Scale Plastic & Rail

Japanese Heavy Cruiser Tone -3D from Kagero

Japanese Heavy Cruiser Tone - 3D
Kagero
Catalogue # 16063
Available from Kagero for €20.99

The Ship
The IJN Tone was the lead ship of a two ship Tone Class of Heavy Cruiser for the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was laid down at Mitsubishi's Nagasaki yard in 1934.  The ships were to be armed with 12 155mm within the restrictions of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty and the London Naval Treaty. However these came to an end in 1936 and the IJN decided that they would arm the ships with 8 203mm guns.

The ship was designed to provide reconnaissance even during battle. In an unusual configuration the guns would be housed in 4 turrets on the bow of the ship. This left room on the stern for a large seaplane capacity. Due to this large seaplane capacity the ship (and her sister ship the Chikuma) were extensively used to provide scouting services for the IJN's aircraft carrier task forces.

The Tone played a part in many battles of the Pacific campaign, and battle honours include; Pearl Harbour, Java Sea, Indian Ocean Raids, Midway, Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz, Philippine Sea, and Leyte Gulf. The Tone was damaged at Leyte Gulf where she contributed in the sinking of the USS Gambier Bay. Following this she returned to Japan and was dry-docked. On release she moved to Etajima where she was used as a training ship.

On 24th July 1945 she was attacked and sunk by aircraft from the USS Monterey. The hulk was finally raised and scrapped after the war from 1947-1948.

The Book
This is my first look at one of Kagero's 3D books. At first glance they look very good, it gets even better when you start to read on.

The book is A4 with a soft cover containing 82 pages. The first 15 pages are mainly text interspersed with small 3D illustrations. The text gives a good account of the Design behind the ship; Operational modernisations; Armour protection; Propulsion & Machinery; Armament, Torpedo armament; Aircraft facilities, and her Operational history. The text is quite detailed with the inclusion of all the facts and figures needed in easy to read data tables.

The remaining 67 pages are given over to a comprehensive set of excellent 3D CAD renders of the ship. These are some of the best I have seen and include even the small details (you can see the rifling inside the gun barrels!). Every inch of the ship is covered, even details such as the deck overheads. These are mainly presented two to a page. Some structures such as masts & the funnel benefit from a large single A4 drawing. There is even one double A4 of the foredeck section. Each render carry's a detailed description underneath.

I doubt even a good walkaround would give the detail seen in these CAD drawings. They simply give you views you would not be able to obtain with a camera without the use of a helicopter.

One final addition to the book is an A2 size fold out plan. On one side this has 1:350 drawings of the ship. Both Profiles; a top deck plan, and both bow and stern views. On the reverse of this plan are 3D drawings showing the Bridge, Funnel & mast arrangements.

So what do we think?
Overall this is a top quality book for the ship modeller, also for anyone interested in Japanese WWII Ships. Highly recommended. The only problem I can see is that Kagero now publish 12 more of these covering subjects such as The Bismarck and HMS Repulse., you will probably end up buying them all!

Highly recommended

Julien Dixon

Our sincere thanks to Kagero for the review sample used here. To purchase this directly, click THIS link.

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