The Ship Model Forum

There's also something about the physical appearance of the ship, tinged with so much detail. Not graceful and powerful, like the Shokakus, but just brute force. To me, anyway.

Well, I've been itching to perhaps get a carrier one day, and Akagi's up there on my list...

She does look different from every other carriers, so the... uniqueness is even more pronounced, at least, it terms of looks.

She had such a tiny bridge too!

Does anyone know if the Akagi sported a large red rising sun on her flight deck?

I've never seen a picture of her with it, but on my Hasegawa instruction sheet, it appears. (Not to add it didn't even come with the decals!)

Thanks.

She did for the Midway operation. There's a pic taken from B-17s that were attempting to bomb her.

Greetings;

I am presently building the 1/350th scale Hasegawa Akagi. I've decided to build it in a whatif scenario where she wasn't sunk at Midway but survived until later in the war. I've so far assembled and painted the hull and added some of the deck items as well as the funnel. I decided to paint her in the two tone green disruptive camaoflage color the Japanese painted on some of the surviving late war carriers. I based the pattern on a similar one supposedly used on the Shinano. I plan to also paint the deck in the disruptive camoflage as well. I will also update her aa defenses to include 12 of the multiple rocket launchers as on the Shinano(6 around the bow and 6 around the stern). I'm posting some pictures here for any comments thoughts or suggestions.



Sincerely

Michael Lacey

What about Pearl Harbor?

Does anyone have any clear photo of the elevator well on Akagi with the elevator in the down position? I think Hasegawa 's elevator well depiction is wrong, but I want to make sure there isn't anything like a blast curtain that is drawn around the well went the lift is down.

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Assessing the impact of new area rug under modeling table.

interesting idea....any plans yet on what you are going to change for light and heavy AA guns?

Nada here.. I don't even have an UNCLEAR photo

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

How about photos of the elevator in down position taken from inside than hanger?

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Assessing the impact of new area rug under modeling table.

Mr Grumpy:

If you are asking about my plans to show her late war if she had survived then I am still trying to figure out what aa I will use. I do plan on using the rocket/missile launchers as on the Shinano. I downloaded a technical review of this system that the government did which shows it used the same mount as the triple type 96 guns used. My thoughts are to add some more triple open and closed mounts such as used on the Yamato. I also may use the covered dual mount type 89's that the Yamato used. I have a Tamiya Yamato and Musashi and it would be easy for me to liberate some parts from them. I also have the Lionroar super detail set for the Yamato which would provide some extra details. I thought I would follow the arrangement that Shinano had as far as aa is concerned. I have a full set of plans for it but haven't reviewed them in detail. I'm planning on leaving the casement style guns alone as I had already assembled the hull before I decided to paint her in a whatif scenarion. Looking back on it maybe I would have removed them entirely and replace them with triple mounts placed higher on the hull if possible. I don't want to do that now as I'd have to repaint it. I had originally planned to build the Midway version until I got into a discussion with some folks on the Steel Navy forum about what color grey she was painted in. It seems no one can say for certain as she did receive a refit at Kure before Midway and might have been painted Kure grey. My thoughts were gee I didn't want to get into a big controversy over the color of this ship so I decided I would just paint it the way I have so no one could question my decision. It seems at times we modelers argue too much over the small details and forget this is supposed to be fun. I won't even mention what color the Arizona was in at Pearl Harbor as that topic generates heated discussions. Any thoughts you or others have are welcomed.

Sincerely

Michael Lacey

Some thoughts:

1. The type of enclosed 5"/40 mounts used in the Yamatos appears to have been superceded by a newer style of enclosed mounts found in the Shokaku. The difference seems to be the newer mount was more symmetrical, and wasn't bigger on the left side than the right side as was the case on the mounts in Yamato.

2. The Japanese practice was to only use enclosed mounts on carrier deck edge where smoke from stacks would make it impossible to man exposed gun positions. So you can expect any triple 25mm or 5"/40 mounts behind the stack to be enclosed, but the same weapons elsewhere would be in open mounts.

3. Akagi actually was scheduled to undergo a major refit and modernization right after Midway. Part of this modernization with to replace the ships 6 outmoded twin 4.7" AA guns with 8 twin 5"/40 AA guns, and to elevate the AA gun position to give better field of fire. It is possible, and I think it is likely, that the ship's older AA director would also be replaced on a 1 to 1 basis with newer type 94 AA directors found on Yamato and Shokaku.

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Assessing the impact of new area rug under modeling table.

Chuck:

Thank you very much for your comments. I didn't know that was the reason for the enclosed mounts. I just thought it was for protection of the gun crew. I'll follow that advice when I place mine. I'm also going to try to find pictures/drawings of the symmetrical mount you mention. I didn't mention that I also downloaded another government technical paper on Japanese camouflage on ships and harbor installations. It was very interesting and depicts the disruptive colors/patterns they used on the late war carrier decks. It was interesting to note the Japanese assessment that while no pattern they tried was that much better than another one, they were better than no camouflage at all. Very hard to disguise something as big as a carrier when viewed from the air. Once again thank you.

Michael Lacey

Yes, no amount of camo on a ship will hide the white bow wave and conspicuous wake from eyes in the sky. The best they can do is to confuse the pilot for a while about what type of ship is it. This is why the patterns the Japanese paint on their carrier decks are meant to create the impression of battleship turrets when viewed from the air.

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Assessing the impact of new area rug under modeling table.

Hi,
Did she had the same deck markings as in Pearl Harbor?
Did her planes had the same red stripes?

Thanks.

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Eli Raphael
www.zotzdecals.com

Don;t believe that there is any photo of an Akagi elevator in the down position, her setup was the same as all other IJN CVs. I can post some other poics/diagrams when I get back to the office , if that helps.

She had the meatball painted by the time of Midway, but not at Pearl, that's all I know for sure. I'm not sure of the other operations.

I'll see if I can get David Aiken to comment on the markings, but generally I believe they were the same. Keep in mind that not ALL planes had stripes, those were a system to denote command aircraft, etc.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Aloha Eraphael,
The Akagi and Kaga aircraft still had their red fuselage atripes...Akagi had one and Kaga had two. Check out the albums at: http://japaneseaircraft.multiply.com/photos

Yes, there were subtile changes between "Pearl" and "Midway", yet the general items were the same...the KATE camouflage got a bit worn by April, despite the futile attempts by deck hands.

Contact me direct for any KIDO BUTAI aircraft related questions,
Cheers,
David Aiken
PearlHarborHistory AT Hotmail.com

This photo was taken aboard Akagi in 1927 but no certainty if this was elevator #3 or the hangar

Would anyone happen to know what kind of grey the Akagi was painted during her Pearl Harbor mission?