Tom B.
Cool to see some Vessels of the IJA´s "mini-navy" built 👍 There are definetly some interesting vessels among them. Looking forward to more!

Evil toungs might of course argue that the Imperial Japanese Army had ships for one reason only: to battle their eternal rival and foe... the Imperial Japanese Navy!

Landlubber Mike Author
Thanks Tom! I also have the Five Star Shimane Maru and Kumano Maru IJA carrier kits. Five Star does a really nice job on these kits - minus the instructions - with their resin hulls and PE detail pieces. Interesting vessels and color schemes indeed!

And you're not kidding about the rivalry between the IJN and the IJA. I've read a few books on the Japanese side of the war and you'd think they were mortal enemies, and not supposed to be fighting on the same side!

gorby
I didn't know the Japanese army had ships! 😄
Looks like an interesting build.

Landlubber Mike Author
Thanks for looking in Gorby! Yeah, they had a few ships that were converted

The Akitsu Maru was originally intended as a passenger liner until it was taken over by the Imperial Japanese Army before completion. Interesting thing about the Akitsu Maru is that it was designed to carry planes as an escort carrier as well as vehicles for the IJA as a Type C landing craft depot ship. The planes were carried on platforms above the wooden deck (and under the flight deck), while vehicles were carried in the hull that exited through doors that opened in the stern (you can see one of the four doors in the picture). The ship also could carry landing craft in the hull, where the well deck could be flooded so the landing craft could float out of the ship.

gorby
Wow, remarkable ship.

Christian Abraham
Great work so far

Landlubber Mike Author
Thanks Christian! It's been a fun kit to work on so far.

Michael Kohl
coming along nicely. Didn´t know that Japan had Choppers back then.

Christian Abraham
Good progress on the planes!

Landlubber Mike Author
Thanks Michael! The Germans I think also had a similar autogyro as an early precursor to the helicopter.

Thanks Christian! It's a little annoying that FS has you purchase them and the autogyro separately, but they do build up nicely. Much finer detail than the plastic parts in the Aoshima kit from what I've seen online. The trickiest part was the landing gear for those Ki-76 - it's a very fragile piece. You have to fold the wheel over, insert two very skinny rods into tiny holes in the fuselage (which really helps align things), and fold a third support bar to fit up and into fuselage. It took a few attempts to get the folds right. Thankfully FS gives extras on the PE fret as the part is so fragile I broke a couple of trying to figure it out.

Guy Rump
Looking great, following. 👍

Landlubber Mike Author
Thank you Guy! Happy to have you along!