Hi!,

I have recently been very interested in Ship modeling. unfortunately for my wallet I want to grab some Japanese ships now, but don't have any experience with some of the manufacturers. here is what I am looking for

Mogami, Mikuma and a Tone Class cruiser and Battleship Hei. all in 1/700

Aoshima, Tamiya, Hasegawa, Fujimi - which is the best to get? ...I really like fine detail and have not built a ship model without PE.

Thanks for any thoughts!

- Steve

I'm currently building the Tamiya 700 scale Mogami with the flight deck. It is very well done and has good detail, I'd imagine the Tamiya Mikuma would be the same as some of the parts from the Mogami and Mikuma are likely from the same molds being sister ships. Don't know about the other two ships.

Anthony's right about the Tamiya Mogami/ Mikuma. The tooling is pretty recent and looks good.

With the Tone class, Aoshima's the way to go. Especially if you can snag one of the Super Detail versions with PE and metal barrels. I have the Chikuma and it's a great kit. I'm nearly positive Serhan has done (or is working on) one of these kits, but can't find it...

http://hlj.com/product/AOS03912

For the Hiei, things get a little more interesting. Hasegawa has a decent kit that nonetheless has some errors. OTOH, Fujimi's new 1/700 Kongo looks great with a ton of parts (unsure how it builds, though). There may be a 1/700 Hiei at some point in the future based on this tooling as it's the Kongo's sister...

http://hlj.com/product/FUJ42017

Hello Steve,

For Mogami and Mikuma feel free to go with Tamiya new toolings (altough you have no any other option and on ebay you may met with old mould boxes, don't buy them)

For Tone Class choose Aoshima new tooling one. You may buy Chikuma, its sister. You may also met with Fujimi's old mould on ebay. For ebay recognizing I suggest not to buying cheaper options.

For Hiei, I agree with Dade. You may buy new Kongo from Fujimi and try to convert it to Hiei ( both are may seen identical at first look but, really tons of differences when you go deeper for this class)
I can scan 1/700 dwgs of Hiei and send to you later on if you want to challenge. Or you can buy ModelArt's Battleship guide book from www.hlj.com

Hello Dade, I wish I had been done my Chikuma but, very busy with work and my yard almost closed atm..

Regards
Serhan

thanks for the help guys!

I am afrain I might have ordered the wrong Aoshima model. I still have time to change it though!

Here are my options...

Chikuma:
AOS 13205 - $18 (on sale from $37) Is this the old one?
AOS 31332 - $23
AOS 39113 - $38 (with brass barrels and PE)

I am a bit confused by the numbering / potential re-boxing. I'd like to avoid the $40 kit, since I really like the Tom's modelworks set. Is the "31332" a new tooling? Or just a re-boxing of the old kit? sorry for being so picky.

- Steve

I will get the Tamiya Mogami for sure! ....new tooling models are just higher box numbers?

Steve, I'm 99% positive you're correct. The higher the number the newer the kit with Aoshima. Number 332 is the newer tooling from everything I've seen. However, you still may want the $40 kit. The reason being that you not only get the nice barrels, you get PE that Tom's set does not have. Specifically the rails for the plane carriages to ride on. They really dress up the area and they make it easier to paint. Simply paint the linoleum then apply the rails. Tah-dah!

I have about five copies of Tom's set, but still bought the $40 kit. But either way you decide to go, AOS 31332 will at least see you through.