I'm stocking up for winter builds. I love the IJN and want to do a carrier that had a wood deck in 1:700 scale.

I'd like your comments on quality and detail on the following kits.
Hasegawa - IJN Shoho ; IJN Kaga
Aoshima - IJN Soryu

For some reason, I keep coming back to the Kaga, but I've heard and read the deck and island are really bad. I could probably handle rescribing the deck of the kit but don't know if I could fully scratchbuild the island.

I was checking out wooden decks for 350 scale Battleships and noticed several 700 scale carriers listed in their catalogs. Go to Hobby link Japan and check out Shinsengumi and Hasegawa products, you might find a reasonably priced one. From what I gather they are paper thin and fit over the kit part. Get a PE set and that probably will detail the tiny island enough to satisfy you. If I remembr from when I built these kits way back when the islands weren't much bigger than a thumb joint