The Ship Model Forum

Some people worried that the upcoming IJN Hosho 1939 will be a re-release by Fujimi in 1/700, but of course this is not the case.
As you can see the brand new tooling IJN Hosho is out in 1/700 by Fujimi, enjoy !
Link:http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10144603

Shinano's deck was concrete over armor plating, surfaced with a latex like covering.

Thank you Dan!

You probably know what color it had the deck?
Maybe Yokosuka-gray?

Noted Japanese modeler Seitaro Ohki interviewed a former crewman for one of his superb builds of Shinano. According to that crewmember, the deck was grey. Keep in mind that the ship was transferring to Kure for final fitting out so, we don't know how the deck may have turned out.

An in-box review of the new Fujimi Hosho: http://mokehana.blog34.fc2.com/blog-entry-265.html
Looks good, though the rain gutters on the hull portholes appear much too heavy.

_________________
De quoi s'agit-il?

Fujimi porthole eyebrows always appear heavy. OTOH, I like the looks of the flight deck.

I've got my Fujimi Hosho last week and I can confirm it's a total new tool kit. It looks excellent, perhaps not quite on a par with Akagi, Kaga and Taiho but a huge leap compared to the previous model. I also have the etch set and wooden flight deck for the model.
I've only had a quick look at the kit, so I can't go into too much detail but I was looking at the instructions and they say the model represents ship in 1939. It is depicted carrying 4 5.5' guns and 6 twin 25mm. I never knew Hosho was in this configuration, I thought she had 4 twin 25mm added in 1941 and the 5.5 guns landed in 1942 and a further 4 twin 25mm added then.
Can some please confirm what she carried in 1939 (as the kit is supposed to be) and then what she carried by the time of Pearl Harbour and when in 1942 she had further armament changes? Can someone also please confirm what aircraft she was carrying at each of the above mentioned points.

thanks
Mike

I'll try to do some research tonite, if I remember

Thanks Dan!

I seem to remember it carrying 3 quad 13mm machine guns as well!

thanks
Mike

Just got my kit and accessory parts yesterday and posted comments shortly ago under "Oh Hosho!" in the Main Forum.

Quick summary for this topic; more details over in the Main Forum:

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 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.

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 vessel than the former molding.

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.

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/10144603 or more easily, here: http://blog-imgs-34-origin.fc2.com/m/o/k/mokehana/blog11081320.jpg

Fujimi 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.

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/FUJ11345.

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.

I think the flight deck could be DanK worthy - very little molded relief above the flight deck surface. But will it pass the gutter test?

Wikipedia states that, as built:

"Hōshō was armed with four 50-caliber 14 cm/50 3rd Year Type guns, two on each side. The two forward guns had a firing arc of 150°, including straight ahead, while the rear guns could fire 120° on either side.[13] They fired 38-kilogram (84 lb) projectiles at a rate of six to ten rounds per minute with a muzzle velocity of about 850 m/s (2,800 ft/s); at 35°, they had a maximum range of 19,750 m (21,600 yd).[14] A heavy gun armament was provided for Hōshō in case she was forced to give battle, but as carrier doctrine was just evolving at this time, the impracticability of carriers engaging in gun duels had not yet been realized. In addition, her large flight deck and lack of armor made her a vulnerable target in surface battles.[15][Note 3]

A pair of 40-caliber 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type guns on disappearing mounts provided Hōshō's only anti-aircraft defense. They were positioned on the flight deck, just forward of the rear elevator. These guns fired 5.67–5.99-kilogram (12.5–13.2 lb) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of about 680 m/s (2,231 ft/s); at 45° this provided a maximum range of 10,800 meters (11,800 yd), and they had a maximum ceiling of 7,200 meters (23,600 ft) at 75° elevation. Their effective rate of fire was 13 to 20 rounds per minute.[16]"

Wiki further notes modifications to AA weapons in 1924, removal of AA weapons in 1936, extensive refit in 1939, and 14cm main battery guns removed at some point during the war, and addition of
25-millimeter Type 96 autocannons as AA at some point as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_H%C5%8Dsh%C5%8D

This listing also has some identification of aircraft types used off the carrier, which due to carrier deck size, were limited.

This link has armament and plane references: http://smmlonline.com/articles/hosho/hosho.html.

Whilst Wikipedia is a useful source of general info about subjects, I do not take it as gospel. I was referring to the book 'Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945' when it came to Hosho's armament.
What I have managed to find is that the 5.5' guns were removed in July 1944 - so if you want to model the ship between 1939-1942 you need to leave them on. That was from Hosho's TROM on the Nihon Kaigun site. I've found nothing specific saying what the light AA was at various points between 1939-42.
According to Wikipedia (if anyone knows different please tell) Hosho during the early war period would have carried Yokosuka B4Y biplanes and Mitsubishi A5M fighters - is this accurate? If so does anyone know how many of each?

thanks
Mike

Issues with production meant shortages of front line aircraft for the fleet in the first year of the war. I believe the types for Hosho at the outset are correct. Keep in mind that Shoho was utilizing at least a few A5Ms at the Coral Sea and, IIRC, it was one of Hosho's B4Ys that photographed the wrecked Hiryu at Midway.

I did think the Hosho write-up was well-enough annotated and sourced to reference in this case as a general guideline. But there are far better research and detailed sources, agreed.

I appreciate the additional details you are generating with your posts and their replies.

We will see if Dan K can add any further info regards the AA armament. I place great faith in Dan K's knowledge of the IJN!

thanks
Mike

Fujimi will release a IJN Hiryu in 1/350 and in 1/700 at November/December. Have fun !
Plus
lots of new releases by Fujimi.
First we have IJN Taiho and IJN Shokaku in full hull mode.
IJN Taiho:http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10160887
IJN Shokaku:http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10160882
and IJN Hosho in 1942 mode:http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10160881
Enjoy

Link for IJN Hiryu:
the 1/350:http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10160871
the 1/700:http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10160875
Enjoy !

I'm thrilled to see Hiryu in 1/350 but, judging from what's come out previously, I was hoping it would be Hasegawa rather than Fujimi producing it. I'm underwhelmed by Fujimi's Shokaku/Zuikaku when compared to Akagi.

Hard to see how Fujimi will improve on the Aoshima 1/700 version.

Hard ? Aoshima's effort was laughable(Though IJN Soryu was far better).