Calling on IJN Akizuki-class (秋月) fans

[Foeth]

Hmm, sounds very interesting. Perhaps you could post a few pics?

[Art]

Help Please. I am looking for plans in 1/96 or 1/100 for the Akizuki. I am also looking for any photos or books on this class of ship. Is there any one out there that can help me?

Hi Joseph,

Not plans per se, but if you are after IJN DD information in particular, I can thoroughly recommend "Mechanism of Japanese destroyers" ISBN4 - 7698-0898-4.

This small sized book gives all the detail between the different classes plus differences and modernizations throughout the life of each class.

Areas are broken down into sections like the bow, bridge, armament, torpedoes, masts, etc.

Good pics to identify each section but very small in size.

[Art]

Hmm, sounds very interesting. Perhaps you could post a few pics?

I am spending too much time on the computer and not enough in the shipyard!

Sorry about the quality. Done in a rush.

[Foeth]

You received this as a gift? That's great! If you ever get tired of it...

[Ludwig]

Hallo Art,

Looking good can you give me an address or website where I can find these plans? Any Japanese destroyer or smaller ship, something for my wishlist.
regards,

Ludwig

[Laurence Batchelor]

Hmm, sounds very interesting. Perhaps you could post a few pics?

I am spending too much time on the computer and not enough in the shipyard!

Sorry about the quality. Done in a rush.

These look more like builders plans to me from their scale and complexity, so I would rule out commercial sources.

Have you tried to contact anywhere in Japan?

Also are there any date stamps or signatures on them? I know the text is in Japanese, but does there appear anything which appears produced by an ink stamp?

[Filipe Ramires]

Hmmm...most interesting indeed these plans! They are surelly from a japanese source...at least the text is in japanese. Wonder what other plans do they have?!?!?!?

[Dan K]

As I understand it, the sources are builder's plans. However, a nice bonus is that there are 3-dimensional detail views as well. It varies by plan set. One need to only go to the Miyukikai homepage and scroll down that, or the sample page, for examples:

http://www2.odn.ne.jp/miyukikai/index.htm

[Art]

Hallo Art,

Looking good can you give me an address or website where I can find these plans? Any Japanese destroyer or smaller ship, something for my wishlist.

Hi Ludwig,

An address is what I am trying to find.

You can have this set when I have finished building if you think you could use them.

They are not builders plans. Those did not have any diagramatic arcs on them, are very feint printed on dark blue paper and are 'as built'. These definitely state "June 1942" in English.

It looks as though this set was put out by the now defunct Japanese Modelling club, name escapes me right now. As such are not in production and can only be had on ebay. MMmmmmmm.

Will have to chase my sources in Japan.

[Laurence Batchelor]

Hallo Art,

Looking good can you give me an address or website where I can find these plans? Any Japanese destroyer or smaller ship, something for my wishlist.

Hi Ludwig,

An address is what I am trying to find.

You can have this set when I have finished building if you think you could use them.

They are not builders plans. Those did not have any diagramatic arcs on them, are very feint printed on dark blue paper and are 'as built'. These definitely state "June 1942" in English.

It looks as though this set was put out by the now defunct Japanese Modelling club, name escapes me right now. As such are not in production and can only be had on ebay. MMmmmmmm.

Will have to chase my sources in Japan.

They are excellent commercial plans then, no doubt based on the original builders 'as fitteds' with the wartime modifications added over the top.

I think many of us would like a nice source for Japanese warship plans.

[Sean Hert]

A lot of the Mikyukikai plans are available from Pacific Front Hobbies:

http://www.pacificfrontonline.com/

[Foeth]

Note that Pacific Front is 50-70% more expensive than a direct order from Muyikikai.

[tenacioustanaka]

Note that Pacific Front is 50-70% more expensive than a direct order from Muyikikai.

No kidding, I just bought 13 sets of plans from him and it cost exactly $300. If the same order was made stateside I would be looking at Waaaay over 500 bonz. So shoot me, I'm a cheap bastage!

[Josephp13]

Thanks guys for so much help! I know in my short time have over 50 IJN books.

Watch the build board for a up date on the 1/96 build. First two hulls are out of the mold now and I will start posting some pictures soon.

Sorry it has taken so long. I have been busy building my Z-13.

Joseph

[softsea]

Hello all

After reading the TROM's from the Akizuki destroyers in Combinedfleet, I believe only 4 of them participated in operation Sho-Go (Akizuki, Hatsuzuki, Wakatsuki and Shimotsuki).

Do you have any info of what was the mast and radar arrangements, as well as the AA suite, for at least one of those ships present on that battle?

I ask this because I'm thinking of backdating the new model of the IJN Suzutsuki (1945 Ten-I-Go) by Mono-Chrome into one of the 4 ships that were on that operation.

Any help is kindly appreciated
João

[janschu]

Hello Joao,

concerning the radar equipment of the participating Akizukis i have the following information so far. All the ships had the type 13 radar at the rear mast. Akizuki had a type 21 radar installed on a platform at the main mast, but i am not sure about the others. I guess there was a type 22 radar installed instead. So, any information is appreciated also by me, since a modeller colleague and me we are planning to do Vice-admiral Ozawa's Mobile Force at Cape Engano, in 1/700 of course!

