Many warships in World War 2 took hits to the steering gear, particularly caused by aerial torpedos. The Imperial Japanese Navy realized quickly that ships may need emergency steering arrangements. IJN vessels started appearing with large reinforced wooded structures near the stern, which could be lowered to act as emergency rudders.

This set from Flyhawk includes 3 difference sizes of emergency rudder, suitable for battleships, aircraft carriers or light cruisers. Each photoeteched rudder has a simulated wood grain pattern, and all are of a single style of reinforement- some sources indicated there may have been an alternate type of rudder with a different pattern of metal reinforcements.

A single sheet of instructions is included. Not all the parts on this fret are listed, so plan your assembly with caution.

An overlooked detail on some ships, it is little sets like this which allow modelers to add the extra level of detail to their ships.

This is set #FH 350043 1/350 IJN Emergency Set has a list price of $11.95. Flyhawk products are available from many online and traditional retailers. Modelwarships.com thanks Flyhawk for providing this review sample. /td>