Aoshima A004474 1/150 Kaiwo Maru

Kaiwo Maru was a Japanese training sailing ship, a twin ship Nippon Maru, launched in 1930. The length of the ship at the time of launching was 97 m, width 12.95 m, and full displacement - 2,290 tons. Kaiwo Maru was never armed. It was a four-masted ship with a total sail area of 2,397 square meters, but it had an additional propulsion in the form of two diesel engines with a power of 600 HP each.

The Kaiwo Maru was built at Kawasaki's Kobe shipyard and originally served as a training unit for Japanese merchant navy officers. When the war in the Pacific began, it was incorporated into the navy, continuing to serve as a training unit. The ship survived the war and continued to serve in the fleet after its end. In 1955 its rigging was modernized. Kaiwo Maru served until 1989. At present, she is a museum ship moored in the port of Imizu.

Aoshima's full-hull kit of the Kaiwo Maru features vacuformed sails, a display stand, twine for rigging, and cloth flags. Also includes a nice selection of white metal detail parts. At 1/150 scale this beauty will measure 64.7cm long, 15.3cm wide, and 37.5cm tall when completed.

This is an injection-plastic sailing ship model kit.