Possible reason for lack of IJN WW11 ships,?

[BattleshipBob]

Afternoon

The Imperial Japanese navy produced some very interesting warships especially through WW 11 not just the Yamato's, there's the Nagato's, Kongo's, Ise and Fuso and of course the famous carriers. Only Japanese makers do them and they are not cheap with most getting old as well.

Often wondered why mainstream prolific model makers such as Trumpeter don't produce them. As I am sure they would be cheaper and popular.

It seems the Chinese gov does not approve them, apparently even if they do they cannot put IJN on the boxes. Very Fires Taiho for example.

I may be wrong but there was a good discussion on another site.

Bob

[Dave Ward]

Bob,
Japanese & Chinese are not the closest of neighbours due to a little unpleasantness in the 30s - 40s! The Japanese warships that are around in 1/700 are mostly all quite old... The moulds have been swapped around, so the same models can be found by different makers, Pit-Road, Skywave, Aoshima, Fujimi, Hasegawa and Tamiya & a few others! I think tooling up for a small 1/700 ship isn't going to be really cost effective, I don't think the market is large enough now. Flyhawk are a newish name, lovely models, new tooling, but that's reflected in the price! - an indicator of the costs & the market.
At one time, I believe it was possible to model the entire Imperial Japanese Navy in 1/700, but the vast majority are out of production & stock. I've got a few in the stash, and I keep my eyes open for more, - ebay! Some of the older models are really poor & crude, so research is needed before committing! I've had a look on the local Japanese retail sites, and there's not much in stock, even there.................
Dave

[Tim Marlow]

I wouldn’t be surprised about that Bob. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Western stuff starts disappearing from Russian makers lists as well. Of course, it could just be that ships outside of the “world of warship” franchise are not popular with modellers any more. After all, there are always Yamato, Bismark, and Hood models around, but the associated vessels are much harder to source. Apart from Airfix in the real scale of 1/600 RN carriers are not common, and those kits are probably older than me. Of course, if you want something from the very early pre Dreadnought RN era, then good luck! I don’t think that era has ever been popular, despite the interesting designs on offer.

[BattleshipBob]

There is a rumour that Very Fire having gone bang, they were active on the Web but not a not recently, strange after they released IJN sorry Taiho??? Perhaps they are being re educated!

Looks like robbing the bank and only choice is Hasegawa and Fujimi!

[Dave Ward]

I wouldn’t be surprised about that Bob. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Western stuff starts disappearing from Russian makers lists as well. Of course, it could just be that ships outside of the “world of warship” franchise are not popular with modellers any more. After all, there are always Yamato, Bismark, and Hood models around, but the associated vessels are much harder to source. Apart from Airfix in the real scale of 1/600 RN carriers are not common, and those kits are probably older than me. Of course, if you want something from the very early pre Dreadnought RN era, then good luck! I don’t think that era has ever been popular, despite the interesting designs on offer.

There are a whole range of pre-dreadnoughts available in resin, ModelKrak ( Poland ), Combrig ( Russia ) - several hundred! They aren't cheap, and not widely available ( now, especially the Russian Combrig! ).
I have bought one or two from here - https://www.jadarhobby.pl/modelkrak-poland-m-42.html, but not since the Brexit furore! What does immediately becomes apparent is how small these ships were!
Combrig Admiral Class 1880s RN Battleship - 1/700

ModelKrak IJN Mikasa 1900 Japanese battleship 1/700

A small market - hence the resin, high prices, but there are some real oddities available!
First time I worked with this form of resin - I found you could convert an expensive casting to a shapeless blob using paint stripper! ( 20+ years ago! )
There are a load of resin makers of 1/700 warships world wide,some good, some bad, but not widely reviewed, so can be a bit chancy!!
Dave

[Gary MacKenzie]

There are a number of printable 3d models available as stl files ( most are for tabletop wargaming ) on myminifactory for example.
Amazon has some skywave/pit road models , but prices are rising.

[Guest]

The Japanese warships that are around in 1/700 are mostly all quite old... The moulds have been swapped around, so the same models can be found by different makers

This is because the major Japanese kit manufacturers of the 1970s/80s agreed to produce pretty much the whole IJN fleet between them in 1:700, and who would make which ships.