Calling all Japanese pre-war/wartime Merchant Marine fans

[Quincy]

Note there is a thread on the main forum about the Pit Road Aikoku Maru.

What is known about other releases of this tooling from Pit Road?

I'm not sure, but, I hope they release the other two ships of the class.


Bob Pink.

[reigels]

I'm working on the new but very nice and small kits of IJN Kinezaki.

It is a very detailed kit with lots of photoetch but, very small to work with. I must be getting old.
:

Agreed, crazy small - Between eyesight and the Carpet Monster, I'm glad there are parts for two hulls included. Caution: I snapped one hull in half trying to snip out the plug in the center. Should have used a saw or knife instead. Fortunately it was a clean break and glued back together with no problem. Now if I can just find that cowl vent I dropped....

[Quincy]

I'm working on the new but very nice and small kits of IJN Kinezaki.

It is a very detailed kit with lots of photoetch but, very small to work with. I must be getting old.
:

Agreed, crazy small - Between eyesight and the Carpet Monster, I'm glad there are parts for two hulls included. Caution: I snapped one hull in half trying to snip out the plug in the center. Should have used a saw or knife instead. Fortunately it was a clean break and glued back together with no problem. Now if I can just find that cowl vent I dropped....

LOL!!

I did the same thing! I was lucky to have a clean break too. I lost one of the winches, part A14. I'll replace it with one of Battlefleets replacement parts. I 'm working on this before I attempt the K2 kit.


Bob Pink.

[D-Boy]

Inspiration for some lovely diorama possibilities at this website, depicting various scenes around Hong Kong Harbor post 1937 typhoon:

http://www.merchantnavyofficers.com/typhoon.html

[D-Boy]

By the way, Frog Foot has announced two more kits, the IJN auxiliary transports Hakone Maru and Nankai Maru.
The last three kits from them (again thank you, Gernot), the special transport Kashino and the store ships Irako
and Mamiya, are really good.
The measurements are correct, a former issue on those kits. Furthermore the fitting of parts and the level of detail
is also really nice. I can recommend them.

Greetings from the North Sea Coast,
Jan Schulz, SIG-Waterline

Can you post a website for ordering Frogfoot resin kits?

[D-Boy]

Always fascinating when two disparate passions cross paths. Was out at the Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday with a friend and family in from CA. There is a small exhibit about some of the early international barnstorming by MLB All Stars in Europe and the Pacific Rim. Here�s a quick summary of the 1931 trip:

"In 1931 after the Major League season 14 MLB players traveled to Japan to play in a multi game tournament against an assembled Japanese All Star team. This was the first time that a major league all-star team traveled in a group to play baseball. The MLB all-stars compiled a 17 win 0 loss record on the Japanese tour. The tour was organized by Matsutaro Shoriki the owner of the Yomiuri Shinbun Newspaper in Tokyo. Shoriki�s newspaper sponsored the tour. Following the tour Shoriki created his own Japanese professional baseball team and named his team (the first of eight teams formed) Dai Nippon Tokyo Yakyu Kurabu--The Great Japan Tokyo Baseball Club. HOF Lefty O'Doul a very close friend of Shoriki convinced him that something simpler would be better, like Tokyo Giants. Shoriki agreed, but later changed it to Yomiuri Giants, to publicize his newspaper, the Yomiuri Shinbun.

The MLB players that played in the 1931 tour included:

Pitchers: Lefty Grove (Athletics Red Sox), Larry French (Pirates, Cubs, Dodgers), Bruce Cunningham (Braves)
Infielders: Lou Gehrig (1b) (Yankees), Mickey Cochrane (c) (Athletics, Tigers), Muddy Ruel (c) (St. Louis Browns, New York Yankees, Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, and the Chicago White Sox), Frankie Frisch (2b) (Giants, Cardinals), Rabbit Maranville (ss) (Braves, Pirates, Cardinals, Robins, Cubs), Willie Kamm (3b) (Chicago, Cleveland).
Outfielders: Lefty O'Doul (rf) (Yankees, Red Sox, Giants, Phillies, Robins), Al Simmons (lf) (Phillies, White Sox, Tigers, Senators, Braves, Reds, Athletics, Res Sox, Athletics), Thomas Oliver (cf) (Red Sox)
Utility: George Kelly (Giants, Pirates, Reds, Cubs, Dodgers), Ralph Shinners (Giants, Cardinals)"

Small postcard included in the exhibit referencing the �5-Star Liner Tatsuta Maru� as the means of conveyance from the US to Japan. Lovely ship, later requisitioned for troop and POW transport use. Not often that 1:700 WL and MLB cross paths, but guess what will now have to be on the build list?!

