Calling all Japanese pre-war/wartime Merchant Marine fans

[Freighter]

Great news about Frogfoot models forthcoming kits. Asama Maru will definately be on my 'to buy' list.

Ron,
Have you seen Iwashige-san's excellent Tonan Maru #3 on his website?

http://ww6.enjoy.ne.jp/~iwashige/tonanmaruno3.htm

Plans are also included in his book if you want to scratchbuild. See previous posts on this forum for reviews of the book.

Jim S

[janschu]

Hello Ron,

thank you for the sharp pictures of Tonan Maru No.3! I have already bought several Frog Foot kits from Fleetnet, http://www.fleetnet.jp.
You may email Mr. Funayama, info@fleetnet.jp, in order to get more informations about the availability of the kits. Furthermore, last year two guys from here and me joined forces and made a collective order. When language problems occured, Gernot offered his help and managed everything for us. Thanks again, Gernot!

What makes me wonder is that Frog Foot releases both the Tonan Maru No.2 and 3. As far as i know both vessels are virtually identical, so one can build both ships using one kit. I would rather prefer Kyokuyo Maru as a second whale factory ship kit!

Motoyuki san did a wonderful model of Kyokuyo Maru sporting a striking dazzle scheme. Hopefully pictures will show up on his website.



I would buy two of them, building one as the actual ship and the other as a daihatsu carrier (a planned but never realized project).





The book Jim is mentioning is highly recommended, it is worth every penny!

Greetings from the North Sea Coast, Jan

[Quincy]

Hi Everyone:

I have started the 1945 Niko Choun Maru and was wondering about her paint scheme in 1945. The boxart has her all gray. Could she have possibly been painted in Greens towards the end of the war??? Motoyuki sans book shows her in gray also, but I believe that he modeled her earlier in the war.

Any thought s on this?


Bob Pink.

[Jim Smith]

Bob,
Not a definitive answer but it is possible Choun Maru may have been painted in the green camouflage towards the end of the war.

My understanding was that green was adopted for shipping using the China Sea routes to/from Japan. However, I'm not sure if green was extended to all patrol craft. Combined Fleet website shows that Choun Maru accompanied several convoys through 1944 in that area.

Just my thoughts.

Jim S

[Gilbert]

Hi Everyone:

I have started the 1945 Niko Choun Maru and was wondering about her paint scheme in 1945. The boxart has her all gray. Could she have possibly been painted in Greens towards the end of the war??? Motoyuki sans book shows her in gray also, but I believe that he modeled her earlier in the war.

Any thought s on this?


Bob Pink.

Bob,
As Jim says, due to lack of late-war pictures, there is no definite answer. However, it is more than likely, IMHO, that some late-war ships were still been painted in neutral grey. A good example is Tokusetsu Fusetsukan (ACM) EIJO MARU, 2275Grt. completed (dd/mm/yy) 02/09/1944. Motoyuki san has built her, painted in grey. You can see the picture in his book, p.39.
Therefore, unless a contrary evidence is given, CHOUN MARU might have retained her grey livery in 1945.

Cheers

Gilbert

[Gilbert]

Hi All,
Browsing the web I came across this site showing nice colorised postcards of Nippon Yusen Kaisha Ships: http://www.volleyballphilately.com/TOKY ... tcards.htm

Enjoy
Gilbert

[Quincy]

Hi Jim & Gilbert:

Thank you for your responses. I'll paint her in Gray.
Choun Maru is turning out to be a very good build so far.



Bob Pink.

[janschu]

Choun Maru was one of the wartime standard Type 1D freighters, altogether 40 units were build. This vessel is also available from Frog Foot (SS-51).
I have ordered another two kits of Niko Model�s Choun Maru in order to build the sister ships Taisei Maru and Tatsufuku Maru.
Her is a picture of a drawing of Kihachiro Ueda showing Tatsufuku Maru.



So, if the hull colour is to be grey, what grey is to be used then?

Greetings from the North Sea Coast, Jan

[Quincy]

Thank you Janschu for the great Picture!

As for the gray color, I am going with either Kure or Maizuru grays. These are two of the lighter grays of the big 4.



Bob Pink.

