1/700 scale Imperial Japanese Navy food replenishment ship Mamiya(间宫). My very first attempt on such a small scale. The rigging is a bit of a hasty job.
Mamiya was originally intented to be a fleet oiler, but the navy eventually changed her plans and started the refitting job halfway during construction in order to deal with the pressing demands of getting a dedicated food ship issued from numerous fleet commanders. So Mamiya was eventually completed as a food supply ship.
In terms of appearance, Mamiya bears every characteristic feature as one could possibly find on a 1920s merchantman or a tramper. She has a vertical stem post, an obsolete-looking elliptical stern, a short forecastle/sternscatle, and a very slight sheer line. What make this vessel quite unique from a ordinary merchant ship apart from the victualling fuction itself are her two other special abilities: 1. doing air reconaissance；2.acting as a target ship when the battleship fleet was having a gunnery practice.
For the role of air recon, Mamiya carried two observation floatplanes, one stored on her foreward cargo hatch and one aft. To avoid storm damage, purpose-built pontoon cradles were utilized to properly secure the planes to the hatch covers. Mamiya did not have the ability to catapult planes directly into the air, so each time the floatplanes wish to do their job, they had to be lowered dilatorily into the sea by a cargo derrick first, and then taxing away from the vessel to conduct a proper take off.
As a target ship, Mamiya was not intended to be directly aimed and fired upon during gunnery practice. Instead,she would usually
lower a special target raft(notice the barge with a giant cavas target stored on the stbd side of the poop deck) by her derrick, and have the raft in tow with a considerable distance in between. Her floatplanes would also assist the job by observing shell hits and report them back to the battleships via radio code.
Mamiya was sunk in December 1944 by USS Sealion. The sinking had a very negative impact on the moral of Japanese sailors and officers since they were all very fond of this vessel. During peace time and the first stage of the Pacfic war, sighting the vessel usually means that all sailors could get a chance to receive mail sent from family, have a taste of the delicious pastries provided aboard, or even better, take a comfortable bath in the spacious bath tubs in the rehabilitation cabins(although this previledge was always reserved for officers only)
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Is this the Aoshima, or Pit Road model? And did you use a dedicated PE set for it?
