Small Scale Military Headquarters

Can anyone give me info on Takara 1/700 ship/submarine models?

Are they worth buying?
What US dealers carry them?

Are you talking about the Sectional Models? I have both the Yahagi and Sakawa, Agano Class Light Cruisers. They are pretty cool. The detailing is great. Nice clean and crisp colours. The Yahagi has two 1/700 floatplanes as well, which are fully painted. Can get some pics if you want.

JAY,

Thanks, but I was looking at one of their 1/700 US Navy submarines. The one I found has a bizarre green/tan/gey camouflage paint scheme similar to a Vietnam War jet.

Dragon

see here: then click on the "English Articles"

Then scroll down to the "Ships of the World" series.

Shame your about 6 months late, I cleared out all my Takara 1/700 collection last year!

Cheers
BD99

BLUEDONKEY99:

Were you supposed to post a link? If so, could you try to post it again?
thanks.

doh!

http://starjetmodels.jog.buttobi.net/index.html

BLUEDONKEY99:

Thanks very much for the link.
I almost bought this model on ebay a few weeks ago because it's the only model I've seen of the USS NORTH CAROLINA....but the bizarre camouflage paint scheme scared me off.

dragon53 wrote:Can anyone give me info on Takara 1/700 ship/submarine models?

Are they worth buying?
What US dealers carry them?

I have all of the Takara subs. The detail is pretty good. The camo job on the North Carolina isn't as garish in person as it is in photos, and the idea of a camouflaged sub isn't all that far fetched. The Royal Navy had one a few years back done in dark blue and black, reportedly for ops in the Persian Gulf.

Of course for 99% of their subs, there is no other alternative.

I have a Willhem Bauer and a couple JMSDF subs extra, but the only place I know to get full sets is the site-which-must-not-be-named.

GUNNER:

As far as I know, based on the photos I've seen, the NORTH CAROLINA has always had the conventional black/grey paint scheme. If it had the camouflage scheme, I would have bought it----as long as it's accurate.

The paint job wouldn't be that hard to fix. A soak in some nail polish remover, or just paint over it. Mine is actually black/green/grey and looks reasonable as a "what if".

Also, as far as accuracy goes, ANY sub model with the ASDS on the back is wrong. The ASDS program is dead. I actually have mine on display with the DSRV on piggyback.

Takara also did the same model as SSN-774 in either all black, or black and red, I don't remember which. Wouldn't be that hard to paint over the numbers on the sail and the name on the hull...

I've heard that some of the Takara pre-builts are being released in kit form, at least in the Japanese market. I'll dig around and see what I can turn up. Also, Hobby Boss just released a SSN-774 class kit in 1/350. The decal sheet doesn't even include hull numbers at all, which is accurate for a deployed boat, so there's no reason you couldn't build it and call it "SSN-777". The kit is full hull.

GUNNER:

Yeah, the canceled ASDS was another reason I didn't buy the model. Just my luck, the other models I've seen of the VIRGINA-class have the accurate paint scheme.

IIRC, the Virginia kit could display either the ASDS, the DSRV, or just a piece of deck in that spot (just so you know).

FYI, the Takara SSN-774 is all black, but it does have the numbers on the sail, so those would have to either be removed or painted over.

GUNNER:

Thanks for all the info. It looks like a long wait for a preassembled USS NORTH CAROLNA that's accurate.