I am currently working on a Fujimi Kongo-class battleship, the Hiei, and have noticed there doesn’t seem to be much detail.
This looks like the solution; however, I’m wondering if anyone has built the kit with this PE and what actually is on the fret? (Hard to see with such a small image.)
Does anyone make a better Kongo-class?
That link reset my page size but that was easily corrected. I’m not sure about a more detailed kit but I would really like to see an “as built” version. At least I can nip down to the Dock Museum, here in Barrow, to check out the builder’s model.
The first in the class was built in the UK for the Japanese, and the rest in Japan?
Yes; that is correct. Kongo was the last major warship Japanese warship built overseas.
Here is a link to an article about her. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/japan/japsh-k/kongo2.htm
I like the comment, in the article, that the later ships were modified to accomodate the smaller stature of the average Japanese seaman.
Hasegawa Kit No. 43110 is the more recent retooled version of Hiei that you asked about. The Hasegawa models of the Kongo class are much more detailed than the old Fujimi molds. WS
Here is a photo-article about PE-ing and enhancing the Hasegawa kit.
Look carefully: at the very bottom of the page, there is a link to a Page 2 (and on subsequent pages, 3 & 4, thought the latter is a text link).
Aardvark, that link goes to an awesome set of photos of a Kongo model - thanks!
And Dreadnought, thanks for the tip on the Hasegawa kit. It’s hard, over the internet, to tell the old kits from the retooled ones - even the price can be misleading, depending on where you go. Although I don’t know if Fujimi is even in business any more. But I suppose it would be easy enough for me to tell - I own just about all the old 1/700 kits, so if I spot a particular ship from a different manufacturer I’d know it is a newer tooling. [:D]
Fujimi is still around.