IJN Fuso

Aoshima makes one in 1/700 scale.

 

Tom's Model Works does a photoetch fret that covers Ise, Nagato, and Fuso class battleship details. White Ensign Models does photo-etch light weapons set, along with a set of photoetch doors and hatches too.

 

Yamashrio was her twin sister, so you might could use her as Fuso. 

 

Patton wrote:

Does anyone know what company sells a kit of the IJN Fuso? Thanks!

Aoshima has just released re-tooled injection molded versions of both Fuso and Yamashiro in their mid to late war fits. The waterline series numbers are 121 and 122. The newly tooled stock numbers are 039076 and 039083 respectively. You do NOT want the older tooling at all. The new kits are outstanding. You can get them from Pacific Front Hobbies or FreeTime Hobbies (used to be Trident). WS

Dreadnought is right - avoid older Aoshima kits at any cost!  They're - for lack of a better word - crap!  Not even the Skywave accessory kits can save them!  I've avoided all Aoshima kits, simply because I didn't know the old kit numbers from the new ones.  Hopefully Dreadnought's info will be enough to help avoid the older, inferior toolings.  Thanks!

alumni72 wrote:

Dreadnought is right - avoid older Aoshima kits at any cost!  They're - for lack of a better word - crap!  Not even the Skywave accessory kits can save them!  I've avoided all Aoshima kits, simply because I didn't know the old kit numbers from the new ones.  Hopefully Dreadnought's info will be enough to help avoid the older, inferior toolings.  Thanks!

As a side note on Japanese battleships of World War 2 all twelve of the ships of the IJN of that era have been reissued after being re-tooled and are all much better than they were before. I remember building the orginal issues and being confronted with black paper printed bridge windows for those ships to be added to their essentially featureless superstructures. The new kits are so much better that they aren't even in the same league! So, just be sure when you buy from your vendor, to ask for the newest tooling, you'll know pretty much from the price anyway, the old stuff, if a vendor still has it, will be priced under $20 and the new will be higher.

Dreadnought52 - you're making me feel like an old man.  (It happens with increasing frequency these days.)  I can remember when the kits from the "Waterline Series" consortium were regarded as the most exciting, state-of-the-art ship model kits on the market.  That gummed-paper strip of "bridge windows" was included in almost all of them - from all four companies (Tamiya, Hasegawa, Fujimi, and Aoshima).  The very fact that they represented small anti-aircraft guns as individual pieces was considered pretty remarkable.  Prior to that time (the early seventies), the only Japanese warship kit available in plastic kit form in the U.S. was the horrible old Aurora Yamato.  (If I remember right, Hasegawa released a 1/400 Yamato and Musashi about the same time.  And if one went to the right hobby shop one just might encounter the mind-bogglingly BIG Yamato from (I think) Nichimo.  But the rest of the Japanese Navy, so far as the plastic modeler was concerned, simply didn't exist prior to the advent of the "Waterline Series."

You're right, though:  the state of the art has moved on.  (I can also remember when eminently respectable modelers, like Roger Chesnau, were pronouncing that such things as radar screens were "unmodelable" on 1/700 scale.)  Photo-etching really has revolutionized this segment of the hobby - and I think it speaks remarkably well of the kit manufacturers that they're issuing so many updated versions of older subjects.  For twentieth-century naval enthusiasts, at least, this is a great time to be a ship modeler.

jtilley wrote:

Dreadnought52 - you're making me feel like an old man.  (It happens with increasing frequency these days.)  I can remember when the kits from the "Waterline Series" consortium were regarded as the most exciting, state-of-the-art ship model kits on the market.  That gummed-paper strip of "bridge windows" was included in almost all of them - from all four companies (Tamiya, Hasegawa, Fujimi, and Aoshima).  The very fact that they represented small anti-aircraft guns as individual pieces was considered pretty remarkable.  Prior to that time (the early seventies), the only Japanese warship kit available in plastic kit form in the U.S. was the horrible old Aurora Yamato.  (If I remember right, Hasegawa released a 1/400 Yamato and Musashi about the same time.  And if one went to the right hobby shop one just might encounter the mind-bogglingly BIG Yamato from (I think) Nichimo.  But the rest of the Japanese Navy, so far as the plastic modeler was concerned, simply didn't exist prior to the advent of the "Waterline Series." You're right, though:  the state of the art has moved on.  (I can also remember when eminently respectable modelers, like Roger Chesnau, were pronouncing that such things as radar screens were "unmodelable" on 1/700 scale.)  Photo-etching really has revolutionized this segment of the hobby - and I think it speaks remarkably well of the kit manufacturers that they're issuing so many updated versions of older subjects.  For twentieth-century naval enthusiasts, at least, this is a great time to be a ship modeler.

I restarted my modeling while in college at the U of S. Carolina in the early '70s so it was a real jolt to find all those 1/700 kits of subjects that I never saw before! They certainly were great for their time. The wonderful thing about being a modeler now is that in addition to the injection molded models available we also have an enormous number of resin kits available. This is without a doubt the greatest time to be a ship modeler ever and especially so for those of us who are into battleships as there are literally hundreds of model subjects out there. The database I maintain of 1/700 battleship, battlecruiser and coastal battleships has 257 subjects available, plastic and resin, from a large number of companies and navies. More are coming every year! It is truly outstanding.