[Ron Wolford]

Hello Everybody
Janschu, here are a couple of pictures of the Kyokuyo Maru, from the Stanley Wheeler collection, yes I think that would be neat to build her as a daihatsu carrier. Thanks for the information on contacting Frog Foot models, maybe I will get one of their Tonan Maru kits. I have the iwashige book, but my scratch building skills leave a lot to be desired. I also have the Niko Choun Maru but I going to build mine as the Kitsugawa Maru, one of the ships I dove on in Guam.
Ron Wolford

[Gilbert]

Hi All,

@ Jan, thanks for posting Tatsufuku maru (1946Grt.) Ueda's art. This ship was sunk in Balabac Strait, on (dd/mm/yy) 28/05/42, torpedoed by SS-183 Seal & SS-193 Swordfish.
@ Bob, Motoyuki san uses a "neutral grey" for his models. However, Humbrol 27, WEM Maizuru & Kure Grays should be fine.
@ Ron, thanks for these two additional great pictures of Kyokuyo maru (17.548Grt.). This ship was sunk at Naze, Amami Is. where she ran aground on 19/09/43. For those interested by Japanese Whalers, there is an interesting article here: http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace ... 2115/23715 . Just click on the PDF file to download it.

Gilbert

[janschu]

Hello all,

@Ron, thank you for the sharp pictures of Kyokuyo Maru! Hopefully some day we will see a model of this kit. Actually some time
ago i talked to Harry Abbott (Battlefleet Models) and he told me that a kit like this would fit really good in his product line. So, let�s see
if we will get aKyokuyo Maru from Battlefleet Models.

@Bob, i am a bit sceptical about using either Maizuru or Kure Grey for merchant ships. As far as i know the four Greys were used only for IJN vessels.
The requisitioned civilian ships were therefore painted in neutral greys, like Gilbert mentioned. Since i think, that Humbrol 27 is too dark for
my taste i rather use Humbrol 140, 145 or 175 as neutral grey.

@all, yesterday the first three kits of my last 5 kit Frog Foot order arrived from Fleetnet. As there are Shimane Maru ( Type 1TL oiler /aircraft
transport), Nissho Maru (IJN auxiliary oiler)and Tamano (fast fleet oiler/aircraft transport). Two more kits are on backorder, but should be in
stock again in early march. As there are Yasukuni Maru (submarine tender) and Hayasui (fast fleet oiler/seaplane carrier).
The quality of Shimane Maru and Nissho Maru is ok, and with some reworking they can be turned into nice ships. The Tamano kit is really nice.
It seems that the quality of the Frog Foot kits is getting better and better.
Therefore i am really looking forward to their new releases like Hayasui, Hario, Kazahaya, Ose and the two Tonan Marus!

Greetings from the North Sea Coast, Jan

[Quincy]

Hi Jan:

If I use either the Kure or Maizuru grays I usually lighten and weather them, making them not look like their original textures.
Looks like you jit the jackpot with the Frogfoot kit. I wouldn't mind getting the Ose. Wasn't she the captured Dutch Tanker Genota?
I have to get back to my Choun Maru build. I have been slacking lately with 2 RN River Class Frigates.

Happy building.



Bob Pink.

[Gilbert]

I wouldn't mind getting the Ose. Wasn't she the captured Dutch Tanker Genota?

Indeed she was, Bob. Genota (Dutch, 7987 tons), was captured on May 9, 1942 by AMC Hokoku Maru and Aikoku Maru. Renamed Ose, she was sunk by TF.58 Aircraft on March 30, 1944.

Gilbert

[Gilbert]

Follow the link for an image of Genota: http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/303324

Gilbert

[janschu]

Ooops, Gilbert was faster than me about the facts of Ose (ex Genota)!

I think the discussion about the exact colours of japanese warships and auxiliaries is quite academic. The quality of the Japanese paints got
more and more worse towards the end of the war because the paints had to mixed by whatever was available. Another example is that the
ships that were repaired at Singapore were painted with paint mixed from captured British inventories.

Ok, the Frog Foot kits have their problems but the quality is getting better and better. Here is a quick review of the three above mentioned kits.

