Hasegawa 1/450 40153 IJN Aircraft Carrier Shinano Plastic Kit
Based on the latest information, the kit models the Shinano as it would have been in actual combat, fully equipped with numerous anti-aircraft guns. This is a "beginner-friendly, full-scale scale model" that emphasizes ease of assembly while reproducing fine details with a small number of parts . The hull is divided into left and right halves, and the bilge keel is moulded as a single unit using a slide mould. A structure that sandwiches the girder parts is used to ensure strength and reliable assembly. The large concrete-covered flight deck, one of the ship's distinctive features, is moulded in a single part. The island-shaped bridge and sloping funnel are also precisely reproduced. The aircraft were selected from those that were planned to be carried on the ship, and a total of six aircraft are included: two Zero Fighter Type 52s, one Tenzan, one Ryusei Kai, one Saiun, and one Shiden Kai Ni. The Shiden Kai-2 was a carrier-based aircraft with two additional 13mm machine guns in the nose and a landing hook, and only a prototype was manufactured. During the Shinano sea trials in mid-November 1944,this prototype was used for takeoff and landing tests. Specifications: Number of parts : 281 Model length : 592mm Model width : 155mm
Shinano was built and launched in absolute secrecy. She set out for the first time with construction crew still aboard and without a load of aircraft. At her launch she was the largest aircraft carrier ever made, built on the basis of an eight-hundred seventy foot-long battleship hull. The pall of secrecy was drawn so tightly around her that nobody in US Naval Intelligence believed the vessel existed-even after it was sunk by the submarine USS Archer Fish. Kit features five carrier-based planes and full decals.