Calling all Nagato (長門) and Mutsu (陸奥) fans

[krgf15]

Howdy, I have an older Aoshima 1/700 Mutsu, but it seems to be of a higher quality than the older fuso and yamishiro kits. I was wondering if anyone knows the history of this kit. I dont think its a new tool. Number is 23938. I wanted a wood deck for it, but I dont think they will work on this older kit.

Thanks

[Dan K]

That # doesn't match up with the listings I have. Any chance you can scan the boxart for posting?

[Timmy C]

This one, Dan: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/AOSHIMA-1-700-WA ... 0304801224

[krgf15]

thats the one...

[Dan K]

I believe that is the first release of the retooled version, now about 10 years old. The original tooling's box art looks like this

[krgf15]

thats good to know that it might be a re-tooled version, now I just need to get a wood deck....

[gnorfen]

Recieved my example of The "Hachi-Hachi" Fleet Plan Reconstructing Japanese Superdreadnoughts Between the Wars 1/700. Nice photos, some of the ships has been featured in Navy Yard before.
It includes Nagato, Tosa, Amagi, Kii, 13class, Hiraga design X and a few US ships.
Most of the classes are represented by several different variants including WW2 variants.

If one compares this book with the HachiHachi book of the real ships, it differs in some ways, first it has no quadruple turreted variants, which is sad as there are lots of them in the other book.

On the other hand there are also modernized variants of Amagi class and 13 class.
The Hiraga replacements for Kongo are included.
A five turreted Nagato variant, There are also triple turreted variants (no plans of these in the Hachi Hachi book.

Also in the kit book there are ships which has the secondary arnament in turrets instead of casemates.

Some of the ships are coversions others are scratchbuilt and a few out of the box.
As I do not understand Japanese I have no idea of this triple turreted variants /or with secondary arnaments in turrets existed in reality. I do not know if they are mentioned in the text in the book about the real ships.
The US ships of the same era are also included in limited numbers.

Nevertheless I am using the book as inspiration, for this it is sufficient. Maybe some other member who speaks japanese can provide more information.

[krgf15]

Does anyone have any detailed drawings or pictures of the search light tower in front of Mutsu's funnel? I am using the Toms Modelworks' set, but it doesn't have any folding instructions. If I fold it on the fold lines,it will just be a square, and I don't think that's how its supposed to be.

Thanks,
Kelly

[Vlad]

Hi guys,

I built the Aoshima 1/700 Mutsu a couple of years ago (the new high quality one you were talking about recently). I'm generally pretty happy with her but she's a bit rough around the edges, so I was thinking recently of making a Nagato as well and really do the class justice.

My problem is that there is not a huge difference between the two sisters and I don't want to have two ships that from 3 feet away look identical. I don't really want a 1920s Nagato so I am thinking of doing a late war version (but not a 1945 chopped up and wrecked version). I would probably want her full hull (so that I have one waterline and one full hull) but I wanted to add more visual interest.

I noticed there are some sketches and a 3D model of Nagato in 1944/45 with a two-tone green camouflage. There was some discussion around page 11 of this thread but nothing conclusive as the posts seemed to focus more on AA fit and other details. Has this scheme been proven to be myth? To me it looks quite nice, so how awkward/inaccurate would it be if I were to build a Nagato in that scheme, but with the mast and funnel intact. A sort of "transition" fit where she still looks seaworthy but has some interesting "desperation" war-paint. This is probably borderline "what-if" but I wanted to know your opinions about it.

[Hen]

Vlad,

Check out this video on YT: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=90l4P-N0-lk

If the link doesn't work, search for "Battleships South Dakota and Nagato (Color:1945)" - from 0:43 the Nagato is shown after the war; IJN flag and 25mm AA (at least on 2. turret) still in place, with the chopped mast and definitely with a two tone camo scheme on the hull. But it doesn't look green to me... And I can't tell if the upper structures are camoflaged too - ship is too f'd up...

BTW; by chance I'm just working on the Mutsu (1943 Hashirajima from Aoshima), it's a nice kit with good details - but the instructions are partly wrong. They show two triple AAs on both No 2 and 3 turrets and type 13 radar on the main mast. As far as I can tell, no such modifications were made until her loss in June '43. I'm looking forward to building a Nagato in her final fit, the spare parts of my Mutsu kit are promising: 3 pairs of 25mm platforms on sprue S marked "Nagato" plus those that shouldn't be in the instructions

[Vlad]

Thank you, that is indeed an informative video. It would seem the pattern is mostly correct but the colours are a mix of the original grey and some dark grey or black (which is backed up by the description earlier in this thread). The ship is indeed a mess but I think you can see a third colour around midships, a sort of brown or greenish brown.

My question remains though, would this paint have been applied as soon as she arrived in Yokosuka, or after all the major changes (funnel chop, removed secondaries, extra AA etc.)?

[krgf15]

I saw that video last night, Was that damage from air strikes during the war or was that after the A bomb test? I would hope it was the first lol since those guys were crawling all over the ship.

[J. Soca]

My question remains though, would this paint have been applied as soon as she arrived in Yokosuka, or after all the major changes (funnel chop, removed secondaries, extra AA etc.)?

This will surely answer your question: http://www.combinedfleet.com/nagatrom.htm

Look at date ---- 25 November 1944, a better explanation is here http://www.combinedfleet.com/picposts/Nagatostory.html great, great read about Nagato's last stand. hope it helps now


Jose

[Vlad]

Yup, thank you. So it would be totally wrong to paint her like that without taking the funnel off. That's a shame, I don't want to build a de-activated hulk for the sake of a good paint scheme. I might have to make a "what-if".

[Hen]

Yup, thank you. So it would be totally wrong to paint her like that without taking the funnel off. That's a shame, I don't want to build a de-activated hulk for the sake of a good paint scheme. I might have to make a "what-if".

Harhar. After reading thru these very interesting links from Jose, I just ordered another Nagato for exactly that purpose!

[krgf15]

Well I finally got my Nagato class warship pictorial, and the best I can tell from the pictures in there, along with my Mutsu kit we were talking about above, this kit seems to be the 1937 fit, does anyone have any more ideas about that?

[Dan K]

Mutsu underwent a major reconstruction in 1936. Her fit really did not change from 1937 thru the early war years with the exception of a probable change in aircraft and the addition of a degaussing cable in mid 1941. There may have been some light AA added in the '42-'43 timeframe.

[krgf15]

Cool, so if I build out of the box and do minor adjustments to fit the pictures in the classic warships book, it shouldn't be too far off I hope.

[Dan K]

According to the Takao Ishibashi IJN BB book (aka the IJN BB Bible) Mutsu carries 18 x 14cm, 4 x twin 12.7cm HA, 10 x twin 25mm AA in addition to her main battery on 12/1941. She also supposedly carries 3 x 7.7mm MG as well, but I've no idea where those might be placed.

[krgf15]

Awesome,thanks. I cant stop looking at the colorized picture on the back of this Classic Warships book of Mutsu. I have decided that this class in this fit, is IMHO the best looking battleship class ever. Period.