IJN Yamashiro

The second ship produced in the Fusō-class line of dreadnaught battleships was the IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy) Yamashiro. She was commissioned in 1917 and initially regulated to patrolling the Chinese coast during World War I and never seeing combat.

In the 1930’s, the Yamashiro underwent refitting to improve her armor as well as superstructure reconstruction adding the Pagoda style of mast. Being outgunned by her sister ships in the IJN as she only had 14 inch guns, ancillary duties is what she would be regulated for until October of 1944 where she was ordered to the front lines in the Battle of Surigao and would be sunk as a result of unrelenting torpedo and navel gun fire. Only ten crew members would survive this ordeal.

Fujimi's 1/700 scale IJN Yamshiro

Box

The box is surprisingly heavy for its size. This is because there is so many frets in there! As you will see almost all the letters of the alphabet are covered and there are multiples of some frets. Most frets are individually wrapped in clear bags and the whole kit is well packaged.

Fret A

This is the waterline hull it comes as one piece. The overall part is well molded. Ladder rungs, porthole eyebrows and degaussing cable along with many other details can be seen on the sides of the hull.

Fret B

This is the main deck and the detail on it is astounding. Planks are individually marked tops of stowage lockers have cross bracing, hatches have lock down points and reels show cable details. It is well molded with no manufacturing issues. The only minor problem is the aircraft trolley rails look to be molded to large and are slightly out of scale compared to the other fine details next to them.

Fret C

This contains some of the superstructure with various platforms and other small details. Fujimi went the extra mile and molded the cross brace pieces with openings which gives these pieces much better detail. Most platforms also have anti-skid diamond plate molded on them as well.

Fret D

This is the waterline plate and the U pieces that hold the metal waterline weight on it.

Fret E

This is the 12cm AA gun fret. The bases of these abound with detail, panel lines and weld lines are well represented. Overall these are a great representation of this AA and even rival some aftermarket resin sets in terms of detail.

Fret F

This contains the double and triple Type 96 AA . Unfortunately these have not been represented well. The barrels are molded the same width as the 12cm ones and are almost as long lengthwise. The triple mount barrels appear molded very close together and too much paint will make them appear as solid plastic. With all the fine details Fujimi put into the rest of the kit, I feel they could have done a bit better with these.

Fret G

This is the motor launch and barge fret and they are very well done. Deck planking and hatch details can be seen on them.

Fret H

This is the single type 96 AA like the other AA fret they are over scale but still a good representation in terms of detail.

Fret I

This in the dinghy fret and while good, stay tuned as another fret in this kit yields a surprise concerning these.

Fret P(J,K,L,M,N Frets not present in kit)

This is the clear Mitsubishi F1M biplanes and the detail on them is great with lots of small recessed panel lines. Fujimi has done really well on all their new tooled plane offerings in their kits.

Fret Q

This is searchlights and barge tops on this fret also in clear plastic and each well represented with some very small searchlights.

Fret S(R not present)

This is rang finders, davits and other small details. The rangefinders are excellent and are covered in fine details. All pieces on this fret are well represented.

Fret T

Some AA platforms and superstructure parts are on this fret. All are well done with anti-skid plating and other fine details on the pieces.

Fret V(U not Present)

This is the 356mm guns and they are awesome. Ladders and many other details can be seen and Fujimihas molded the barrels so they can be raised or lowered in multiple positions.

Fret W, X, Y

Each of these frets have two to three parts each and contain the lower superstructure decks and some other parts. Again, details are over them and they are very well molded.

Fret Z

This fret has paravanes, some rangefinders, and other small details. The surprise on this fret is that it has various size dinghies on it. Unlike Fret I, these dinghies have planking lines on their sides. Painted properly these will yield some amazing and even unique detail.

Decals

A small sheet of decals comes with flags and markings for the biplanes in the kit.
Instructions
The instructions included are clear and very well diagrammed. And comes with a Fret list on a separate page. You should have no issues assembling the model if you follow them.

Conclusion

The 1/700 IJN Yamashiro from Fujimi has great detailing of the many pieces included in this kit. The instructions are well laid out and the overall pricing is not too bad at around $25.00 US. While some of the parts seem a bit over scaled and the Type 96 25mm AA guns could use a little more detail added I feel this is an excellent kit for the price you would pay. Out of the box this kit should build up into an impressive, highly detailed model.