Brief background on the ship: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tatst ... stcard.jpg and here: http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Asama ... istory.htm

Completed 1:700 build: http://www.aeronautic.dk/AsamaMaru.htm. Build log: http://www.aeronautic.dk/AsamaChichibuM ... rocess.htm

There�s been some discussion of her sister ship Asama Maru on the PreWar Merchantship forum. I'm going to review earlier postings in this thread and be in touch with those who have built the ship.

Frogfoot produces a resin kit.

Never thought I'd get the chance to model baseball, let alone in 1:700 scale. But here it is!

[janschu]

Hello D-Boy,

i have purchased all my Frog Foot kits via Gernot.
Actually he ordered the kits for me directly from Frog Foot (he has really relations to them),
then i made the payment with PayPal.
For further information i suggest that you may contact him with a PM.

I hope this helps.

Greetings from Germany,
Jan Schulz, SIG-Waterline

[D-Boy]

Hello D-Boy,

i have purchased all my Frog Foot kits via Gernot.
Actually he ordered the kits for me directly from Frog Foot (he has really relations to them),
then i made the payment with PayPal.
For further information i suggest that you may contact him with a PM.

I hope this helps.

Greetings from Germany,
Jan Schulz, SIG-Waterline

Danke!

[Dan K]

I just received my Aikoku Maru and I think this the best 1/700 merchant molding I've seen to date. The fit between the lower and upper hulls is perfect. The detailing is beautiful. And the the booms and weapons have clearly benefitted from use of slide mold injection; they are comparable to what PitRoad has released for its new NE accessory line. Even the deck/boom winches have been tooled separately - nice touch.

For comparison's sake, I viewed it against Fujimi's Brazil Maru, which I feel probably the best, certainly the most accurate, of the Fujimi merchant ships. The quality of the hulls is very comparable, as are the main decks, but the PitRoad kit has better execution of the small parts, as stated above.

And, in the new Model Art Ship Modeling Special #41, is a two page buildup preview of the new 1/350 Hasegawa Hikawa Maru. It looks magnificent. Great detailing. Full hull.

[D-Boy]

I'm working on the new but very nice and small kits of IJN Kinezaki. Were any of these ships painted in greens later in the war? I checked Motoyuki's site and books but could not find these ships at all. The others of the class are Arasaki, Hayasaki, and Shirasaki.

It is a very detailed kit with lots of photoetch but, very small to work with. I must be getting old.

Bob Pink.

HLJ has finally listed this Rayden kit as available through them; they also list Rayden's PE railway track kits as available through them as well.

[Quincy]

I think that my Aikoku Maru kit missed my home port. I gotta email HLJ and let them know.





Bob Pink.

[DougKn]

Speaking of Motoyuki san's books, I finally finished an English index for volume 2, covering 101 Maru's in Vol.2. It lists pages for all the models in the first section, and the plans in the back. It doesn't cover the convoy histories. It can be printed out, cut 1/4" off the side and inserted inside the cover. I have it in Excel format, sent free to anyone who e-mails me with a returnable address. The file also contains the vol. 1 index and a combined index for print-out.

Motoyuki-san does include an index in his volume 2 book (page 134) if you don't mind the idiosyncrasies of the Japanese alphabet.

Cheers

Doug K.

(PS, I haven't gotten much further on the Maru's list, so if you got that last time, it is still a work in progress.)

[Timmy C]

The Fujimi Sagara Maru seaplane carrier has been released: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10155421

[D-Boy]

The Fujimi Sagara Maru seaplane carrier has been released: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10155421

I like the look of the parts breakdown in the instructions. Looks to be well-engineered for masking and painting.

D-Boy

[Timmy C]

Behold: copious and glorious close-ups of the Hasegawa 1/350 Hikawa Maru - http://www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/Z28/Z28.html

[D-Boy]

Behold: copious and glorious close-ups of the Hasegawa 1/350 Hikawa Maru - http://www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/Z28/Z28.html

Lovely.

[JIM BAUMANN]

That looks like a lovely model!

May have to purchase.. ....

J B

[Dan K]

Agreed. Although Motoyuki-san says the lifeboats are wrong, shouldn't be cutter type but rather, the wider, passenger type.
A small price to pay.

[reigels]

Pit-Road Aikoku Maru arrived today. Looks beautiful! One of the best 1/700 kits I've seen.

From the parts break down it looks like her sisters will be coming out as well.

[Quincy]

Pit-Road Aikoku Maru arrived today. Looks beautiful! One of the best 1/700 kits I've seen.

From the parts break down it looks like her sisters will be coming out as well.

Bob Pink.