Model Art Magazine is a monthly magazine that covers aircraft, armor, ships, and car modeling. Model Art started releasing magazines in 1966 and has evolved from there over the past forty-six years. They also release many special releases during the year as is the case of this issue.

This issue is the second in the series Ship Model Database Extra Edition. The first covered IJN Destroyers that were produced from 1918–1941, and this one covers the IJN Carriers 1922–1945. The carriers included in this are the Hosho, Akagi, Kaga, Ryujo, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku, Zuikaku, Taiho, Unryu, Amagi, Katsuragi, Shinano, Shoho, Zuiho, Ryuho, Chitose, Chiyoda, Hiyo, Junyo, Taiyo, Unyo, Chuyo, Kaiyo, and Shinyo. The magazine is broken down into eleven sections. I will cover each section below.

Section one consists of fifty-three pages of period photos and line drawings of the aforementioned carriers. Several of the carriers went through modifications, and these are reflected chronologically in the line drawings, showing the changes along with some of the photos. The text is primarily Japanese, but this is still great reference material for modelers.

Section two covers what is available to the modeling world as far as kits go in 1/700 scale. The manufacturers represented are Fujimi, Hasegawa, Aoshima, Tamiya, and Pit Road. You can find almost all of these carriers (except for two or three) from these manufacturers.

In sections three through six you will find actual builds of a few of these carriers. Within these sections there are many tips and techniques on how to improve the appearance of your models. Some of the techniques range from working with photo etch, plate representation with Mr. Surfacer, seam filling, painting techniques to represent wood planks, and weathering techniques.

Sections seven through ten cover the aircraft found on the carriers. There are period photos of the aircraft and of the models available. The final part of these sections deals with paint schemes and markings found on the aircraft prior to World War II through the end.

Even though Model Art is mainly printed in Japanese, I still find it to be a very valuable resource. For those that are more technologically advanced, there are apps that will translate Japanese to English. I use one of these and it really helps to understand the articles. I recommend Model Art Magazine to modelers as another publication that you can pull information from.

I would like to thank Model Art and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review this magazine.