#021 I-16 and I-58
Building the Tamiya 1:700 I-16 & I-58 waterline kit 31453. No electronics in this one - more an experiment in rust and water effects.
Notes
I found the Tamiya 31453 IJN Japanese Navy Submarine I-16 & I-58 1/700 Scale Kit on sale at plazajapan for only ¥710 and it went immediately into my cart as an impulse buy. Three main motivations:
- my first experience of the Tamiya 1:700 waterline series - so a very inexpensive way to dip my toe
- a chance to practice some watery effects
- a nice canvas for attempting some rusted hull effects
The Subjects
Japanese submarine I-16 was commissioned in 1940. It is one of the submarines that was used to deploy midget submarines - the Type A Kō-hyōteki-class submarine
The I-16’s tabular record of movement is available at combinedfleet.com, from 15 September 1937: when she was laid down at Mitsubishi’s Kobe Yard as submarine No. 44, the lead boat of the C-1 class, to her presumed sinking by USS England (DE-635) on 19 May 1944
Japanese submarine I-58 was a Japanese B3 type cruiser submarine that served in the final year of World War II.
It is one of the submarines with hangar and launching catapult for floatplane. However this was removed in May-June 1945 refit at Kure Navy Yard, and according to I-58’s tabular record of movement, it appears she may never have actually carried an aircraft - making this build a bit more of a “what if”.
The Kit
The kit is a quick and easy to build but with pretty good detail for the scale. The tooling is getting a little old (2009) but it comes with an additional sprue of fine-molded replacement parts for details such as guns and planes.
Paint Scheme
| Feature | Recommended | Used |
|---|---|---|
| Upper Hull | 2 parts XF-53 + 1 part XF-63 | 70.992 Neutral Grey + few drops of 70.994 Dark Grey |
| Lower Hull | XF-9 | 70.985 Hull Red |
| Decking | XF-55 | 70.875 Beige Brown/Humbrol 110 - not applied yet |
| minisub | XF-1 | 70.950 Black |
| Flag | XF-2 | 70.951 White |
| Flag | XF-7 | 70.817 scarlet |
| Guns | XF-56 | Humbrol 56 Aluminium |
| Float plane window | XF-2 | 70.951 White |
| Float plane body | XF-11 | 70.897 Bronze Green |
Construction
Snaps together in legendary fashion. Only seamline that needed work was between the hull and base.
Making the hull somewhat rusty with some oil paints over the acrylic base colors. The float plane canopy needs a little taming!
A simple watery base: classic toilet paper and mod-podge.
The base is from an Acrylic Display Model Show Dustproof Protection Case 20 x 10 x 10cm - good size for the models, if a little too tall for a pair of submarines!
