Fujimi 1/150 Tokyo Water Bus 'Himiko', previewed by Scott Van Aken

The Tokyo Cruise Ship (東京都観光汽船 Tōkyō-to Kankō Kisen, "Tokyo Metropolis Sightseeing Ship") is a water bus operator in Tokyo. Unlike Tokyo Metropolitan Park Associartion (Tokyo Mizube Line), another water bus operator in Tokyo, Tokyo Cruise Ship is a private company. The services include public lines listed below, as well as event cruises and chartered ships.

The Himiko is a very futuristic looking addition to the fleet. Designed by Leiji Matsumoto, a well known manga and anime author, whose best known work is probably Space Battleship Yamato, the Himiko is unlike what comes to mind when one thinks about the subject. Himiko (170-248 CE) was a shaman queen of Yamataikoku in ancient Wa (Japan) circa 170-248 AD.

THE KIT

One has to give companies like Fujimi credit for producing kits of some very unusual subjects; things that we would never see from Revell or Italeri. This is obviously a kit designed for the home market as aside from the various warnings and the color guide, the instructions (and that includes an addendum slip) are in Japanese.

There are actually two kits in the box. One is the ship itself and the other is a shrine complex with base. I am not sure why the second item was included and it is probably clearly spelled out on the addendum sheet, could I read it.

Starting with the ship, there are two major parts, an upper and lower hull. The lower hull will take a ton of small tie-downs as well as a rear section with a railing. The upper hull will take all the rest of the bits, and this includes a number of very tiny hand holds/steps as well as various antennas and the clear pieces.

These clear pieces make up about 40% of the windows you see in the box art. The rest are molded into the upper hull, which is a solid blue plastic. There is no interior so this is undoubtedly the reason for not having all the windows molded in a clear blue. However, the kit does expect you to leave those areas on the blue upper hull in that color and so supplies a very extensive set of masks. Though these windows are large on the real ship, in 1/150 they can get quite small.

The second kit that is included is a temple/shrine complex. There are three buildings, one of which is a tall pagoda. A large rectangular black base is also included onto which you can set these buildings. I am guessing that this set is already done as a stand alone kit and was included to add value. I have been told (thanks, Phil) that the kit of the pagoda in the box is almost certainly meant to be the five-storied pagoda in Asakusa Park, near the main water bus terminus on the Sumida River

The instructions are well drawn and use Gunze paint references. There is a small decal sheet for the Homiko.

CONCLUSIONS

If you are a ship builder and tired of cruisers and submarines or a modeler of some other genre, this would be a great change of pace.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the Note to Contributors.

KIT #:	910062
PRICE:	2800 yen
DECALS:	One option
REVIEWER:	Scott Van Aken
NOTES:	New tool kit