With the announcement that the JMSDF will buy F-35Bs and equip the Izumo class carriers with them, I began a projet a few months ago to build the carrier strike group that is likey to develop from these situations.
This thread is about that.
First, the Izumo class will likely be able to carry from 20 to 24 F-35Bs and an additional six to eiight helicopters or V-22s to cover other missions like SAR, ASW, and AEW. I hope and expect that the Japanese will take another look at the EV-22 that was offered to the Royal Navy and hope they buy it. They would be smart to do so and then make a part of the deal them being able to assist and create some income for other nations who wanted the same option because I believe there would be some if the aircraft were developed with JMSDF help and become available.
Here’s a picture of a proposed EV-22. A good deal of though and development has already gone into this aircraft:
Such an aircraft would fly higher, have more room for larger electronics and radars, and be able to see and detect threats well further out than any current helicopter solution available.
I expect the Japanese could develop a very dectn income stream if they had a heavy hand in helping finish creating the aircraft. The US would use them on their LHD/LHA vessels. The South Koreans would use them. Australia could use them. India could use them. Spain, Italy, Turkey, Italy, and several other nations who are allied with the US and Japan could make us of them.
I do show the EV-22 on these carriers. I scratch built 1/700 V-22 and added the triangular radar abive the nain wig as shown in the artistists conception of the EV-22.
In building this strike group I had to go with 1/700 class/scale vessels. It is a shame that their are no 1/350 scale Izumo models yet. There is a 1/350 scale Huyga and Ise…but the 1/350 Izum has not come out. When itoes I will already have the group as soon as I complete those two models because I already have the escorts in 1/350 scale.
In this case, my group is made up of the following…and I have to say that the newer 1/700 scale vessels, though small and very tiny to work with, have excellent details for their size and are difficult to build. I bought the aftermarket railing and other details for them and even though small, they all looked good. Here are the vessels:
Note: I re designated the DDH of the Izumo to CVH to represent what they are becoming with this upgrade for the F-35B, which will include ski-jumps for both ships:
1 x CVH-183 Izumo carrier (Izumo Class) by Tamiya
1 x CVH-184 Kaga carrier (Izumo class) full hull version by Hasegawa
1 x DDG-177 Atago AEGIS destroyer (Atago Class) by Aoshima
1 x DDG-174 Kirishimi AEGIS destroyer (Kongo Class) by Hasegawa
1 x DDG-118 Fuyuzuki destroyer (Akizuki class) by Aoshima
1 x DDG 111 Onami destroyer (Takinami class) by Aoshima
1 x SS-515 Soaring Dragon AIP submarine (Soryu class) by Pit - Sky View
1 x AOE-425 Mashu fas replenishment ship (Mashu class) by Aoshima
All of these ships made for nice builds and great ships. Their railing and other sensors and equipment in photo-etch were very tiny indeed. The AOE Mashu was particularly a tough build. But they all came out looking good.
BTW, the Izumo by Tamiya was modeled as the fictitious CVH-192 Ibuki, but was a case of fiction becoming reality. They added the ski-jump to the model which the Izumo will get and otherwise it ws an Izumo and the original fictitious model did not have one.
Here’s how the entire group looks together. Note that the Kaga came in a full hull version, as you can see and I wanted to show the full hull for her. Also the sub, the Soaring Dragon SS-515 the tenth Soryu (out of 15 to be built) is also full hull. (click on the first one for a good length youtube video on my channel for a video of the entire group too):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5PiV8WX1s0=[b]
1/700 scale JMSDF Two Carrier Strike Group with F-35B Air Wings [/url]
Here are a couple of more pic of all of the ships together:
I will show each of the vessels individually on the following pages. Here are the model kit boxes themselves that went into the group:
Now, on with each individual vessel I built. I will not show the entire build sequence as I have done in the past. I built them in similar fashion to the same ships I built in 1/350 scale (most all of which I have done including the Atago, Akizuki, Takanami, Kong, Soryu, etc.)
