Kimikawa Maru in 1/700: Aoshima vs. PitRoad

[Dan K]

Yes, she could be done, Bob. Actually, all the members of the Kiyosumi Maru class (Kiyosumi, Kasii, Kinugasa, Kagu, Kongo) have the same size hull & similar fittings as the PR kit scales out to. What makes these sisters more challenging for a conversion is that their bridge is one deck higher, which complicates the conversion. Not impossible.

[Quincy]

I forgot about this conversion build of Kagu Maru by Reigels in the All Craft Group Build 09-10 . He used the Pitroad Kamikawa Maru kit for this. His build is on pages 3,4, 7, and 10. He didn't complete her but, you will get to see what he did along the way. Its a great reference.



Bob Pink.

[AJohnson]

Dear Dan

I just got my new Aoshima Hatsuharu destroyer out of the box and found the same exagerated hull plating ribs. Must be their thing to bring the hull a bit more to life. I think I can just about live with it, I must say the rest of the Hatsuharu is molded very crisply. So maybe I should give Kimikawa Maru a whirl too? Just got several ships to build first though.......

Better put the overalls on and return to the outfitting quay

Regards

Andrew

[Dan K]

I think I would take the plating off but, otherwise, I say, build it, Andrew!

[Haijun watcher]

Dan K and other IJN experts,

So essentially the Aoshima Kamikawa Maru and Kimikawa Maru kits are identical? So if one could build the Kamikawa Maru if they had the other kits?

[Dan K]

It would be just too easy if they were identical, mon ami.

The short version is that Kimikawa and Kunikawa Maru had their catapults mounted on sponsons on the aft starboard side, so that the catapult sits right on the edge of the deck. Kamikawa and Kiyokawa Maru had their catapults just inboard of the deck edge, on a deck mounted turntable. Further, all four sisters had different arrangements of the a-c trolley tracks, as seen in the composite arrangement of drawings by Motoyuki Iwashige, and arranged by Luca Ruffato from a discussion on j-ships a couple of years ago. Below (ignore the Sanyo Maru illustration).

Aoshima has released Kimikawa and Kunikawa Maru with identical layouts. However, they have differentiated the layouts between Kamikawa and Kiyokawa Maru.

I'm sure you are thrilled by this news.

[Haijun watcher]

It would be just too easy if they were identical, mon ami.

The short version is that Kimikawa and Kunikawa Maru had their catapults mounted on sponsons on the aft starboard side, so that the catapult sits right on the edge of the deck. Kamikawa and Kiyokawa Maru had their catapults just inboard of the deck edge, on a deck mounted turntable. Further, all four sisters had different arrangements of the a-c trolley tracks, as seen in the composite arrangement of drawings by Motoyuki Iwashige, and arranged by Luca Ruffato from a discussion on j-ships a couple of years ago. Below (ignore the Sanyo Maru illustration).

Aoshima has released Kimikawa and Kunikawa Maru with identical layouts. However, they have differentiated the layouts between Kamikawa and Kiyokawa Maru.

I'm sure you are thrilled by this news.

Thanks for your detailed reply!

[Guest]

It would be just too easy if they were identical, mon ami.

The short version is that Kimikawa and Kunikawa Maru had their catapults mounted on sponsons on the aft starboard side, so that the catapult sits right on the edge of the deck. Kamikawa and Kiyokawa Maru had their catapults just inboard of the deck edge, on a deck mounted turntable. Further, all four sisters had different arrangements of the a-c trolley tracks, as seen in the composite arrangement of drawings by Motoyuki Iwashige, and arranged by Luca Ruffato from a discussion on j-ships a couple of years ago. Below (ignore the Sanyo Maru illustration).

Aoshima has released Kimikawa and Kunikawa Maru with identical layouts. However, they have differentiated the layouts between Kamikawa and Kiyokawa Maru.

I'm sure you are thrilled by this news.

Wow... This just ruined my day.. I was like wow I really like these I think I'll build a class of these! ... Nope! I don't know how I'll scratch build the trolley and rails.. Looks like my Kunikawa will be renamed Kimikawa :/.

[Dan K]

Aoshima's new tooling makes all four with different arrangements, so you could build them for each kit.