This is Model Art Magazine’s special quarterly issue that focuses on naval subjects. As with the regular Model Art Magazine this is printed in Japanese with some English subtitles.

The feature article in the Autumn 2014 Vessel Model Special is on the IJN Battleship "Ise and "Hyuga". The article uses period photos and models to show the changes made to these battleships during the course of their life. If you are not familiar with either of these ships, the changes that were made was the inclusion of a flight deck to the rear of the ships. Included are several build articles and one scratch built 1/96 IJN Battleship Ise.

The rest of the magazine is several short articles. Starting off with the DDH-118 Hyuga JMSDF helicopter destroyer in 1/700 scale, a separate article on the "Ise" including multiple period photos and line drawings showing it's transformation during it's service life. There is also an article that covers the colors used by the JMSDF on their ships and the different shades that can be found. There is the "New kit selection" featuring the 1/700 Hasegawa IJN "Akagi 1941" and the 1/700 Tamiya CV-3 "Saratoga". Then you have a detail series that runs in each issue, This time they cover details of Akagi. The last article you find is the Revell archives. This issue they cover the 1/500 Revell USS Shangri-La Angled deck carrier. This article features several of the box tops from different manufacturers as this mold has changed hands many times and also includes several photos of the actual kit.

If you are a fan of IJN or JMSDF I recommend this magazine to you. Yes it is in Japanese, but in this day and age of technology there are translators out there that will allow you to read them.

I want to thank Model Art Magazine and IPMS/USA for allowing me the opportunity to review this great publication.