Akagi & Kaga

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, highlighting differences between 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 subjects, 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.

This volume covers the two largest carriers of the inter-war Imperial Japanese Navy, the ships that spearheaded the attack on Pearl Harbor and led the highly successful carrier operations that followed, before both were sunk in June 1942 at Midway, the battle that turned the tide of the Pacific War. Both were pioneering designs, built on the hulls of unfinished capital ships suspended under the terms of the Washington Treaty, and therefore subjected to significant and almost-continuous modification during the 1930s as aircraft characteristics became more demanding. The many alterations to both ships are covered in detail in this volume.

With its unparalleled level of visual information – paint schemes, models, line drawings and photographs – this book is simply the best reference for any modelmaker setting out to build either of these iconic carriers.