Maya always was my favorite from all four Takao class cruisers. I tried to do my best, modeling her just before embarking in her last mission. Aoshima’s 1:350 scale kit of Maya is a terrific kit but I’ll give 9 out of 10 simply because the instruction manual was kind of misleading in some occasions. I wanted to do something nice this time so after doing some research I decided to buy a couple of things I knew would improve this fantastic kit. I used White Ensign Models and Gold Medal Models’ Takao photo-etch sets, I replaced the AA guns and the triple machine guns with Veteran’s new Type 89 AA guns and LionRoar’s IJN 25 mm triple MG.

I never liked those plastic barrels that came with the kit so I also replaced them with Voyager’s brass barrels. Hasegawa’s new accessories helped me a lot with the detailing, these goodies are indeed a blessing like I said once. I used the boats, davits, binoculars, ammo cases and even mushroom vents she was becoming what I wanted but still I felt something was missing thus I added some L’Arsenal and those new Fujimi figures. The rigging was done with WEM’s lycra and 0.2 mm copper rods. Overall, I had a good time modeling her and I’m happy with the results.

Jose Soca

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