Fans of the Imperial Japanese Navy have something new to put on their wish lists – a new, beautifully illustrated reference book! Kagero, based in Lublin, Poland, has published a new addition to their illustrated 3D series of historic warships. They have previously published 3D books on the Heavy Cruisers Takao and Aoba.

Using computerized graphics, the authors have created detailed 3-D illustrations of the Tone’s exterior from stem to stern from nearly every possible angle, in what appears to be her appearance after her last refit in the summer of 1944. It also comes with a bonus foldout that provides a profile of the ship rendered in black and white and some additional illustrations.

The book provides a brief historical overview of the cruiser, in what appears to be translated from the original Polish. The Tone and her sister ship the Chikuma were modifications of the Mogami class which arranged all of the ships guns forward of the superstructure. The ship was originally configured as a light cruiser but with the expiration of the Washington and London disarmament treaties, it was modified and carried eight-inch guns instead. They had a large, uncluttered fantail that allowed the Tone and her sister to carry scouting planes to work with the fleet. The Tone had an active career and took part in the Guadalcanal campaign, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, and was sunk in the last months of the war at the Kure naval base.

For those who have advanced modeling syndrome, this is a perfect book for super detailing the 1/350th Tone kit from Tamiya. I can only assume that the authors did all of the necessary research to make certain that illustrations show her correct configuration. There are no photographs in this book to compare the illustrations with, but that’s fine. The computer-generated illustrations are phenomenal. If you are looking for a detailed description of the ship’s evolution through its inevitable refits, you will have to look elsewhere. Thankfully, the author includes a short but concise bibliography of additional works to consult. Also, several years ago, Squadron published a book on the various classes of Japanese Heavy Cruisers that includes period photographs and is a great counterpoint to this work. The captions are rather sparse and, while doing an excellent job of describing each view, they don’t do much else, but that’s not the purpose of this book.

If you are looking for an in-depth look at the IJN Tone, this is the book for you. The illustrations are clear and concise and could easily act as a guide in modeling the Tone. My thanks to IPMS/USA and Kagero publications for providing me this book to review.