I noticed that Kozo Izumi's book "Scale Model Warships" is up for
auction on eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?
ViewItem&item=5987650353&category=2590&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1). I've
got the book myself, so I'm pretty familiar with it. Anyone who
hasn't seen it can get an idea if you have seen P.C. Coker's
book "Building Warship Models." He has a lot of excerpted drawings
from the Izumi book.

It mostly covers, in unbelievable, exquisite detail, a step-by-step,
fully illustrated, account of the modeling of the antiaircraft
destroyer Akizuki, from the keel to the rigging and flags. Every
single ladder, hatch, davit, and piece of bridge furniture is
covered by clear how-to-do-it drawings. Even the dust jacket is a
valuable source of rare info, as it gives the various shades of gray
used by various Japanese shipyards.

It's about scratchbuilding, but it would be really useful for
ultradetailing Nichimo's 1/200 scale Akizuki

The auctioneer is clearly not a ship modeler himself, as he misses
these key points in the ad. He's also asking a lot of money for it,
but I searched the Internet and the only other copy I saw reference
to was sold in 2002 for $200. I would say that if you can afford
it, and if you're interested in modeling Japanese navy ships of
World War Two, or if you just want to learn these marvelous
techniques Izumi used, which can be applied to modeling anything, it
might be worth getting even at that price, if you can afford it. I
got my copy in 1973 for $25 bucks, but try to find it today anywhere
at any price!

Bruce