The Ship Model Forum

I will add to this review sporadically, as time allows. Aoshima has done a very nice job with its new 2014 mold. In these photos, the Aoshima kit is the darker plastic. Some quick bullet points just on the hull itself:

• The kit is dimensionally correct in length at 221.5mm long.
• The one piece hull sits utterly flat. No flash at all.
• The hull is very crisply molded, much like the PitRoad (PR) kit. Some other sprue parts maybe a little less sharp, but hardly noticeable. The plastic is clean, too, not greasy or soft.
• Anchors are not molded on, unlike the PR kit.
• Hull plating lines are sharply molded, but way over scale. These are almost as thick as the molded on degaussing cable. Compare them to those on the PR kit (visible on the left hand side). PR has done a much more subtle job of it. The Aoshima versions really should come off, IMHO.
• While it’s nice to see the vertical deck supports on the two bridge levels shown on the Aoshima hull, they really are too thick as well. They should be cut away and replaced with 0.01” styrene strip. Fortunately, the side supports are there to hold the bridge siding in place, if handled delicately.

More to come.

A couple more thoughts on the hull. First, Aoshima has taken care to mold groups of mooring bits at the bow and stern, something usually not seen on a 1/700 kit. And, nicely scaled, sharply defined. Only the recent PR Aikoku Maru kits have them, IIRC.

They've also provided for a molded on accommodation ladder. Nice to see, sharply molded but, it should consist of wooden steps on sliding segments, not a planked set of boards.

A close up of the main deck. They are very similar in details - Aoshima breaks it into separate sections and molds fewer parts on (like the aft deckhouse). PR has molded on some skylights to a greater degree on the forward hatchs. I'm not sure how accurate the skylight layout actually is. Both have molded on two accessways to the forward hatches. Aoshima's is more correct in shape. Not sure what these were actually used for; could have been airways, protected entrances to an access ladder, or possibly, an outhouse.

Aoshima's bridge superstructure is properly sized. It's also broken down into more parts, with a bit more detail. The skylights of the top deck are properly done. The bridge face from PR was done as one piece, while Aoshima has chosen to mold it into two levels. The top level, the compass bridge deck, comes with clear plastic windows for the inner portion of the level. The bridge wings were open to either side of the center section, with more glass at the corner edges. This is pretty much true of all Japanese merchants of the time.

Next up is wood decking over the aft section of the main deck and trolley rail system added to convert the ship into an auxiliary seaplane tender. As nice as the single piece PR version is, it's too short, and has a generic rail layout that may be closer to that of sister ship Kunikawa Maru, though not exact. Aoshima has correctly lengthened the decking, as well as laid out a correct rail pattern for Kimikawa Maru.

A couple of points worth noting:

• The raised surface of the rail trestle was covered with treading, as in the Aoshima version, not drain holes as in the PR version.
• That Aoshima molded the rail system separately, with a deck recess for only the rear of the trolley rail, suggests the possibility that kits for one or more of her sisters in the auxiliary seaplane tender mode might eventually be released.
• If that proves to be true, note that the trolley rail layout differed for each of the four ships so converted.
• Further, only Kimikawa and Kunikawa Maru had their catapults mounted on a sponson attached to the starboard side of the ship. Kamikawa and Kiyokawa Maru had their catapults mounted slightly inboard, atop the wood decking.

While I’m at it, I’m posting a photo of their respective gooseneck air intakes. The Aoshima units are a little shorter, though I cannot say which is sized correctly. Molded with an older methodolgy, the PR units suffer from seams running front to back. The Aoshima ones are very nicely done.

There's a small sprue that holds some of the gun bandstands as well as the forecastle deck with the anchor windlass. For some strange reason, the real windlass was enclosed in a box structure, which Aoshima has replicated. Though not shown, the bandstands have the characteristic hexagon layout of wood planking for the gunners footing .

Kingpost masts. Those from both kits are nice. Aoshima has molded on access ladder rungs, which look pretty good. Also, the top of the kingposts look a bit more correct in the Aoshima version.

The crossbracing is little clunky in both versions; maybe the PR version is a tad cleaner. In the real ships, the crossbrace trusses were much finer, and separated to either side of the kingpost. The top was solid, so it could be used as an access walk. PR did make a PE set that provided for separate bracing. I'm not sure if its still available.

The Aoshima kit provides two different versions of booms for the kingposts and masts: plain, and with pulleys. As nice as it is to see the the additional detail, I think the pulleys are a little overscale. The PR kit provides only plain versions.

