Fujimi's new 1:700 IJN Hosho aircraft carrier kit arrived this week from Hobby Link Japan and I wanted to offer some first impressions.
For the background I reference here, I jumped on Wikipedia, which has a fairly comprehensive page on the Hosho:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_H%C5%8Dsh%C5%8D. Combined Fleet's Tabular Record of Movement for the Hosho begins in 1941, and is not a good record for understanding several pre-war reconfigurations.
This is the fourth Fujimi boxing of this kit, but the first new molding since the original release in 1999. A limited release in 2003 included a decal to simulate wood grain on the carrier deck planking, and a 2007 limited release included a photo-etch fret whose main purpose was to provide a PE carrier deck. It should be noted that these earlier kits of the Hosho all depict the ship at her launching in 1923, and do not represent the ship past June 1924, when extensive modifications were made. The older kit has always stood out for me as marking my getting serious about IJN modeling: a clunky, quirky, pre-war build of a ship that had a limited role in WWII. Nonetheless, Hosho is historic as the first purpose-built aircraft carrier and once completed, would surely be distinctive on the shelf. Nonetheless, the older mold is notable for a complete lack of hull detail (you've got to drill all the portholes yourself, which has been vexing for me to arrange in straight lines) and I've found with my still incomplete build that much sanding and filling has been needed to address seams and mold lines. Here is a pictorial overview of one release of the former kit:
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10063815.
So, thanks to Fujimi for realizing it was time for a new molding.
According to Wiki, after commissioning in 1923, Hosho underwent extensive modifications in 1924 (losing her distinctive island, crane, and downward canted flight-deck over the bow). In 1936, following typhoon damage, additional deck supports were added, gun positions moved, and her funnels were fixed in place, no longer rotatable from horizontal to vertical in response to flight operation needs. Elevators were enlarged in 1939. In 1944, the flight deck was enlarged, and additional AA added. In 1945, after surrender, flight deck alterations were made once again before the ship began repatriation service before being scrapped in 1947.
(News on 9/13/2011 that Fujimi will release a circa 1942 version in 1:700 as well:
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10160881. This 1942 kit is available for pre-order from HLJ as of 11/2/2011:
http://www.hlj.com/product/FUJ43104)
The new Fujimi kit is specific to a 1939 build of this IJN carrier, it would require extensive modifications to back-date to the 1923-24 time-frame of the original kit, and does not include key parts required to do that. How about kitbashing the older and newer kits to backfate? Tempting, but interestingly, the hull of the 2011 release is about 1/8 inch shorter than the original 1999 release, and you will likely have to make adjustments to the superstructure and flight deck to accomplish this.
1) Hull is beautifully cast, with portholes and gutters molded in place, correcting a challenging omission of the old kit. The gutters appear slightly overscale in their vertical dimension - more prominent than I would have expected, and not as delicately executed as Aoshima's recent release of the IJN LCs Katori and Kashima. The hull is about 1/8 inch shorter than the older mold of this kit and the bow flare and profile is distinctively different. Also, the hull, from midships to bow, is thinner at waterline than the 1999 casting. In sum, she comes across visually as a much lighter vessal than the former molding.
2) Kit has a much more extensive parts count than the 1999 casting. 15 sprues, with most parts intended for use in the 1939 build. Lots of small details cast seperately on sprues rather than cast in place on the hull, deck or superstructure. The 14 cm/50 3rd Year Type guns are well cast, a significant upgrade over the former kit, more delicate in scale and without the casting flaws of the original release. Ships boats are upraded from the original release as well. There's lots of bracing for the additional AA platforms the ship acquired in its refits, all cleanly cast in plastic, as is delicate piping and bracing around the funnels and flight deck.
3) The detail on both the flight deck surface and lower side has been significantly upgraded. Elevators can be posed open or closed. Two types of aircraft, totalling four bi-planes, are included in the kit.
4) Step 12 in the instructions is the final stage of assembly, and it places eleven thin horizontal struts of varying lengths just below flight deck level on both sides of the ship. They do not appear to be support for netting, nor radio antenna, so I'd welcome information as to what they represent in this build. See scans of the instructions at this link:
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10144603Fujimi has also released a kit-specific wood deck and extensive PE fret for this kit. The wood deck kit comprises 4 pieces, two for the flight deck and two for the main deck of the ship. Notably, the forward flight deck piece is cut too thin in width, and does not fully cover the cast-in planking on this portion of the deck. There may be enough spare deck that can be cut from the center of the largest main deck piece (otherwise covered by superstructure), so this looks like it can be corrected with some effort:
http://www.hlj.com/product/FUJ11346. Fujimi also makes dry transfer decals for the flight deck - the Hosho's deck had a fairly extensive set of markings.
The PE fret includes stairs, all railing, including parts cut to profile of some quirky gangways toward the stern, accomodation ladders, funnel caps and grab-ons, flight deck netting, replacement landing aid parts, replacement deck bracing at the stern, search-light covers (open and closed) for the flight-deck, doors for a number of locations, cabling for the ship's crane, replacement parts for the biplane bracing, propellers and wheels, and replacement parts for several landing aids and the wind barrier. For all that is here, you will still need to find replacement radio antenna for those kit parts:
http://www.hlj.com/product/FUJ11345So that's my first impression of the 1939 Hosho release. She began 1939 in a reserve role, but was called back to the active fleet in 1941, covering the return of the Pearl Harbor fleet and scouting and anti-submarine protection for the Main Body of the IJN's Midway fleet before returning to a reserve training role. Backdating will be required to reconfigure her for her early year's as Japan's first carrier, or her role in the Shanghai incident of 1932, the Fourth Fleet Incident (typhoon) of 1935, or the Sino-Japanese War beginning in 1937. The hull in this 2011 release is likely the one to work from in any backdating effort, while some parts from the 1999 original release remain critical for building the 1923 commissioned version from this new mold.
Check out the "Calling All Ships Fans" IJN Carrier thread for additional comments and discussion of this new release and the ship itself.
Here is a comparison of the old (dark plastic, top) and new (light plastic, bottom) hulls - note the shorter hull of the 2011 release. These kits are equal in height once the WL plate is added to the circa 1939 hull. Green putty on 1999 release is from filling in poorly executed alignment of portholes:
Here is the difference in shape and detailing of the undersides of the 1924 flight deck of the 1999 mold and the flight deck from the 2011 release depicting the ship in 1939. Note reconfigured forward elevator shape and location for wind barrier. Circa 1924 flight deck is longer and narrower:
Flight decks of the 1999 and 2011 releases. Note relative lack of cast-on detail on circa 1939 flight deck:
The circa 1924 deck overlaying the circa 1939 deck:
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