Have a wild hare and feel like building a couple WW2 IJN kits for a bit of a change. Who tends to make the better kits? Aoshima, Fujimi,Hasagawa , Tamiya?

Tim.

I fine them to be the same, most seem to be from the same mold. Best guess would be any brand with a newer retooling.

Mark

I’ve built a few in the past, and I really think it depends on the age of the kit. I find some of the later Fujimi, Fine Molds and Hasegawa kits are pretty good. Aoshima is also good, depending on the subject, perhaps a little light on detail. Tamiya kits aren’t bad, but some of the earlier waterline kits (like earlier Hasegawa kits) were oversimplified and lacking in specific detail. Don’t forget Sea Wave, and Pit Road kits, which can also be very nice, especially for smaller classes and auxiliaries. They also make several lines of accessories such as ships boats and gun mounts. Trumpeter has also released some excellent 1/700 ships, as has Revell lately, but I’m not sure if they’ve released any IJN subjects. And I think there are a few Nichimo kits in 1/700 too, as I recall. It also depends on what you’re looking for— I prefer full hull ships that have separate bottom hulls, allowing the modeler to make the decision to build full hull or waterline models. The waterline models tend to have less detail in my opinion but that’s probably a generalization on my part.
VR, Russ