If one were so inclined to take the extra step, generic PE pulleys from Rainbow are nicely scaled.

Thanks for your review Dan, most helpful, have had my eye on this for a while.

In my case I used the Rainbow pulleys for my Nippon Maru recently posted.

Can't tell if we need to do lots of surgery to the front of the bridge like with the Fujimi types?

Andrew

Glad to be of help, Andrew. I can't speak to fit but, from what I can see, I don't think much surgery will be needed. Maybe just filling some seams where the bridge front and rear facings meet the sides. The shape looks good to me.

This is completely unlike the Fujimi Kawasaki tankers, which are clearly erroneous just upon viewing. This Aoshima kit looks to be a good build OOB. What a relief.

A few more thoughts. Unlike the PR kit, which comes with the #3 kingpost (this is the one without a mast on top, immediately aft the bridge superstructure) and allows the kit to be built into a prewar version, the Aoshima kit does not. The kit main deck is molded to fit that kingpost but, it's not included in this boxing. That, along with the decals provided (below), suggests a prewar version will be offered.

About the decals - Very nice "K"s for either side of the funnel to represent the KKK line, but not appropriate for this wartime version. The same seems true of the safety lane decal (the first that I've ever seen in 1/700 decal form). The only problem is, there is no indication of where it should go in the instructions, and I see no sign of such a marked lane in any of the prewar overhead photos or in any wartime fit photos. Kind of a mystery to me.

Also included is a very nice wood decking set.

The only thing that I haven't covered is the dedicated PE fret for this kit. I didn't buy it. I grabbed a photo from the HobbySearch Japan site. It looks nice. The biggest question is sizing of the pulleys on the PE booms. If these are scaled nicely, then this would be a smart purchase. If anyone has purchased a set and can chime in, that would be most helpful.

Interestingly enough, I just found a photo that I was unaware of showing one of the sisters with a safety lane. Different websites have identified her as either Kimikawa or Kamikawa Maru in mid 1943. If the notations are correct, then it is probably Kimikawa Maru because Kamikawa Maru was sunk by USS Scamp that May.

The new Kiyokawa Maru kit looks to be equally as nice as this one I hope. I didn't know that they included a wooden deck with the kit. I am not a fan of them but, that could change depending on the fit. I am still an "old school" painter of wooden decks. Loving the review Dan!




Bob Pink.

I am very happy that folks are finding this review helpful.

The wooden deck was part of the Super Detail version. No worries, Q, I'm old school as well. I'll put the decking up for grabs whenever I get around to building Kimikawa Maru.

For the curious, Queastor and Quincy (Q & Q?) are referring to this link for Kiyokawa Maru: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10303728

About Kiyokawa Maru - I can see from the reference photo that Aoshima is on the mark. They have correctly placed the catapult inboard, without a sponson. Kiyokawa Maru was also converted back to a regular naval auxiliary in late '43 (like Kimikawa Maru), which meant deleting the catapult, eliminating some of the raised wooden flight deck around what was kingpost #3, and reinstalling kingpost #3. She was also sunk, raised postwar, refurbished and became KKK's (the K Line) first operational ship of the postwar period. So, there are multiple fit possibilities for her.

I'm gonna have place a link to here from the Calling All Japanese Pre-war/wartime Merchant Marine Fans thread so that this information doesn't get lost.

we are very happy you do it!
Thank you...

_________________
...in my shipyard...

Anybody have any suggestions on what to do with an unbuilt Pitroad Kamikawa Maru kit?

I discussed this with Motoyuki-san some time ago. He thinks that Gosho Maru would be the easiest conversion. Sister Goyo Maru might also be a possibility. Personally, I would also add Katsuragi and Kirishima Marus as possibilities.

None of these are OOB.. All must have changes made to their drainage slots along the gunwales, and their bridge are modified somewhat, as are their funnels. Other changes are slight but include small alterations to the forecastle, hatches, etc.

I believe all four were Kawasaki built and operated by the K line prewar.

You can always cut it and lengthen it by 13mm. On page 16 in the Works in Progress section there is a build by AC Studios Kimikawa maru . He had to lengthen his Pitroad kit to make it the correct length. Great pics of his build to follow up on this process. FYI



Bob Pink.

Dan: I believe you can add Kagu Maru to the conversion possibilities as well.



Bob Pink.