This is Mushroom Model Publications’ sixth book in their Maritime series. It is a translation of the same title in Russian published in 2012 (ISBN 978-5-904180-57-7) and is a monograph dedicated to the service of three Imperial Russian 415’ Protected Cruisers: “Aurora, Diana” and Pallada”. All three participated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and the Aurora and Diana participated in World War I in the Baltic Sea. The Aurora participated in the Siege of Leningrad, one of the bloodiest battles in World War II. A video trailer of the book can be seen on YouTube at https://youtu.be/RJukrtoauDos. Four A3 folded up plans, printed on both sides, detailing the side and top views are included from the (Russian) State Naval Archives collection. I counted 224 black and white photos and 88 drawings or sets of drawings (not counting the four sheets of folded drawings).

The Ship

The Kongo class of battlecruisers was Japan’s attempt to acquire or build their first super-dreadnaughts. Designed by the British, the Kongo herself was launched from the Vickers shipyard in 1912, the last major vessel of the Japanese Navy built in a foreign yard. She underwent major reconstructions from 1929-1931 and again from 1935-1938, the last time so much so that she was reclassified as a fast battleship. During the Pacific War, she participated in early South Seas operations off Malaya and the Philippines. Her class’s high speed made them ideal carrier escorts, and Kongo served that function during the IJN’s Indian Ocean carrier sweep, the Midway operation and the action off Santa Cruz.

This is Model Art Magazine’s special quarterly issue that focuses on naval subjects. As with the regular Model Art Magazine this is printed in Japanese with some English subtitles.

The feature article in the Spring 2015 Vessel Model Special covers the battle of Leyte Gulf / battle of Surigao Strait / Nishimura's fleet. The article is comprised of models of the vessels that were involved. Some the models are shown as full build features and others are static color photos. Included are line drawings of some of these vessels.There are several period black and white photos included along with maps of the battle area.

Bottom Line

Eduard has produced a single fret of finely detailed, finely scaled brass photoetch parts specific to the 1/700 scale Revell 05099 DKM Tirpitz injection-molded, polystyrene model. Highly recommended for this kit.

What You Get

A single, medium-sized, brass photoetch fret of railings, C30 20mm single guns, some masts and spars, multipart cable reels, catapult, aircraft props, radars, searchlight covers, ladders, ladder rails, pulleys, cranes, funnel grate, air intake grates and other parts to super-detail Revell’s 1/700 Tirpitz. Separate detail parts are numbered, with 116 different parts numbered on the fret, and 147 overall counting duplicates. Metal is intermediate in thickness and strength compared to other photoetch companies, which I prefer for handling and folding (the Goldilocks Syndrome – just right).

Background

The website description of this title, “At the start of the 20th century the Ottoman Navy was a shadow of its former might, a reflection of the empire as a whole - the "Sick Man of Europe". Years of defeat, nepotism, and neglect had left the Ottoman Navy with a mix of obsolete vessels, whilst the list of prospective enemies was ever-growing. An increasing Russian naval presence in the Black Sea and the alarming emergence of Italy and Greece as regional Naval powers proved beyond all doubt that intensive modernization was essential, indeed, the fate of the Empire as a naval power depended on it. So the Ottoman Navy looked to the ultimate naval weapon of the age, the dreadnought, two of which were ordered from the British. But politics intervened, and a succession of events culminated in the Ottoman Navy fielding a modern German battlecruiser and state-of-the-art light cruiser instead - with dramatic consequences.