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Paul Barber
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Pearl Harbour 80th Anniversary. AgakiHasegawa 1/700

December 7, 2021 · in Ships · · 22 · 1.5K

I am posting this article at 8am, December 7th, Honolulu time. Exactly 80 years on from the moment of the first wave of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941.

The aircraft carrier Agaki was Vice Chūichi Nagumo's flagship for the striking force for the attack. In the first wave, 27 Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers from Akagi torpedoed the battleships Oklahoma, West Virginia, and California while 9 of the ship's Mitsubishi A6M Zeros attacked the air base at Hickam Field. In the second wave, 18 Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers from the carrier targeted the battleships Maryland and Pennsylvania, the light cruiser Raleigh, the destroyer Shaw, while the "Zeros" attacked various American airfields.

This is the kit with a wooden deck set.

Thanks to Louis Gardner and the small group of guys on IM who have built a number of subjects from the 'day of infamy'.

Reader reactions:
9  Awesome

6 additional images. Click to enlarge.


22 responses

  1. Looks great, Paul! I'll bet that stands out in the display case.

  2. Fantastic result! Simply clean, and nails the looks for 1/700. 🙂

  3. Beautiful build, Paul @yellow10
    Amazing details for 1/700 scale.

  4. You guys who do such good work in 1/700 constantly amaze me, Paul @yellow10. This is really nice and I could believe it was 1/350 if you said so.

    • That's too kind, Tom - many of the hours spent putting this together were spent listening to 'I will Run Wild' as an audio-book. I like building that way these days - kind of immerses you in the context and the history. Helps when the book is such an engaging listen!

  5. That’s really well done, Paul. Nice work.

  6. Looks wonderful, Paul!
    Well done!

  7. I had to do a double take on the scale! Excellent work! I think the Japanese carriers are really cool with their unusual construction. That deck looks fantastic!

    • Thanks Greg, Tetra Model Works aftermarket stuff was very straight forward to work with. The only issue was getting the kit decals to sit on it - but with time they worked well enough!

  8. I'm really impressed with the level of detail at that scale... Build of the Year type for sure.

  9. Paul, @yellow10
    This is an AMAZING build, and I'll bet you had fun with the decals on the aircraft... Just think, the Zero I built that was flown by Hirano was flown from your carrier. The Japanese carriers looked so distinctly different from what we had in service in the US Navy. If we still had the Model of the Month award, this one would be a contender.

    Thank you again for being a part of our group. We sincerely appreciate your efforts, especially getting up SO early in the morning to post your article. You are a true friend.

    I definitely pressed the "like" button.

  10. great build! I'm impressed!

  11. Amazing job Paul. How many hours did you spend on the project (in summary)?

    • Hey Lukasz, great to hear from you! I wouldn't know an exact number I built this 'on and off' for about a year, in bursts - what I will say is that the 30-odd tiny 1/700 planes accounted for a large proportion of that time. They each have etch undercarriage to replace the stumps and a tiny prop.

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