Recommend a 1/700 Japanese battleship?

Craig, The Ise and sister Hyuga were modifed by addition of a small deck for launching aircraft. The Pagoda structure and "carrier" deck in the back make for an interesting ship. I think both pre-and post war modified versions are available. If you just like high structure - try Fuso.

Val Kraut

if you want to get really outrageous, build the ilse or hyuga after the carrier conversion. i think they're out in that scale.

The weirdest by far is the Fuso. The thing looks like it kinks back, then leans forward. Problem is, you'd have to get a resin kit, since the more readily available Aoshima kit is truly atrocious. It's superstructure doesn't even come close. Short the Fuso (and her slightly less weird-looking sister Yamashiro), I recommend Ise and Hyuga, especially with the carrier deck slapped over their sterns. Brand-new versions of these ships were made just a couple years ago by Hasegawa, and they're quite nicely done. There are also old versions around, but hold out for the new ones.

- Sean F.

never seen any good pics. did they take off the x an y turrets?

Yes, removed and replaced with a hangar and aircraft handling deck. Here's a photo I found on-line:

it looks like g and h were retained.

That is correct. (Though I think they're usually called Q and R turrets) Note that the casemate guns below the conning tower were all deleted and plated over.

- Sean F.

If you want an example of the extreme "Pagoda" structure, Fuso or Yamashiro. If you want an example with some true historical significance in W.W.II you should go with one of the Kongo class. They were the only Japanese BB's to see any meaningful combat service in "The Big One". Kongo, Hiei, Harauna and Kirishima.

Bill Shuey

i was guessing. q&r? i'll remember.

All Japanese battleships were sunk during the war except the Nagato. She eventually sunk after being nuked. Twice.

Hiei, Kirishima, Fuso and Yamashiro were surface-action kills (the battered Hiei being helped along by some aerial harassment throughout the following day). Musashi and Yamato were aerial kills (each one attacked by literally hundreds of planes). Kongo was killed by a sub near Formosa (aka Taiwan). Haruna, Ise, and Hyuga were sunk by planes while in home port and without fuel. (They may have even been essentially unmanned at the time, but I'm not entirely sure.) Mutsu blew herself up in '43. Nagato, battered but not sunk by the air raids on her home port, was "present" for the Japanese surrender, and later used in the Bikini Atoll bomb tests.

The four Kongos (particularly Hiei and Kirishima) were far more significant in the first year of the war, true; the IJN certainly made more use of them than the others and they got into some good scrapes. But it's worth noting that any of the other BBs (except poor, disfigured Ise and Hyuga, which were used as mere decoys) *could* have had a significant effect on events, had the Leyte operations gone just a little differently. Even so, that's still one operation of significance for the entire war for most of these ships.

- Sean F.

thanks. i always thought the kong class was a pretty damn awesome series. were they descendants of any of the brits? for some reason they remind me of something...maybe the majestics? damn oldtimers....

apparently i had it backwards, the kongos influenced the lion's. no connection to the majestics.

Just the last Lion-class, the HMS Tiger. The IJN paid the Brits to build a battlecruiser for them. Kongo ended up being better than what the Brits had just built for themselves (the first three Lion-class). The fourth Lion, the HMS Tiger, was built with a very strong resemblance to the Kongo. I've read in some places that the Tiger was changed to resemble the Kongo. I've read in other places that the Tiger's design had already been settled and the Kongo was built to resemble it. In either case, the Brits buils something equal, if not slightly better, for the Japanese compared to what they built for themselves.

- Sean F.

hey, you have the battleship book too! wish i had the battlecruiser by the same guy.