Kit Reviews: Chitose
(in box review):

Manufacturer: Aoshima
Scale: 1/700
Medium: Plastic Injection
Reviewer: Jason Abraham
Model rating: 7/10

Model of the Chitose

Chitose box art

A Brief History: The Chitose and Chiyoda were seaplane carriers when the war broke out. After the losses at Midway both ships were taken in hand and converted to carriers. Never particularly successful in their new role, both ships were expended as bait for the Japanese battleships and their last ditch effort at destroying the Americans as they re-invaded the Philippines. The American carrier task force descended on the four IJN carriers and sank all of them.

Always a sucker for an interesting design, the Chitose in her seaplane tender configuration, is indeed interesting. I believe the Japanese navy was the only navy to build ships of this type. I could be wrong, however.

Overall this model gets a 7 out of 10. Some small areas of flash are on the hull, but everything else is clean. As with most older molds this one is sparse in the "parts" department, but I still think she will, eventually, be a handsome contribution to my small navy. I will most likely replace the twin 25mm mounts with SkyWave parts and the kit only comes with three planes (strange for a kit of a seaplane carrier to only come with three aircraft). I'll probably toss the A/C that come with the kit and add 6 or 7 SkyWave aircraft.

Look back from time to time for when I actually build her.