        

And to think I spent years building up my stock of (still unbuilt) waterline kits - I'd be willing to bet I have at least 85% of them (the old kits) down in my basement waiting patiently for years now for me to get back into the hobby.  I don't even want to think of the $$ I spent getting them all, now that I clearly will end up resolving to get the newer issues instead - to make it worth my while.  Well, at least the GMM PE sets for them haven't changed.  Or have they? 

alumni72 wrote:

And to think I spent years building up my stock of (still unbuilt) waterline kits - I'd be willing to bet I have at least 85% of them (the old kits) down in my basement waiting patiently for years now for me to get back into the hobby.  I don't even want to think of the $$ I spent getting them all, now that I clearly will end up resolving to get the newer issues instead - to make it worth my while.  Well, at least the GMM PE sets for them haven't changed.  Or have they?

I hate to say this but yes, when you are talking about the battleships at least, there have been changes but not enough to make me dump my old GMM sets for new ones. Now, if we are talking about the Iowa class American BBs, you will want the new GMM sets as the Tamiya kits are significantly different from the old Fujimis. The Tamiya British BBs are still unchanged. The North Carolinas from Trumpeter also will require new PE as they too differ significantly from the old Aoshima kits, The Trumpeter kits of the NCs are so much better that they don't even look like the same ship! The Hasegawa SoDaks are the same as ever, but Trumpeter is supposedly going to bring new 1/700 versions of them out as well in the next year or so.

To be honest, I've never really had much interest in the Iowa-class BBs.  I can't explain it - maybe they were just too good to be at risk when up against anything the enemy had to offer; I just never thought of them as 'fighting' ships as much as 'come in near the end of the war when there's not really any toe-to-toe fighting left to be done' ships.  I know it's not a fair assessment of them at all - but all in all, I've always gravitated toward the early part of the Pacific war.  Anything that came into play later in the war has less interest to me.

And the GMM kits I have are, I believe, all for Japanese carriers, battleships and cruisers.  I guess I can get creative with the older kits and maybe portray the Fuso at (after) Surigao Strait, and other such scenarios.  Heck, the way things stand now, half my ships would probably turn out looking like that anyway. 

alumni72 wrote:

To be honest, I've never really had much interest in the Iowa-class BBs.  I can't explain it - maybe they were just too good to be at risk when up against anything the enemy had to offer; I just never thought of them as 'fighting' ships as much as 'come in near the end of the war when there's not really any toe-to-toe fighting left to be done' ships.  I know it's not a fair assessment of them at all - but all in all, I've always gravitated toward the early part of the Pacific war.  Anything that came into play later in the war has less interest to me. And the GMM kits I have are, I believe, all for Japanese carriers, battleships and cruisers.  I guess I can get creative with the older kits and maybe portray the Fuso at (after) Surigao Strait, and other such scenarios.  Heck, the way things stand now, half my ships would probably turn out looking like that anyway.

Well, for your interests, its a good thing the resin guys stepped in to fill the void. You can get the Colorado and California classes in truly exquisite kits, the Mississippis are available but are only so-so, Arizona is available in plastic in a fantastic kit from DML, who will soon issue a late war Pennsylvania as well. There are resin kits for the New Yorks, Nevadas and Arkansas classes. There is even a Wyoming available. You can even get the rarest model of all, the Alaska class of "large" cruisers!

Well, I plan on starting out slow (don't we all say that?) and build some kits that are already in my stash - then maybe step up to a newer-generation kit with some PE.  As for resin kits - aren't they expensive as all get-out?  The older the better, in my view, but still - are you talking Yankee Modelworks prices (second mortgage time), or is there a more affordable option for resin ship kits?

alumni72 wrote:

Well, I plan on starting out slow (don't we all say that?) and build some kits that are already in my stash - then maybe step up to a newer-generation kit with some PE.  As for resin kits - aren't they expensive as all get-out?  The older the better, in my view, but still - are you talking Yankee Modelworks prices (second mortgage time), or is there a more affordable option for resin ship kits?

I build mostly in 1/700 where the action is and I can say that there are some great resin kits at very reasonable prices. While for battleships the prices can range from about $35-175 for a resin kit if you are careful what you look for you can build for years in the $35-60 range which isn't all that much more expensive than the new injection molded kits. The most reasonably priced resin ships are made by Combrig, a Russian company. Pacific Front Hobbies has an EXTENSIVE range of their kits. Except for some of their older kits of the Russo-Japanese war era their lineup is quite good and quite cheap. They have been re-tooling their older kits as well so it pays to deal with a good vendor. You might also want to look at the kit selection of White Ensign Models. Their kits are expensive but a just about fantastic right out of the box. I am familiar with just about all the offerings of battleships out there right now and I can say that Combrig is definately the one to watch for resin kits. If you like Italian battleships of the WW2 ear which many have said are the most beautiful battleships ever built, you will want to check out the offerings of Delphis Models and Regia Marina. Go to www.steelnavy.com and on their home page most of the major resin producers have placed a link to directly go to see their products.