The 'ShipCraft' series provides in-depth information about building and modifying model kits of famous warship types. Lavishly illustrated, each book takes the modeller through a brief history of the subject class, highlighting differences between sister-ships and changes in their appearance over their careers. This includes paint schemes and camouflage, featuring colour profiles and highly-detailed line drawings and scale plans. The modelling section reviews the strengths and weaknesses of available kits, lists commercial accessory sets for super-detailing of the ships, and provides hints on modifying and improving the basic kit. This is followed by an extensive photographic gallery of selected high-quality models in a variety of scales, and the book concludes with a section on research references—books, monographs, large-scale plans and relevant websites. The subject of this volume is the Japanese Kongo class, four ships built during the First World War as battlecruisers, but extensively modified and reconstructed between the wars as fast battleships, so that each ship presented a different appearance. They were the chosen escorts for the elite IJN carrier forces, and saw much action during the Pacific War.

The battleships of the Kongō class were the oldest, smallest, and fastest battleships in the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII. Initially classified as battle cruisers, the lead ship in the class, Kongō, was built in England just prior to WWI. The remaining three ships in the class--Haruna, Kirishima, and Hiei--were all built and completed in Japan by 1915. All four ships were highly reconfigured in the 1920s, and they were reclassified as battleships in the 1930s. The four Kongō-class ships were the most active among the 12 WWII-era Japanese battleships and saw heavy combat throughout the war in such major campaigns as Pearl Harbor, Midway, Guadalcanal, and Leyte. All four ships were sunk by Allied forces by war's end. This book features rare Japanese primary source material, including numerous photos, line schemes, and detailed charts.

The action-packed first book in the new historical series by acclaimed authors Newt Gingrich and William R.Forstchen

This fully illustrated guide offers historical context and step-by-step instruction for building and modifying Japanese battleship models. This volume in the ShipCraft series covers the two related classes of Japanese 14in-gunned battleships, originally built during the First World War but subsequently reconstructed. These ships are famous for their towering forward superstructure, usually described as a pagoda bridge, that they featured when rebuilt. The Ise-class ships underwent further reconstruction during the Second World War to emerge as a unique hybrid of battleship and aircraft carrier to compensate for fleet carriers sunk earlier in the war. This lavishly illustrated guide takes readers through a brief history of the Fuso-class and Ise-class ships, highlighting differences between sisterships and changes in their appearance over their careers. It features color profiles of paint schemes as well as detailed line drawings and scale plans. The modelling section reviews the strengths and weaknesses of available kits, lists commercial accessory sets for super-detailing, and provides hints on modifying and improving the basic kit. This volume also includes a photographic survey of selected high-quality models in a variety of scales and a section on further research references

The Imperial Japanese Navy of World War II surpassed the Allied and Axis fleets in innovation and technology. This title covers the 12 Japanese battleships that saw service between 1941 and 1945, including the mighty Yamato. Each class is considered in light of its design and construction, its armament and wartime modifications. The author, Mark Stille, uses primary sources and dramatic photographs to tell the story of these mighty battleships at war, including their major engagements during the raid at Pearl Harbor and the battle of Midway. The first English language book to include photographs from the prestigious Fukui Collection, this investigation will fascinate any naval enthusiast.

The Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. H and Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. J tanks were produced in the largest numbers in the range known as Sonderkraftfahrzeug 161 in German terminology - 7,000 vehicles. This means that a significant quantity of thesev ehicles were delivered to units - from late Spring 1943 in case of the Ausf. H and from Summer 1944 as far as the Ausf. J is concerned - and fought onevery front where Adolf Hitler's state was involved militarily. Besides, as will be described in this chapter, other Axis forces were also users of both types of these tanks.