the model is made ala Dragon style, with multiple sprues being interchangeable with other kits. I unfortunately don’t have photos of the sprues, but the quality of the plastic is very good with extremely crisp details, which can be seen down below in the finished photos. My only issue with the kit is that the location of sprue gates is horrible. All masts and small pieces have sprue gates in the middle of the parts, making them extremely easy to break and impossible to properly sand. Other than that, the kit fits together rather well and without issues. Make sure to dry-fit parts! For painting, I used only Mr.Color paints as well as Uschi line for the rigging. For others, I highly suggest using stretched sprue for rigging as it’s a lot easier to handle and apply to the model.
This is my first ever proper ship build in more than 10 years, the last one I’ve done for my best friend back when I was in high school… It’s been a very enjoyable experience overall. I’m surprised by the extremely high quality from a (to me) unheard of brand. Most issues during the building process were caused by me, so I’d rather not talk about them haha. I still need to produce a quick sea diorama for the model, as it’s part of a diorama groupbuild in my local modelling club.
Photos
