Calling all Hiyo (飛鷹) and Junyo (隼鷹) fans

[Dan K]

The Tamiya Junyo has the elevators wells done up much better. Could make for an interesting kitbash. There's also elevator PE sets from FIneMolds and Rainbow.

Ignore the lines and arrows in the photos below. I grabbed them off a discussion on the 'net.

[Tracy White]

Interesting - so the hangar bay was largely the same width as the elevators, and about the only detail other than vertical beams would be the inclined ladder.
Still would look better than what's kitted. I'll need to figure out if I want an elevator down at all. Thanks for the images!

[Dan K]

There's a couple of simple ways to go about detailing the elevator well, depending on your desired level of detail.

The easiest is to kitbash the elevator parts from a Tamiya Junyo kit. That kit's parts remain crisply formed and decently detailed. When I built my last Zuikaku 10 years ago, none of the PE options now available were extant. So I used these parts, tweaking as needed. Not the best photo below, but I was very pleased with the results.

Since then, FineMolds came out with an IJN elevator fret that happens to be an exact match for the Tamiya Junyo. I don't have a good photo of the one I used in my Shokaku, but I can report that it did turn out well. It's not that complicated to put together.

Recently, Rainbow came out with a number of beautiful IJN elevator components, but it does require some cutting of a generic hangar deck piece to make it work successfully.

[Tracy White]

One would hope for that to be replicated in 1/350.

[Dan K]

Agreed.

[Dan K]

The All Japan Hobby Show begins tomorrow. Hasegawa is previewing test shots of the new Junyo kit. Nice pics, though they seem as if they could be 3D renderings.

The kit hull shows sealed portholes for 1944 fit. An earlier fit will need these drilled out. This makes me wonder if there will ever be an earlier rendition, as it would require kitting a new hull.

[Tracy White]

Lighting and specular highlights look actual and not renders to me, for what it's worth.

*EDIT* and the way the light is shining through the thin pieces.

[Timmy C]

The faint tooling marks on the sprues also suggest photos of a physical item.

[MartinJQuinn]

Wow, that looks really nice.

[Mike C]

I agree with Tracy and Timmy about them being photos. Renders wouldn't have mold separation lines on the sprues.

Dan should also be doing cartwheels because there don't appear to be plank end lines.

The plane shown looks like it's set up to facilitate the inclusion of an interior. That will be interesting.

I think I know what I'm giving myself for Christmas.

[Dan K]

Dan should also be doing cartwheels because there don't appear to be plank end lines.

I hurt my wrist doing the cartwheel, but I am happy. I do note there is no treading on the strip at deck's edge, nor rain gutters, but perhaps this will change by final release. If not, they can be added easily enough.

[Dan K]

Shockingly, a Santa Cruz version of Junyo is to be released by Fujimi at the end of this year: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10417271

[Tracy White]

Any good sources of Japanese deck spotting in general or Junyo at Dutch Harbor? Given the info in her TROM, I suspect that some of her Zeros were used for CAP separate from the strike force (which used all of her Vals and 13 of 18 Zeros). I'd like to do the full air group but loosely (if not precisely) arranged in proper deck order.

[Dan K]

Well, according to Zenji Abe (the commander of all of Junyo's D3A dive bombers) in "The Emperor's Sea Eagle" 2006, the first strike from Junyo consisted of 15 Vals and 15 Zeros. Her TROM says 15 and 13, which suggests to me that two zeros had to abort shortly after launch.
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Regardless, that's a pretty big strike package for the class. Typically, the aircraft were arranged on deck in staggered groups of three, with the middle aircraft sightly ahead of the the outer. That particular package would have 5 rows of Vals aft, with five more rows of Zeros in front of them.

I don't have a photo with a full deckload aboard Junyo/Hiyo, but the photo below aboard Akagi at PH (2nd wave) gives you an idea of zeros and vals arranged on deck.

Interesting side note: Abe recalls that Junyo (and presumably Hiyo) did not yet wear the chrysanthenum shield at the bows during the Aleutian operation. Apparently, it wasn't until after the Kido Butai was sunk at Midway, and these ships re-organized into CarDiv 2, that they were elevated enough in stature from their origins as merchantmen to gain the shield. Which is borne out by the bottom photo, often identified as Junyo (which is probable; there is no Type 21 radar mounted as of yet).

[Tracy White]

I knew about the three-abreast spotting on the larger carriers but wasn't sure if Junyo's deck was wide enough to accommodate that. I would presume that the Zeros were spotted forward the vast majority of the time given their higher-performance engines and lower loading (i.e. no bombs or torpedoes) leading to a shorter take off run, but "logic is a method of making the wrong decision with confidence."

Thanks for the info!

[Dan K]

I believe they managed the three abreast. FD width was 85', only 10' narrower than the Shokakus. This pic certainly seems that way:

[Tracy White]

I would imagine that they would just "crunch' things down a bit and move the center plane further forward to make them fit if so.

[ijnfleetadmiral]

The change-of-command shot taken on Junyo's flight deck was taken on 20 July 1942, when CAPT OKADA Tametsugu (45) relieved CAPT ISHII Shizue (39).

[W.H.min]

I wonder if Hasegawa could release 1/350 Hiyo, maybe in limited edition, just like 1/350 Agano, Noshiro and Yahagi.

[Dan K]

If they do, it will likely be a 1944 version, as I don't see them tooling a new hull with all open portholes for an earlier fit. Keep in mind that the Agano class kits had a separately molded hull strip for either open or sealed off portholes, forward, depending on the ship/fit. Hasegawa did not allow for such a possibility with it's current kit.

But, who knows what could happen down the line?

Outside of flight deck markings (maybe, I'm not certain that they would have been different as of 1944), the sisters are pretty much identical in 1944. IIRC, Hiyo was the flagship for the division. So, you could get a Junyo kit and hoist an rear admiral's flag aboard her.