U.S.S. Yorktown and Lexington vs. H.I.J.M.S. Shokaku and Zuikaku in the Coral Sea, and the nature of naval warfare changed forever. Only the Lexington has a decent kit available in something other than 1/700 "dinky scale". A Yorktown from the Hornet kit is possible with a lot of extra work but of the Japanese contenders not a sign. I am still surprised that Tamiya, who started the 1/350 scale ship trend, has never done any of the really important Japanese ships.
Bill Shuey
Yes, that's pretty strange, Bill. I know that Hasegawa released several Japanese carriers; were those 1/350 or other?
By the way, Mitsuo Fuchida's account of the battle of Midway is currently available as far as I know. I read it a long time ago and still have my copy. Forward by Adm. Raymond Spruance, second introduction by Adm. (IJN) Nobutake Kondo!!
It's fascinating; if you've not read it before, I strongly recommend it.
--- Stephen
what is it called? i think i read it long ago.
"Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan" ISBN:0345346912
yup, that's it.
a 1/350 battleship with those massive pagodas would be fantastice, the Ise, etc...
what a huge untapped area of ship models in large scale.
Craig
Tamiya makes the 1/350 Japanese battleships Yamato and Musashi
Bill,
There is a new book out on Midway called "Shattered Sword" which shows how close to a near run thing it was. It covers Japanese carrier operations in great detail and shows why they suffered such catastrophic losses. Can't recall the authors but it was $35 in B&N.
Cookie Sewell
I was thinking more along the lines of the older BB's; Hiei, Kongo, Haruna, etc...
Craig
Cookie:
Got it at Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago. Very good read indeed. The comments on the Hornet's performance in the battle are particularly interesting. I have a 2nd Cousin who was a divebomber pilot in W.W.II. He went aboard Hornet in July 1942 as a replacement for Midway casualties, a very green Ensign. He said the ship's air group was "no band of brothers" and morale was pretty low. He said the air group commander, Stanhope Ring, was the only Naval Officer he ever saw who carried a swagger stick. Of course Ring was relieved shortly after he went aboard and no tears were shed by the veterans in the air group.
Bill Shuey
Bill Shuey
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