The Isuzu was the second of the Nagara class 5.500 ton light cruisers. It was named after an well known river at the japanese Homeland. It served from the very beginning throughout the second world war in different task forces at battles in different waters almost until the end. From May - September 1944 she was then converted into a dedicated anti-aircraft cruiser; her main armament was removed and replaced by a massive AA gun complement of different calibers. Some allied bombers who dared to attack her after this were subsequent brought down. But in 7. April 1945 she ran out of luck and fate struck her - not by aircraft but in form of three torpedoes, fired by two US-submarines toward her between Sumbawa and Komodo Islands. 450 crew members were rescued but 190 poor souls went down with the ship.
This is my first AOSHIMA kit at all and what I can see for the first glimpse at the parts everything looks very crisp and detailed. This is how the lady will look alike:
There are a lot parts inside the box - a lot of them will go toward the spares box as AOSHIMA provides here all parts for all the five ships of this specific class which are all slightly different from each other though:
This is the additional Flyhawk detail set for the Isuzu:
The etched, turned and resin parts of the Flyhawk set:
This will keep me busy...
The small AA-guns inside the Flyhawk set have no turned barrels and therefore do look squashed (pictures will follow later here) I bought some extra sets to improve these parts. They are already underway from Hong Kong toward my home adress and should arrive soon:
More to follow soon
