introduction

Japanese Army Field Kitchen Equipment is a new 1/35 set from PlusModel. It is a set with resin, plastic, and photo-etch parts and pieces.

Armies travel on their stomach and field kitchens have been popular models for a long time. The good folks at PlusModel produce scores of innovative and popular kits and accessories. Thanks to them, modelers of the Imperial Japanese Army (Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun; "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") who want to model the essential mess area now have this set to create a behind-the-lines scene.

For those interested in what the various items were used for, the site The Lone Sentry hosts a composite of US military intel reports about Japanese army food, which you can access via Click here for additional images for this review, at the bottom of this review.

The Set

I counted 51 pieces (40 resin or plastic parts and pieces, and 11 P/E parts) for this set:

Bowl, Rice, Large X 3
Bowl, Rice, Small X 3
Canteen X 3
Cup, Tea X 3
Field Oven/Wok and Stove Pipe parts X 4 (5 if you include the extra lid; 9 if you include the P/E handles)
Mess kits X 3
Pot for tea X 1
Pot, Covered X 2
Bucket, Large X 1
Bucket, Medium X 2
Bucket, Small X 1
Sack, rice and barley, Large X 1
Sacks, stacked X 1
Saki bottles (clear plastic) X 6
Table X 3
Wood crates X 2

A small brass fret of P/E is included. It features handles for the mess kits, wok lid, tea pot and other pots.

Casting is crisp. I found no flaws. However, the size of the pour blocks and excess plugs seem to be excessive; when trying to carve them away my trusty heavy-duty hobby knife blade just couldn't cut it. (Pardon the pun.) I had to resort to a razor saw.

Detail

PlusModel sculpted the parts with great finesse. The sides of the cups and bowls are so thin that care must be taken in handling or they can be crushed. Each tea cup has an open handle that is easy to knock off. The P/E brass parts are also to-scale thin but it is soft, perhaps too soft, as it is easy to deform. Each handle is etched with minutes pin that fits into minute holes in their respective resin parts.

Yet from the latches of the mess kits, saki bottle caps, and rope binding of the rice bags, the fidelity of detail is excellent.

Instructions

Very simple line art.

There is no guidance about what colors to paint the items aside from the box art. I primed everything with a white primer to best show detail. A couple of items, the table and wok/oven, and a mess kit, are painted for variety.

Japanese bowls and cups were ceramic, wood, or metal. I do not know if there were any standard "army issue" items. Personally, I intend to paint my tea pot and rice bowls to resemble crockery, and everything else as a metal.

For display purposes I posed a pair of IJA tankers with the set.

Conclusion

This is an excellent set with great potential for dioramas and stowage for IJA models. The parts feature crisp molding and fine to-scale detail. Great care must be exercised in handling some of the pieces because they are delicate. I am disappointed with the big excess resin plugs that must be removed. The fine p/e handles are easy to deform.

Overall I am very enthusiastic about this set. I never dreamt that someone would create an IJA field kitchen. I highly recommend this set for modelers of Imperial Japan. PlusModel has provided the modeling world a wonderful set.