IJN “Furutaka” – the Japanese heavy cruiser

IJN “Furutaka” (Japanese: 古鷹, named after a mountain on Etajima Island) – the heavy cruiser (officially, ships of this class were also called “first-class cruisers” (itto junyokan) and “A-class cruisers” (ko-kyū junyokan)) in the Imperial Japanese Navy, the first ship of its class. Its keel was laid on December 5, 1922, laid down on 25 February 1925, entered service on 31 March 1926. The cruiser spent most of the period from the start of operation until the beginning of World War II on training cruises and in dry dock; in the 1930s, the ship was repeatedly modernized and improved. With the outbreak of World War II, cruiser took part in combat operations in the Pacific theater as a unit of the 6th Cruiser Division, participating in the capture of the islands of Guam, Wake, Rabaul and Lae, as well as in the battles in the Coral Sea, Savo Island and near Cape Esperance. During the last battle, on 12 October 1942, “Furutaka” was sunk by American cruisers.

A medium-size, well-designed and very richly detailed model for medium-experienced and experienced modelers. There is enough detail in it, to be enough for two much larger models of battleships. The bottom cladding details are given in two versions - traditional and from larger sectors, but with a connection on the keel, where needed, double-sided printing is used (the entire other side of the sheet is printed in the required color), there are no textual instructions at all, as is usual for this publisher, but there are graphic ones - so that all models have one!!!