Imperial Japanese Navy

Battleship
FUSO

Battleship Fuso was one of the superdreadnoughts built around the world in the second decade of the
twentieth century. Following the Japanese navy ambitions to built ships bigger and more powerful than those
designed by other countries, the ships of the class - Fuso and Yamashiro- were indeed one of the finest at the
time. They compared well with British Queen Elizabeth class, being somewhat slower, and were noticably
superior to US Navy’s Nevadas and German Konigs. Both ships were extensively modernized in the midwar
period and, at the start of World War 2, their silhouette was drastically altered. The ships received a distinc-
tive “pagoda” style superstructure, massive rear tower and one of the two funnels was eliminated. Equipment
to operate scout seaplanes was installed and anti-aircraft armament was greately improved.
Both Fuso and Yamashiro were sunk on October 25, 1944 in Surigao Strait, during an ill-fated attempt
by the Japanese Navy to prevent an American landing in Leyte Gulf. There is ongoing controversy as to
which ship sunk first - Fuso or Yamashiro. This question - apart from purly historical value - is imprtant in
establishing which ship holds the dubious honor of being the last capital ship in the history of naval warfare
sunk in a direct gun battle between battleships.

The model was designed in 1:250 scale and represents the ship as she appeared after main moderniza-
tion in 1933. Before her loss in 1944, the ship underwent two more modernizations, including lengthening of
the stern to accomodate aircraft equipment moved there, and raising of the ship bulges to the quarterdeck
level. The basic reference for this model was Janusz Skulski’s book “The Battleship Fuso” published by
Naval Institute Press in the Anatomy of the Ship series.
All sheets are of “international size”, 26x19 cm, and will print without cropping on both letter and A4
size paper. Do not use the “scale to fit” feature of your printer (as this may distort proportions of the parts),
and print all the sheets (including the instructions) with the heighest resolution available on your printer.

Assembly
These instructions identify the main parts and components of the model and give general directions of
assembly. Use pictures of the finished model included on the CD as an additional guide.

1. The hull

As with all Digital Navy models all parts of the hull frame should be reinforced to 1mm thickness.
 It is essential to keep the hull frame straight, free of any warping and twisting. Start by attaching water-
line, part 17, to a flat surface and install all the “above waterline” elements of the frame, including all decks.
Hint: how to avoid frame twisting - make slots in the longitudinal (18 and 19) and transverse bulkheads (1 to
16) wide enough so the parts fit loosly and slide into each other without resistance. Tight fit in those areas
can introduce twisting tension and deformation to the hull.
Tabs along parts 21 and 22 are not “gluing tabs”. Bending them at 45 - 75 degrees will stiffen the parts
and keep them straight.

2. Hull plating
Start by installing underwater plating of the hull. Use strips on sheet 13 and 26 printed on thin paper to
create some more gluing surface along the bulkheads. It is my usual advice to
start installing hull plating from one of the midhull segments- 9-10 for ex-
ample. The reason is simple - any mistake made with the placement of this
element will be passed along to the next elements with the chance of increas-
ing. If you start plating the hull from the bow or stern this “passing” along of
the possible mistake will occure 16 times (number of hull segments), when you
start from midhull only 8 times. Fig. 4 illustrates layout of the propeller shafts
and rudders. Please note that the test model, pictures of which are included on
the CD, has installed - mistakenly - only one rudder. In reality, the ship had two
rudders of course. Covering of the upper part of the hull begins with parts 31,
32 and 33 which means that
all casemates for 150mm
guns have to be installed.
Fig.5 shows typical case-
mate assembly. When
carefully assembled, part 47
should rotate freely. With all
casemates in place glue
parts 31, 32 and 33 to the
hull followed by parts 30,
36 and 38. The last to be installed are parts 34 and 35. Note that the tabs on parts 31 and 32 should be bent
only very slightly.

3. Main tower
The superstructure of the Fuso was divided into three distinctive
groups - main tower, funnel structure and rear tower.They can be
assembled in any sequence, as they are independent of each other.
Here, we start with the main tower, the most complex, but also the
most visually attractive, part of the ship.
The tower is constructed around the main leg of the front mast,
just like in the real ship. Roll part 59 around a straight, 10” long
bamboo skewer to make the part strong, since it will be a guide for
the rest of the tower. See pictures included on the CD showing how
the tower was assembled. The following diagrams illustrate the steps
of the tower construction. Circles colored red on the decks of the
tower are to be cut out. It is important to keep consequtive levels of
the tower perpendicular to the main leg of the mast - check fre-
quently the alignment of the parts as the construction progresses.
 In the step illustrated in Fig.10 install the lower
portion of the supporting legs of the main mast - parts 60.
Slide the legs from above part 53. The next platform - part
63 - will close access to lower levels making insertion of
legs 60 impossible.
Some parts, 55 and 65 for example, have windows which
can be cut out or left in place. In case you decide to cut them out,
which can greatly improve the overall apperance of the model,
please refer to the Digital Navy web site FAQ section, for hints
and tips. Splinter shields on some parts require painting of inside
faces. There are numerous accessories to be installed on the
tower. Some of them can be added when the entire superstructure
is finished - observation posts 97, rangefinders 93 and 94, binocu-
lars assembly 98 and 99. On some levels, 51 and 53 for example,
it is easier to add small parts before closing the level.
 Note that after completeing construction of platform
72 and all associated parts, the upper parts of supporting
legs of the main mast, parts 61, have to be installed.
Subsequent levels will close access to this section of the
superstructure.