I’ve always been fascinated by Japan’s “Special Attack” Kamikaze forces, especially the lesser known Kaiten human torpedoes.
A few years ago the Shochiku Corporation in Japan released the movie, Deguchi no nai umi (Sea Without Exit), a drama built around the World War Two Kaiten program.
Images from the film look pretty cool, but I haven’t seen it so far as I’ve been unable to find it on DVD or in an English language subtitled version.
Anyway, Fine Molds released a 1/72 scale Kaiten Type 1 Human Torpedo model kit to go along with the movie, so I thought I’d give it a go!
I’ll be watching this Tim for sure.
There used to be a Kaiten at Mystic Seaport In Connecticut - don’t know if it is still there .
The current generation of Fine Molds aircraft kits are excellent - hope this kit is as well .
Cheers- RT
Edit - after researching this it seems the Kaiten that was at Mystic has been relocated to Pearl Harbor- certainly a more appropriate place .
I’ll be watching this Tim for sure.
There used to be a Kaiten at Mystic Seaport In Connecticut - don’t know if it is still there .
The current generation of Fine Molds aircraft kits are excellent - hope this kit is as well .
Cheers- RT
Edit - after researching this it seems the Kaiten that was at Mystic has been relocated to Pearl Harbor- certainly a more appropriate place.
Thanks Richard. Yes, this kit looks to be pretty sweet - I’m looking forward to tearing into it!
As for the Pearl Harbor Kaiten, yes, I saw it there several years ago - great display. They had even replaced a small section of the hull with a plastic piece so you can see he pilot’s station inside …it gave me the creeps!
I agree Tim… We all know that men/women are sent to their possible demise in warfare, but to knowingly design a device where it’s success as an instrument of war is entirely dependent on the death of its operator(s) makes you wonder what kind of minds would design such an awful thing…
Following along to see you work your magic on this kit
Deployed in desperation after the war had turned disastrously against Japan, the Kaiten回天 (“Heaven Shaker”) weapons were essentially manned torpedoes developed from the Imperial Navy’s highly successful Type 93 “Long Lance” oxygen torpedo with a simple control compartment in the center and a massive 3,400 pound warhead in the nose.
They were carried into battle on the decks of Japanese fleet submarines and launched once near the enemy to attack independently. About 330 Type 1 Kaiten were produced, and of these some 90 were actually sent against the US Navy. Despite high hopes, they scored only three sinkings – the fleet oiler USS Mississinewa in November 1944, an LCI in January 1945, and the destroyer escort USS Underhill in July 1945. In all the Kaiten program resulted in the deaths of 187 American sailors.
In exchange for these results, the Japanese lost eight of the mother submarines with their crews as well as the Kaiten pilots and maintenance/support personnel aboard. These sinkings, in addition to losses of Kaiten pilots in training, resulted in a total of over 1,100 Japanese deaths.
The dedication of the crews and valor of the pilots notwithstanding, the Kaiten program was clearly a costly failure.
It was a belief for some time that a Kaiten was used against the Indianapolis but the Captain of the Japanese submarine that torpedoed her said he did not use the Kaiten because in the hurried preparations after discovery of this target he forgot to order the Kaiten to be made ready.
It was a belief for some time that a Kaiten was used against the Indianapolis but the Captain of the Japanese submarine that torpedoed her said he did not use the Kaiten because in the hurried preparations after discovery of this target he forgot to order the Kaiten to be made ready.
Interesting - and a reflection of what the Japanese sub force should have been doing. In a change from then-prevailing practice, the I-58 was on station at the point where a line joining Okinawa and Palau crossed a line between Guam and Leyte - well known support shipping transit routes - when the Indianapolis happened by. Instead, the IJN sub force had spent most of the war attacking well defended task forces and fleet anchorages, ferrying supplies to cut-off Army garrisons, and deploying ineffective weapons such as tiny aircraft, midget subs, and finally Kaiten suicide craft. Had the Imperial Navy High Command listened to their own submariners and emulated the successful tactics of German and American subs against merchant fleets, things would have gone much harder for the USN.
The Fine Molds model comes with a nice little rail trolley for the Kaiten, but I thought it distracted from the clean lines of the torpedo and so opted for a more conventional display using Adlers Nest brass pedestals (ANN-0041).
Plastic blocks added inside the hull should give the pedestals a firm grip on the little craft. The walnut base was adapted from a desk nameplate holder.
In his Kaiten Special Attack Group: A Story of Stolen Youth, former Imperial Navy Petty Officer Yutaka Yokota commented that when he and the other trainee pilots first saw the Kaiten,
“Just looking at the thing scared the sh.it out of us. Mechanics in greasy overalls swarmed over the beast and a tall young ensign with shaggy hair and sharp, inquisitive eyes worked busily on its internals. All the while some sort of machine was making menacing growling noises, as if this monster designed to take our lives was in fact alive itself…”
It is hard to fathom the fatalistic bravery of those young volunteers. Even now, the preserved Kaiten in the museum at the Yasukuni Shrine gives off a sinister vibe…
The Kaiten preserved at Yasukuni is displayed next to a Type 93 oxygen torpedo. The Kaiten was nothing more than an enlarged Type 93 with a small cockpit added.
Parts of the rudder control lines for the Kaiten pilot were located on the outside of the aft torpedo body.
Fine Molds’ depiction of these linkages is credible, although the one-piece molded treatment makes them just a bit two-dimensional.
So I bet you will work some of your magic on those - I hear the wheels turning ….
Hi Tim,
Bit of a pain in a modern kit, at least it shouldn’t be too difficult fix. Looking forward to seeing the outcome. All the best for the New Year.
Cheers, Si
Richard and Si, thanks… and yes, the wheels have been turning! Actually, the kit depiction of those control lines isn’t as heavy as my close up photo suggests. They are sharply molded and would probably look just fine under paint - but I’ve already started cutting them away, so I’m committed now!
Now this is something completely different. Will watch along with interest…Cheers mark
Thanks Mark!
Having removed the molded rudder control lines, I set about replacing them with something better. I had some etched brass parts left over from my IJN Hatsuzuki project and thought they’d be perfect for an easy upgrade; the support fittings were replaced with parts from a Gold Medal Models 1/200 scale IJN 2-Bar Railing set.
Things were looking pretty good until I test fitted the wire – which showed that even though the supports were in a much smaller scale, they were still too tall!
I’ll be watching this Tim for sure.
