Aircraft Carrier Hosho 1944 Imperial Japanese Navy Fujimi 1/700

Happy New Year in 2021! As it is the new year, I will upload a new model. A few years ago, I bought Fujimi’s 1/700 Lucky Bag, and one of the items was not as valuable as the price. The kit is for the diorama during the construction of the battleship Yamato, which I assembled as it was in service in 1941. I didn’t touch the aircraft carrier Hosho that was in this kit. I want to make it properly here; I will do my best.
Ho-sho means a phoenix flying through the sky, so I think it is a lucky word. It is said that the appearance of a phoenix is a sign of good things happening, so I want to keep our luck in this challenging virus pandemic period. By the way, I’ve made several ship models in the past, but I’m a beginner. I aim to complete it. By the way, I haven’t touched a lucky bag at all since then. But I sometimes buy Fujimi products separately. Photo-etched parts have become expensive recently, which is a disappointment. I want to see a box set of photo-etched parts and the hull again.

I did not overthink and assemble the parts somehow, but I made a mistake in the direction of the significant parts glued.

By the way, this is the kit box that was included Hosho in the set of a lucky bag I bought a few years ago. Before this year, Fujimi’s lucky bag was a good combination. After that, I had an image that they were relentlessly trying to deal with a combination of poor inventory disposal that was quite brute. But I think each kit itself is perfect.

Failed. The large box-shaped part in the middle was attached to the front and back, so I left it for a while, and it became impossible to fix. I attached some small parts on the side, and it took me a long time to peel them off with pouring glue, so I broke two reinforcing bars. It was so damaged that I thought it was a direct course to the trash can.

For the time being, I took a deep breath, corrected the direction, and reattached it. I will try to fix the distortion of small parts and some scratches as much as possible later. I think there might be a part hidden behind other parts. Even so, after making a big mistake, I lost motivation. When I tried to make a ship model for the first time in a while, I was embarrassed by the trouble. For now, I bought the photo-etched parts so that I will do as much as possible. When I was fixing the wrong parts, the bollards on the bow were damaged, so I fixed it with a round slice of the runner that was stretched.

I didn’t want to keep a failed plastic model as soon as I started making it. I thought it would cost about 2,000 yen on Amazon, so I searched for Hosho, but it was all sold or unavailable. Even if it is sold, the premium price is 6,000 yen or 8,000 yen… Is it waiting for reproduction? No option to repurchase this kit; let’s keep going.
(2021/01/01)

I will try to use the separately sold photo-etched parts for Hosho. I just started assembling it; I’m unsure where to replace it with the photo-etched parts or just a lot of additional parts. From a quick look, I think there are many additional parts.

I assembled some searchlights on the flight deck.

There are many things, like an airplane elevator on the back. Is it possible to attach a lot of pillars to the ship’s bow at this time?

That’s all for the boat this time. I will paint it all together later.

Includes four biplanes with precise, transparent parts. There are type 92 carrier-based attack aircraft and type 95 carrier-based fighter aircraft, two each.

I assembled it using 1/700 scale biplane photo-etched parts. It isn’t easy. Honestly, I wouldn’t say I liked it because I had a hard time with the first plane. This is an excellent item to train my patience.

Speaking of PC games, I bought a Motorsport Manager at the end of the year, and it was so interesting that I kept playing it. I’m just looking at the racing cars around the circuit, but I’m really into it.
(2021/01/05)

It didn’t go very well, but all four came into shape. Before I started working on this kit, I thought of buying a separately sold airplane and lining it up on the deck. No way. This is enough for this time.

They stayed on top of the cotton swab lid while assembling the hull. I have to be careful not to lose it.

Before I started making models of aircraft carriers, I thought it was like putting boards on the hull. The more I make it, the more I realize how complicated the structure is. The lower and upper flight decks have two tiers, and the assembly is a little complicated.

Since the part where the hose reel is wound is replaced with the photo-etched parts, the hose reel is made of plastic rods and ultra-fine metal wire. I don’t like this copper reel because my cat loves playing tricks on it.

