Ise- Japanese battleship-aircraft carrier: A LEGO® creation by P. Voranc : MOCpages.com

Ise- Japanese battleship-aircraft carrier

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About this creation

Ise was a Japanese battleship, completed in 1917, rebuilt and modernized several times in 1930’s. Most notable changes were the ‘pagoda’ style foremast and removing of one of the funnels. New engines increased her speed to 25 knots, and newly added anti-torpedo bulges increased her protection. Despite all efforts she was still considered to be too slow, and with too short range to act as a fast battleship. Unsurprisingly she failed to catch the Doolittle raid carrier force. After the disastrous Battle of Midway, in which Japan lost four fleet carriers, it became apparent that it was necessary to at least partially compensate for this loss. Therefore the Japanese decided to convert Ise-class battleships Ise and Hyuga into full sized aircraft carriers. Lack of time and resources resulted in the compromise to make a hybrid battleship/carrier conversion. This concept was often discussed in several navies in 1930’s but soon abandoned, because the roles of a carrier and a battleship/cruiser just don’t fit together. This Japanese act of desperation gave us an oddly looking behemoth. Two aft turrets were removed and replaced by a hangar surmounted by a 70 m long flight deck. Two catapults were installed, and an air group consisting of fourteen E16A ‘Paul’ seaplanes and eight D4Y2 ‘Judy’ dive bombers was embarked. The latter were supposed to land on a conventional carrier or on island airstrips, while the seaplanes could be hoisted back aboard by using a crane. Conversion was complete in late 1943, but the pilot training lasted until the autumn of 1944 and she was never used in her new carrier role. With her increased AA weaponry Ise was part of the cover force during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and successfully completed Operation Kita with her sister Hyuga taking part there too. Ise never sailed again and was finally sunk in shallow waters between Kure and Kurahashijima by American carrier-based aircraft on 28th July 1945.

This model is over 180cm long (6ft) so the scale used is around 1:120. I started with the building of turrets and then adjusted the whole ship’s size in order to obey the proportions. Three airplanes (I didn’t have enough pieces for the whole air group, so I decide to built three N1K1 Kyofus, to add some additional what-if flavor) and AA armament were another tricky task to accomplish, and in the part where the ship can be separated in two, there is actually some interior too. But I’m not so proud of it so I’ve omitted it from the ‘photo album’…

Perspective familiar to pilots of Helldivers…

Pagoda mast, bristling with AA’s and numerous walkways.

Two Kyofus on the deck and one on the catapult ready for launch.

Some turret interior.

Comments

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I like it

Seaman SPb

October 10, 2014

Great work!

I like it

Admiral Tomasubi

November 2, 2012

Amazing work. The detail(especially around the pagoda) is quite spectacular! I can't help feeling the barrels for the main artillery look very long though. Perhaps shorten them a bit?

I like it

Banjax 2077

August 30, 2012

It's huge, great work.

I like it

Broken Bricks

August 29, 2012

Great! Nice photo skills I also like the scale!

I like it

Builder Allan

June 7, 2012

Now that is a huge and very cool LEGO model ship! The shape is really good, the ship looks awesome from the head-on angle. Great work with all those details too. It must have taken quite some time to think up the various solutions you used to make everything look right :-)

I like it

Matthew McCall

March 6, 2012

Very nice job on a very wierd ship.

I like it

omega sniper (rich)

February 28, 2012

this is an amazing build. the planes look great and compliment the whole ship well.

I like it

Locutus 666

February 2, 2012

Years ago, i build a lot of japanese warships (as plastic kits)beyond the always/everywhere appearing Yamato etc. I alo have had the Hyuga. I think u catch the special unique shape of that ship. I only miss the cannons which were in the hull integrated, but maybe im wrong if they removed them by refiting it. The only negativ thing i would say, are the planes. They look a little bit boring. But all in total this ship is absolutly a worthy 5/5. Nicely done!!

I like it

Lego 4 Life

January 22, 2012

Amazing built! And thanks for adding me to your favourites.

I like it

Anders T

January 4, 2012

Very cool ship

I like it

The Lego Animal (Jay Rhum)

January 3, 2012

That a very nice ship! Thanks for the very interesting history lesson about old battleships! Regards - Jay

I like it

Mark Rodrigues

December 31, 2011

Marvelous rendition of a mighty warship. Love the way you captured the essence of the ISE with your refined level of detailing. Thanks for giving Lego warship fans something to cheer about!