- Shimane Maru; hull shape and dimensions are ok, fitting of parts is ok but some reworking is needed, with some work on the bulkheads and platforms
can be made into a nice representation

- Nissho Maru; hull shape ok, hull too short by 3mm, too narrow by 1mm (using the drawings of Motoyuki san�s book), shape of the superstructure
levels not totally correct but ok, the bridge wings have to be reworked to look correct, bulwarks on bow and midships have to be corrected in shape.
Fitting is ok, quite some work will have to be done but then one will get also a nice looking ship

- Tamano; hull shape and dimensions correct, fitting is good and all parts are nicely detailled. This kit shows that the newer releases of this manu-
facturer have a really good quality.

To be honest, some of the new releses from Niko Model have issues too.

The photoetch frets of Suruga Maru and Choun Maru show two bar railings for the main decks, but as far as i know the civilian build ships had three
bar railings. The passenger ships like Heian Maru or Yasukuni Maru even had four bar railings. According to Motoyuki san�s drawings the Suruga Maru
has a wrong bow shape. But this can easily be corrected by just sanding the bow to a correct round shape. Yasukawa Maru has the correct three bar
railings included and like the other mentioned kits the parts are nicely done. The main issue on the Yasukawa Maru kit is, that the hull too low by about
2mm and the shape of the stern is wrong. But these two weak points can be corrected by adding a plate of plastik sheet for the hull height and by filling
and sanding for the stern. Well, that�s what i will do on "my" Yasukawa Maru.

All in all i am really looking forward on building these kits and some reworking that might occur is no problem to me.

Greetings from the North Sea Coast, Jan

[Mav87th]

Hi All

As you all seem VERY knowledgable about Japanese ships, i have a question...

In the simulator Silent Hunter 4 there is a ship figuring as Akita Maru, but it is by the looks of the same ship in ONI-208-J not the Akita Maru.

I have compared all the other merchants in the game with the ONI-208-J version of the same ship. All are correct to detail (masts, funnels, bow, stern etc.), except the Akita Maru.

Merchants Represented are:

Hakusika Maru
Nagara Maru
Biyo Maru
Zinbu Maru
Heito Maru
Kinposan Maru
Kasagisan Maru
Teihosan Maru
Nippon Maru
Buzyun Maru
Haruna Maru
Conte Verde
Horai Maru
Kiturin Maru
Tyohei Maru

All above true in design to the real ship. So why would the Akita Maru not be...

Thats why im wondering if the game Akita Maru was simply wrongly labled and is actualy a real representation of another Maru that i simply can not find. (i tried searching for it in the ONI-208-J, but came up with no apparent match)

So the question now is, What ship is this ?? Please ignore the naming of the ship in the image as it is taken out of the SH-4 manual where its called Akita Maru. The real Akita Maru (from ONI-208-J) is displayed below. Notice the Funnel height and placement, witch is all wrong.


Unidentified Maru - called Akita Maru in SH4


Real Akita Maru from the ONI-208-J manual


Real Akita Maru from the ONI-208-J manual

There is a virtual bottle of redwine to the first good hit.

Best regards
Martin

[Gilbert]

Martin,

in my "Marus" database wip, I have two ships matching the one you are looking for:

KISO MARU, completed 06/1920, cargo ship
4066 GRT
Owner: Tokyo Kaiun K.K.
Registration Port: Tokyo
Lpp 105.2 (I assume yours is l.o.a. which is consistent)
Beam 15.2
Machinery: 1T
Fate: Sunk on 22/11/1943 off Palau torpedoed by SS-283 Tinosa

or

TONE MARU, completed 07/1920, cargo ship,
4070 GRT
owner: Tokyo Kaiun K.K.
Registration port : Tokyo
Lpp 105.2 (I assume yours is l.o.a. which is consistent)
Beam 15.2
Machinery: 1T
Fate: Sunk on 21/09/1942 in Formosa Strait torpedoed by SS-214 Grouper

Hope this helps

Gilbert

[aleccap]

Not a Maru, this is the Notoro I finished some time ago, and while searching through this thread, I was very surprised to see so many good photo's, although armed, I feel these merchantmen are great, I have the below model, plus 5 Maru's.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2782/434 ... 6abe_b.jpg

[Gilbert]

Martin,

After some more research, I have found that these two ships were sold to Mitsui Bussan K.K. in 1923.

Photo of Kiso Maru

Kiso maru.jpg (10.51 KiB) Viewed 8153 times

Photo of Tone Maru

Tone maru.jpg (8.74 KiB) Viewed 8153 times

Note the two photos seem to be close of yours.

Cheers
Gilbert