IJN Heavy Cruiser Tone

[Shar2]

IJN Heavy Cruiser Tone

Kagero Super Drawings in 3D

The IJN Tone and her sistership Chikuma were the last heavy cruisers to be completed for the Japanese Navy during World War 2. They were of pretty radical design, with all the main armament forward of the bridge with the after section of the ships used for the storage and catapulting the aircraft she carried. Sometimes classed as aircraft carrying cruisers, these ships provided invaluable reconnaissance capabilities throughout their time with the Japanese task forces. The Tone served throughout the war only to be sunk on July 24th 1945.

The book is in the form of Kageros 3D format with the first fifteen pages dedicated to the history of construction, modernisations, armour protection, powerplant, individual weapons systems and operational history of this great ship. The rest of the book is filled with highly detailed 3D renderings of every part of the main decks and superstructure. All the drawings are supremely well done and will be an absolute goldmine of information for the locations of the many different bits of smaller equipment not normally shown in side drawings or plans, such as all the rigging wires and there attachments.

The addition of a pull out double sided sheet, with line drawings of the superstructure on one side and side views in 1:350 scale on the reverse is a very nice bonus.

Conclusion

A brilliantly laid out book with superbly drawn and rendered pictures plus a good potted history of this amazing looking ship. I can highly recommend this book to all interested in the Tone.

Review sample courtesy of