The Ship Model Forum

plus I, unfortunately, still do have to work

You are not alone, unfortunately.

I will certainly continue to update if any significant photos are found or I come across some other interesting material. But as a practical matter those things only happen every few years or so. (Remember that this is one of my *many* hobbies, plus I, unfortunately, still do have to work). That's why I liked leaving the website "on autopilot" for years at a time.

But Lycos pissed me off and 'forced my hand' to create something of a more permanent nature that would be much more useful as a downloadable pdf "book". Too much time and passion has been put into this to just let it go into oblivion.

BTW, it appears that the photos can be imported full-sized, so unless there are some SNAFUs along the way, you should be able to zoom WAYYYYYYY in to see details. But it will be simpler to work than was the Tripod photo album format - if maybe not as pretty. And it will remain in the "easy on the eyes" dark mode format of the site.

But yeah, updating the file and then uploading the revised version is easy enough. If I do, I will make sure to post updates here.

Sounds really promising, fingers crossed!

Will you continue to update the database? We can continue to download over time.

Thank you Dan! Feedback like this (I already heard from Antony Tully on another forum) is what motivates me to keep on going with this project!

And I will probably add quite a few "Bonus" photos towards the end of the "Book", so ... stay tuned!

Standing by. Much appreciated.

June 26, 2025 ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING THE YAMATO/MUSASHI INTERNET PHOTO ARCHIVE:

As Sam Clemens might have put it, "The reports of the demise of the Internet's Yamato and Musashi Photo Archive are greatly exaggerated."

Several weeks ago the aged legacy Lycos/Tripod hosting servers for the Archive gave up the ghost - with no warning and with no customer support available from Lycos. As y'all know if you've perused those pages, this archive is a labor of love that I created in 2008 and periodically updated through 2024.

Well, I plan to "have the last laugh".

Since the Lycos/Tripod hosting "ship went down", taking the Yamato/Musashi Archive with it, I have been working on a downloadable desktop version of the COMPLETE archive. Once it is finished and hosted, you will be able to download it in pdf format for inclusion in your own personal digital IJN history library.

In this way I hope that my nearly two decades of work on this project will continue to be available to those interested in history of the Pacific War.

I will post an update with a link once the digital Desktop Yamato Archive is available for download.

Cheers!!

Years ago I got the Tamiya 1/700 (1998 tool) Yamato as part of the Ltd Ed box set that was released containing all the UJN ships that were involved in Yamato's last mission to Okinawa. To save me trawling through all the many pages of posts here or having to do masses of research, I was hoping for a bit of help, so I can work out what I'm doing with the kit, seeing as I've started to build it. First of all I'm assuming the kit is supposed to represent the ship as in Apr 45. I know it's missing single 25mm guns and I read that the mast part of the crane had been removed and the wooden deck was blackened for the mission. Am I right so far with that? Also was the wooden deck blackened so it was darker than the metal decks? I also assume no aircraft would have been carried on that mission, is that correct too?

If I wanted to model the ship as at Leyte Gulf is there anything I'd need to do to backdate the kit, compared to how the kit is oob? I know the single 25mm guns might be less than in 45 but what about anything else? I know better models have been released since this one but it has been started and I bought Eduard + GMM etch for it and a wooden deck set, plus it's been started, so it's getting done one way or another!

thanks
Mike

I would like to share with you

The youtube channel SEN NAVY MODEL FACTORY is doing a comparison:

Unpacking video for 1/350 BORDER YAMATO and VERY FIRE YAMATO
Here is the link :
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_3CAPMy8L4s&t=3006s

1/350 TAMIYA &Very Fire &Border YAMATO stage 1 Hull build
Here is the link address:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb13XGgx5 ... F0bw%3D%3D


1/350 TAMIYA &BORDER &VERY FIRE YAMATO Stern structure comparison
Here is the link address:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sBrf1qdol9A&t=447s

First in the states.........

https://spruebrothers.com/bdmbs004-1-35 ... mato-1945/

Now's you chance to own the first wave of Border Model Yamato kits.

A must for your collection!

Jim

For those interested in the Border Model 1:350 Yamato, it's now available through eBay sites. Prices vary around $230 USD plus shipping. I happened to get lucky and found one for $205 and free FedEx International Priority from Korea. Received this today after only 2 day wait. Kit is packed nicely with bubble wrap sheets protecting entire hull and sprue bags. 3D parts are packed in 3 plastic boxes. A must for any Yamato builder.

Thanks Dan for your quick reply (as always)! I was planning to use only Petes so XF-11 it is.

IIRC, the greens differ based on factory, Mitsubishi (XF-11) vs Nakajima (XF-70).

The FM-1 Petes were built only by Mitsubishi.

Hi all,

I am currently building IJN "Musashi" from the old Tamiya kit (will report it later on). While painting the planes I met a strange problem: the "correct" Dark Green colour. Which is the "correct " Tamiya dark green colour for the planes? IJN Tone instructions say XF-70 Dark Green 2 while instructions for IJN Musashi say XF-11 J.N.Green? No biggie, but it would be nice to make it right.

Thanks!

Hi,

I would like to share with you the review of Very Fire 1/350 IJN Yamato kit . Within 3 month ,there are 32K views, and 14K likes .

Here is the link :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL6najPvGLY

Ultimate Detail Model Kit, Very Fire 1/350 Yamato Deluxe Edition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL6najPvGLY

New Very Fire 1/350 IJN Musashi Kit

Looks like air shipping from Hong Kong would be around $100, so the $150 store price I posted for the Border Yamato on the previous page would be more than what you'd pay Squadron at the higher store price but with free shipping to the lower 48 states.

Is this a good price Guys?

https://squadron.com/1-350-border-model ... tocknotify