The Ship Model Forum

It's been a while since I've posted a ship build, but there's a bit of a story to this one. I recently retired an old build of Fujimi's Taiho, that I was rather unhappy with. It left a gap on my shelf and Taiho is one of the most interesting and best looking carriers of the war. I initially tried to restore it but the paint wouldn't come off, so I went looking for a replacement. While asking around here how well the old Tamiya kit holds up (since these are much easier and cheaper to source where I live than Fujimi), I got contacted by Dan Kaplan, who very kindly offered me a Tamiya kit he made a start on years ago, plus a big bundle of spare etch parts designed for Fujimi's Taiho. A bit of transatlantic postage later, and here I am undoing some of Dan's hard work

This build is by nature a bit of a Frankestein project. The size and shape of the Tamiya kit is fine, but the details are lacking. Some of the correction work was started, the rest will be cobbled together as follows:

- Tamiya 1/700 Taiho kit
- selected parts from remnants of Artist Hobby Taiho super-set (intended for Fujimi)
- Artist Hobby Taiho deck set - again intended for Fujimi but fits the Tamiya surprisingly well
- a small PE fret designed for the Tamiya kit
- some scratchbuilding as appropriate
- cannibalised parts from my existing Taiho build
- anything I can find in the jungle that is my spares box that will fit and be an improvement over a kit part

I'm not aiming for the lofty heights of Dan's usual work, rather I am making targetted improvements where I feel it's most worth it, and where the parts I have allow. There will be a fair bit of unused PE when I'm done. Ultimately I want to set a realistic goal and get Taiho back on my shelf in state I can be proud of, but that won't take me until Christmas and fry too many brain cells.

So far, I have completed major work on the hull including replacing the sponson supports with plastic rod (Dan had already removed the molded on ones), and enclosing the aft starboard side boat tunnel. I have also filled and re-located the extreme bow/foredeck openings. I won't lose sleep over the one slightly further aft, but these are really obvious in pictures.

The bridge is one area where I did go (almost) all-out. I scratch-built the port side platform and sloping deck as per Dan's interpretation, and adapted as much PE as I could onto Tamiya's plastic. The starboard side funnel support structure and steam pipes are cannibalised.

Wow, that is some great work, Vlad, particularly on the bridge. Really nice. Just shows that the old kit is fundamentally good.

I am undoing some of Dan's hard work

I'm just so glad the kit didn't just waste away in my drawer. You are doing it justice.

Will follow with interest, it seems.

Good start, Vlad. Looking forward to seeing the completed model.

Thank you gents!

More hull progress, this is now ready to paint. I'm normally a brush painter but since I use acrylics, all the parts need priming first, which I do by rattle can. And since this build will have a fair bit of photo-etch, I will also make an exception and rattle can the main hull colour. The IJN are very kind to have their hull, superstructure sides and decks all the same grey!

The most progress Dan made on the kit was the deck, so this isn't my work. There is some fine drainage guttering around the edge among other things. The main additions by me are the flight deck edge lights, cannibalised. Unfortunately, his build predates the evidence of Taiho's planked deck, and since I don't have his mix for the grey, I'll be repainting the whole thing. The planked section and new elevators will be added later from the Artist Hobby deck set. I'm still unsure as to whether to use the real wood deck or the large PE piece, so keeping my options open.

For the hull, I found a lot of goodies in my spares box and dressed the galleries with new tubs and AA directors (some resin rangefinders, no idea what they really are but look about right in this scale). 100mm twins are cannibalised from my Fujimi and the 25mm are also Fujimi, from the spares box.

Major assemblies coming together, hull and flight deck sprayed and mated. Wood decking glued on and bridge test fitted for the picture (apologies for fuzzyness). The wood deck fits the Tamiya kit really well, again goes to show what Dan said that the kit is fundamentally good despite the age.

The deck looks great, Vlad.

The ship itself is nearing completion and I realised I have been neglecting the air group. My initial plan was to have a full strike spot on deck (40+ aircraft) using the old standard waterline series late war IJN aircraft sprues. However, as the build became more and more detailed I realised that 1) I didn't want to cover up half the flight deck with low detail planes and 2) detailing all the planes was beyond my sanity and willingness to invest more in this project.

So I decided to go for a minimum number of aircraft on deck, and I will be using the few pictures of Taiho at anchor for reference. I count five aircraft parked around the aft elevator, one (maybe two) wings not folded, all looking like B6Ns to me. The pictures are fuzzy so if this analysis is wrong so be it

Now, the old aircraft aren't bad, they are accurate in shape and dimensions and the wings are thin. I scoured my spares box and managed to cobble together enough propellers and landing gear bits that looked about right to dress up the five Tenzans I am adding. I will be cutting the wings off some of them for folding, but I prefer to paint and decal them whole first.



Here's the current state of the deck, markings painted and PE details added. The elevators remain to be fitted as I'm still faffing with painting the markings on them.

I know I'm biased here, but I think she looks great. Aircraft as well.

From where do the deck illumination lights come from? Also the arrestor cables?

If I understand correctly what the deck illumination lights are (the trapezoidal things looking in over the edge), they're cannibalised from my old Fujimi Taiho. The T-shaped plates at the end of the arrestor cables are removed from the deck you painted, and the cables themselves are from the Artist Hobby set. I didn't like how small their end plates were so I doubled up on those.

Very nice! And very nice to see a kit find a second life like this!

Yes on the trapazoid lights.

Dan K wrote:Yes on the trapazoid lights.

Funny enough, I had put them on backwards (i.e. facing outwards away from the deck) on my original Fujimi build because I didn't know what they were

The ship itself is now complete but I didn't have an opportunity to take pictures. I have made the critical mistake of completing the ship before the air group, but there are only 5 planes and all theyneed now is decals.

And... done I dressed up the edges of the flight deck a little. Thanks all for looking and encouraging, this has been an interesting project.

She looks great, Vlad. That deck really pops. Nice and sharp all around with much improved detail.

Looks great Vlad! This is a proper old school modelling challenge. As much as we like easy to put together kits, the hard work like on this one really make us feel accomplished. I have fond memories cobbling together HMS Hood from Trumpeter after ton of work, while some more well put together kits are less memorable it seems.

Why do you find her particularly interesting exactly? As someone who was never into carriers, never mind Japanese Im curious to learn what sets her apart from others (in your opinion).

Thank you!

While I certainly enjoyed the self-imposed challenge, I do want to point out that Tamiya's engineering has stood the test of time. At no point was I fighting the basic fit of the kit, it's a very sound base to build on. I agree that the builds you put effort in to make unique are more memorable. I enjoyed watching your Hood and others come together, I was similarly improving my Trumpeter Hood at the same time if I recall.

As for Taiho, this seems trivial but firstly she just looks great! I suppose carriers can be an acquired taste from an aesthetics point of view, but there's just something about the low profile with the sleek enclosed bow and slanted funnel. Taiho is also a truly unique design, a tease of sorts at a different battle doctrine the IJN was cooking up. Despite a number of design flaws, she is also in many ways an armoured carrier "done properly", proving that unlike early British designs you can have an armoured deck and a competitive air group in one package. Her flaws and tragically short career add to the "character".

Very nice work. And I'm looking forward to seeing her next to a 'proper' RN armoured carrier.

Thanks Pieter. An RN carrier is in the planning stages, I may take some comparison pictures at the end

Definitely not a specialist on the subject, but the model looks awesome anyway

Hello Vlad, I'm a newbie here on shipmodels but I considered myself a long fan of Imperial Japanese Navy. Your Taiho build makes me want to build one. In fact I just bought one yesterday.