They were armed with 25mm guns as follows:

5 triple mounts, 2 abreast the funnel, 2 on the former twin mount platforms in front of the torpedo launcher and the fifth on a platform at the position of the former rear 100mm gun director. The number of single mounts is varying between 16 and 20. Akizuki for example had 20 mounts, but I am not yet sure about the position of each mount.
Akizuki, Hatsuzuki and Wakatsuki had the above-mentioned arrangement 25mm triple mounts. Since Shimotsuki belonged to the second group, which had a simplified design in some areas, the arrangement of their triple mounts also differed. There were no triple mounts abreast the funnel, instead these mounts were placed on platforms on the rear superstructure abreast the torpedo reloading device. The other 3 triple mounts remained the same.

The problem with the Suzutsuki kit you are mentioning is, that you can only build the Suzutsuki after her big repair from January to October 1944. There are only parts for the square bridge included and only Suzutsuki had this square bridge. The other kit (Akizuki 1942) has the "correct" round bridge but is "as built" in 1942. So, for a 1944 Cape Engano version you will have to scratch-build all the modifications like the new main mast and the additional 25mm platforms. With these modifications you can build the Akizuki, Hatsuzuki and Wakatsuki. If you want to build the Shimozuki you further have to rework the rear superstructure and reshape the funnel base.

For a 1/350 diorama I am planning with another modeller colleague I have purchased the Suzutsuki. We plan to do a diorama showing the Suzutsuki and the Tamiya Yukikaze picking up survivors of the just-sunk Yamato. Later I have found out that the Fuyuzuki and not the Suzutsuki took part in the rescuing, so i also bought the Akizuki and will rebuild her to represent the Fuyuzuki.

I hope, I could help a little.

Greetings from Germany, Jan Schulz, IG-Waterline

[softsea]

Hi Jan, thanks for the info.

As for the bridge, there is, at least, the round front (part B61) for the original one, thou' I'm not yet sure if all the necessary parts are available in the frets.
Will try to build the original bridge, using the parts unnecessary to build the "Suzutsuki" and see if that's possible without major scratch work.

João

[janschu]

Hello Joao,

Some of the parts needed for a round bridge version are provided as there is part M5 (bridge floor with bigger "balconies", compared to
the "as built" version. But you need the side walls (parts E8 and E9) and the rear bulkhead (part E12) for the construction. The bridge sides
from the Suzutsuki kit (parts J4 and J6) will not fit, I have tried it! For my "Ten Ichi Go" Fuyuzuki I will use the 1942 Akizuki as a base and
use the modernized main mast from the Suzutsuki as a pattern.

By the way, are you planning to upgrade your Akizuki class destroyer? I will replace the kit's 100mm barrels with turned brass barrels from
Fukuya ( http://www.hlj.com/product/FUK350-30 ). Furthermore all the 25mm guns will be replaced by the fantastic ones from Veteran Models
( http://www.hlj.com/product/VTMVT-W35033 ) and ( http://www.hlj.com/product/VTMVT-W35035 ). I have already built some for my
Hasegawa Nagato "Leyte Gulf". They are quite fumbly to assemble but the results are fantastic!

But I have parked both ships until some photo-etch sets show up.

Greetings from Germany, Jan

[softsea]

Hello Jan

Those bridge sides were my major doubts when it came to fitting or not.
If they don't fit, I guess I'll have to do some .
For the ships of Sho-Go, I already have the Musashi kit (will make the Yamato out of it), the Yukikaze (1940 version, will update to 1944 using Lion Roar set), the Kongo (Fujimi) and I'll scratch build the Maki (Matsu class).
Still waiting for a 1/350 Isuzu (Aoshima... )

I've not yet started, need to finish my Revell Orlyonok first, but I'm planing on replacing the 25mm triples by Veteran Models or Lion Roar PE (I have both of them already, haven't yet decided thou').
As for the barrels, Fukuya is a bit to expensive, not sure if I'll replace them yet.

Happy modelling from Portugal
João

PS: Don't know if you like football but my favourite Portuguese team (SCP - Sporting Clube de Portugal) will be playing against Bayern München next Wednesday.
Hope it's a good game and may the best team win

[janschu]

Hello Joao,

Normally I build in 1/700 scale. Since I have found Motoyuki Iwashige's website http://ww6.enjoy.ne.jp/~iwashige/ I was infected
with the "IJN wartime merchant ship" virus" I build mostly Japanese auxiliaries. But from time to time I switch to the bigger
scale (1/350)

I have already build the Hasegawa Yukikaze (Ten Ichi Go), the Hasegawa Nagato (Leyte Gulf) is in the making and there are several more
vessels waiting to be done. As there are:

- Monochrome Suzutsuki (TenIchi Go)
- Monochrome Akizuki (Fuyuzuki, Ten Ichi Go)
- Aoshima Maya (Leyte Gulf, with the use of the fantastic Takao Flyhawk Set, about 90% is usable)
- Fujimi Haruna (Leyte Gulf, boasting with AAA)
- Fujimi Ise (Leyte Gulf)

And i am also looking forward to the Nagaras from Aoshima ( a colleague visited the Nürnberg Toyfair where there a Nagara class cruiser
was displayed. It looked really good, but since my colleague is not familiar the IJN vessels he could not tell me the name).

The Fujimi Shokaku would also be very interesting. I would convert the ship to a Leyte Gulf Zuikaku, you know, with this eye-catching anti-submarine camouflage!

PS: I am not that big football fan but since I live in the north of Germany my favourite team is the HSV (Hamburger Sportverein).
So, i don't mind if your team wins. To be honest, I keep my fingers crossed for your team!

Greetings from the North Sea Coast, Jan