There are still some parts to attach.
(2021/01/07)

There are many facilities under the flight deck. I thought it would be easy to complete because it is a small aircraft carrier and quite tricky.

This is my first time making an aircraft carrier, so I’m a little confused about the procedures of assembling and painting. The flight deck and the hull are not bonded yet. When should I paint the hull color or the wood brown of the deck? Should I use an airbrush or brush?

I attached the photo-etched parts as much as possible before entering the painting process. In addition to handrails and ladders, there are many parts unique to aircraft carriers, so it’s fun to make them.

Wooden decks are painted with wood brown, dark yellow, and tan. If I think about it, it was the first time to paint wooden decks among my small number of model ships. Battleships made in the past used deck seals. I love deck stickers because they are easy and effective.

The flight deck can be masked easily. There were too many structures on the lower deck, so I didn’t feel like masking, so I used a thin airbrush to cover the gray one. In the end, I painted the delicate parts with a small brush.

I made the pattern a little irregular by washing, which is often used in AFV model making. We’ll see later, but we can’t see much of the lower deck.
(2021/01/09)

For a small aircraft carrier, there are many boats and cutters. I am painting small parts.

It’s my first time building an aircraft carrier, so I don’t know what to do with it, but it’s pretty challenging to work on the part of the ceiling of the flight deck where a small boat hangs. I had to attach the flight deck and the hull before I could assemble it, and then I had to paint only the suspension part with a brush. It was a little misaligned due to the adhesion of the parts. I can’t fix the parts vertically down because the handrail is in the way… It’s strange. And I painted the inner side of the boat very hard, but I can’t see it very well.

When I was cleaning up, I found a wooden stand I planned to use as a paint stand. The one I’m attaching to Hosho is for assembling a track for a tank model, so it is a little thin. The last time I built a Yamashiro was more than a year and a half ago, so I was so enthusiastic that I forgot to prepare a giant painting table next time.

After a series of detailed work, decals were pasted on the carrier-based aircraft and lined up. Shall I install a lifebuoy? Then, I’ll put an antenna a little and airbrush the matte clear.

The buoy is probably not molded in the kit parts. I cut the copper wire from the electric wire into round slices.

If I paint it, stick a decal on it, and put it on the deck, I think I’ll be able to tell it’s a carrier-based biplane.
(2021/01/11)

The aircraft carrier Hosho was completed. According to the kit, it was military equipment and facilities in 1944. When it was commissioned, there was a small bridge (Island), and the chimney was vertical, not in the shape of a sideways projection like this kit.

The flight deck was 180 meters long, which sounds quite long. Later, the aircraft’s performance improved, and in the case of single-engine reciprocating aircraft, this aircraft carrier was off the front line due to a lack of the deck length required for takeoff and landing.

The aircraft carrier Hosho participated in the China Incident, but the Battle of Midway was his last mission. After that, it was used for the landing training of aircraft carrier crew. Even in Midway, the speed was slow and didn’t go out to the front.

This time, I could reproduce the airplane and personnel rescue net by using the photo-etched part for Hosho. Airplane rescue nets are installed on both sides of the flight deck to prevent carrier-based aircraft from falling. In the case of Hosho, the rescue net for the crew seems to be on both sides of the bow. The net is smaller than the airplane rescue net.

When the aircraft carrier makes a sharp turn, the inclination of the deck will be considerably large, so the carrier-based aircraft and crew will often be unstable.

As this kit included Hosho, it was anchored next to the battleship Yamato during its outfitting work as a counterintelligence activity. I wonder if this Hosho anchor was for counterintelligence purposes. Of course, the area was off-limits, and there must have been a lot of military police.

The decals on the flight deck are protected with a matte clear several days after being attached.

The wooden flight deck was painted with a brush with a slight gradation.

Is it like this when landing approaches?

Light weathering is given to the entire ship.

I thought I would throw it out after I failed to assemble it. After all, it wasn’t so noticeable below the flight deck, so I guess it was an excellent choice to continue making. I want to make an official aircraft carrier someday.
(2021/01/13)