Calling all Taiho (大鳳) fans

[Dan K]

Most unfortunate. Your impressions of this version would be appreciated. THx, Atma

[potchip]

Received the kit this week. There are many molding imperfections unfortunately, as if the mold release was not timed right or there are issues with the mold itself.

For example inconsistent hatch size, or the definition/raised amount of hatches differ across the board, even on adjacent hatches. Some hatches has the highly raised 'ribs' but the hatch itself is barely noticable. Looks like will have to replace them all when building unfortunately. There are also stress marks everywhere especially on raised rinds of vents, or damaged anti-skid detail etc. In comparison my Ise kit did not suffer much of the above.

Perhaps from now onwards, with Fujimi the safest bet is always preorder and get the earliest batch as I do not trust their molds to be honest.

[Dan K]

Hmm, my kit doesn;t seem to suffer as badly. If they are using aluminum molds, then an early edition would be better.

[Atma]

I have checked later editions of almost all my stock of Fujimi's 1/700 IJN warships, I wasnt able to track the aforementioned problem.
By the way, the latex verion of IJN Taiho from Fujimi has awesome artwork. Same as IJN Haruna, IJN Hiei and IJN Ise.

[Dan K]

A new question for Atma. Fujimi appears to have just re-released the original wood deck version with new boxar. Is there anything else different, or is it that Tamiya protested the resemblance of the first boxart? thx.

[Atma]

Ha ! Nice one Dan with the Tamiya line, made my day
Anyway, nothing new just new artwork and the word"Wooden Deck" on the box to distinguish from the Latix Deck. The old IJN Taiho (I mean the old box art) will be phasing out soon.
By the way, the new re-boxed IJN Hiei is just a limited release with old box art(but with the 2011 kit inside) from the 70's. For nostalgic types...
I personally I dont like it at all.

[Dan K]

Thx for the clarification, Atma. Never cared for the older Fujimi boxart.

[Atma]

The new box art on IJN Hiei will be for limited relaese, it will return to normal soon(thankfully !), IJN Taiho's (And IJN Kaga ) will be permanently.

[Viktor]

Hi All.

And may look like this?



and



Greeting,
Viktor

[DennisJP]

I remember when I was working in the ship yard in Washington state and they had several of the Essex Class carriers there just before scrapping. We had to prepare them for towing to be scrapped.
While on Bennington I noticed that the flight deck had a non skid latex coating on the deck. I also noticed this coating was installed right on top of the old wood planking. So maybe this coating was not available for the Taiho and was used on the Shinano?
I know for traction purposes you would not have a metal deck. Aircraft landing would skid off the deck. I don't think even the British Carriers had metal decks. I think they had some form of non skid on the deck.
So either way on Taiho there would be either wood or latex non skid.

[Dan K]

The latex non-skid deck for Taiho is a misnomer. The latest indications are that she always had a wood deck, but had it painted dark grey/black while at Tawi-Tawi.

[Yng]

I just got a Fujimi Taiho kit today, and almost had a heart attack looking in the box. It looks fantastic. I have been working on an OLD Fujimi Shokaku, and a Hasegawa Zuiho, so this is my introduction to the newer moldings! I'm so used to chopping evergreen, may not even build this. From looking at the kit masts, ( I'm far from knowledgeable about this) they look slim and detailess as if it was foregone conclusion they'd be replaced with PE, but which set is best? Would something generic like Toms work?

[Atma]

From looking at the kit masts, ( I'm far from knowledgeable about this) they look slim and detailess as if it was foregone conclusion they'd be replaced with PE, but which set is best? Would something generic like Toms work?

Fujimi makes a dedicate IJN Taiho PE set in 1/700, take a loot at this:
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10127310

[Dan K]

I would reccomend the dedicated fret.

[Yng]

Thanks Atma and Dan K. It looks like a good set. I have never dealt with Hobby Search, looks like a good price, too.

[taskforce48]

Found this awesome image, did a double take thinking I found an unknown Taiho image. But after looking closer, realized it was photoshop. I saved the image, but my bookmark to the site went MIA. It was a Japanese site and would love to find again, done using the Fujimi kit from what I could decipher. I want to say that this was a Hiryu image before?

She sure was a pretty ship!

Matt

[Dan K]

Agreed, great looking CV and the base photo is from Hiryu on trials.

[Admiral John Byng]

I see the Fujimi Taiho has a opening at the bow on the anchor deck. Is there a definitive view of this in plans as the second photo on the Wikipedia page seems to show it to be a slightly different shape?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_ ... Taih%C5%8D

Also, is the full hull version of Taiho worth getting as opposed to the WL version? I would prefer the full hull but only if the hull fits neatly.

[Dan K]

Taiho had several openings along the forecastle deck level, for access to the bollards and bits. Think of it as a forecastle deck like all the others, just plated in.

[Admiral John Byng]

Thanks Dan. Forecastle deck was what I meant, I just couldn't think of the correct words.