The Ship Model Forum

[quote="karih"]Hi pascalemod,

This photo of the Yamato stern is from the Skulski book (which I strongly recommend to buy, if you want to make a "proper" version of the Yamato).[/quote]

I have that book (red one) but seemingly missed the photo of the stern thinkning im looking at a rudder! Very good indeed. The ships 3D model is also on Youtube from them, so you can see it rotate. I have used it to double check the question 2) I had, and confirmed the high antifouling assumption. ;) Page 13 photo aligns well with the 3D photo.

Hi pascalemod,

This photo of the Yamato stern is from the Skulski book (which I strongly recommend to buy, if you want to make a "proper" version of the Yamato).

[quote="karih"][quote="pascalemod"]This is amazing bit of work and detail!

Couple of questions (as one Yamato sits in my stash):

1) Got more shots of that stern? Why did you go through the effort of redesign, what evidence did you use to be convinced this is the way?

2) I notice that you painted the antifouling red all the way up to those "pipes" on the side of the ship (forget the term?). Most kits would have it lower, in line with the waterline markings. Did IJN really paint it higher?[/quote]

Thank you pascalemod for your positive comments!

For the questions:

1) I followed the styling of the Kure model although it differs from the design in the Skulski book and one of the photos from the wreck suggests that Skulski might be right.

2) Once again, I followed the Skulski book and some of the photos (Yamato sea trials & Yamato in Kure) hint that the antifouling was painted rather high, but very difficult to see where the upper level is in comparison with the scupper pipes. Please check the Yamato photo database.[/quote]

1) So you have seen that stern wreck photo? Any chance at all to take a look at it? I looked everywere and couldnt find anything, but did think that the stern shape was either meant for launching the ship backwards, or - damaged from hitting the sea floor. But curious to see your take, yes.

2) I did check one of the trials figure where she is in port, overlayed on 3d model - very close match to the Skulski higher up waterline, so Im with you on that. It should be painted up. Up to the scupper pipes. Mine will be like that. Builders model would not be (Kure) but it does not matter. I think the wartime was different to "planned" and they sat lower with fuel etc. Higher up antifouling would make sense as regulare paint would weather a lot worse. Especially if ship sat in port, which it did. a lot.

[quote="pascalemod"]This is amazing bit of work and detail!

Couple of questions (as one Yamato sits in my stash):

1) Got more shots of that stern? Why did you go through the effort of redesign, what evidence did you use to be convinced this is the way?

2) I notice that you painted the antifouling red all the way up to those "pipes" on the side of the ship (forget the term?). Most kits would have it lower, in line with the waterline markings. Did IJN really paint it higher?[/quote]

Thank you pascalemod for your positive comments!

For the questions:

1) I followed the styling of the Kure model although it differs from the design in the Skulski book and one of the photos from the wreck suggests that Skulski might be right.

2) Once again, I followed the Skulski book and some of the photos (Yamato sea trials & Yamato in Kure) hint that the antifouling was painted rather high, but very difficult to see where the upper level is in comparison with the scupper pipes. Please check the Yamato photo database.

This is amazing bit of work and detail!

Couple of questions (as one Yamato sits in my stash):

1) Got more shots of that stern? Why did you go through the effort of redesign, what evidence did you use to be convinced this is the way?

2) I notice that you painted the antifouling red all the way up to those "pipes" on the side of the ship (forget the term?). Most kits would have it lower, in line with the waterline markings. Did IJN really paint it higher?

AUXILIARIES continues with boats & crane.

[b][color=#0000FF][size=150]AUXILIARIES[/size][/color][/b]

The Tamiya kit contained poor quality planes and boats, so I replaced both of them. I used Hasegawa's Japanese Navy Ship-borne Seaplane Set A for visible planes (the ones in the hangar were kit planes) and Tamiya's own WWII Japanese Navy Utility Boat Set for boats. Luckily, the otherwise poor Eduard PE set had parts for catapults, crane and Type 21 radar above the Hoiban range finder.

[b][color=#0000FF][size=150]RIG[/size][/color][/b]

After seeing Katana's comprehensive study of the Yamato rigging, I was a bit afraid to start the job. In the end I decided to do a rather simple version since the target of this build was never to reach any award winning level. If I remember correctly, I used three different kind of thread: AK Interactive's Thin for the longitudinal wires & Ultra thin for the verticals plus Infini's Super Fine white for the halyards. I also added some white cylinderical insulators & brown ball insulators (some white glue + paint). Despite having a few disasters, the end results was quite ok.

[quote="Edoardo81"]Uao you are building it really fast![/quote]

Actually Edoardo, it took me more than a year to finish, but due to health issues, I did not start writing the thread before. Now that it is finished, I thought that it would be nice to show the whole project not only the final photos.

[quote="SG1"]I love those tower railings! :cool_2: Amazing finish and weathering. Bravo![/quote]

Thank You SG1 for your kind words! Well appreciated.

Uao you are building it really fast!

I love those tower railings! :cool_2: Amazing finish and weathering. Bravo!

ARMAMENT continues with single 25 mm AA guns and twin 12 mm machine guns plus the ammunition boxes.

ARMAMENT continues with AA guns.

Once again, Eduard set did not have PE parts for the actual AA guns (only the shields were included), so I purchased some nice sets from Infini which are definetely high quality products. However, they are also very tiresome to build due to excessive number of parts. Eg. the triple 25 mm AA guns consists of 20 individual parts and since there are 27 of those, it means 540 parts for those guns (a tough project within a project :Mad_6: ). But the end result is impressive.

[color=#0000FF][b][size=150]ARMAMENT[/size][/b][/color]

Main armament consisting 9 pcs of 460 mm cannons in 3 turrets and 6 pcs of 155 mm cannons in two turrets was fairly straightforward to build. I had purchased metallic barrels for both of them and also for the 105 mm AA guns. Eduard set did not have the railings for those guns, so I used generic PE sets instead.

[quote="StevenVD"]I think you managed this just fine. I once repaired an old broken Tamiya Bismarck and I also used Eduard for it. It's not conclusive and it doesn't correct the kit errors but the investment is more reasonable than using an expensive Pontos set on a kit that's not the best anymore. The rigging looks complicated, you pulled it off beautifully though I think it's not the superfine elastic thread?[/quote]

Thank You Steven :thumbs_up_1: !

That was actually my thinking when I bought the Eduard set. No point in spending a fortune when the starting point is already poor.

If I remember right, I used a thicker elastic thread for the longitudinal wires and superfine for the vertical wires & halyards.

I think you managed this just fine. I once repaired an old broken Tamiya Bismarck and I also used Eduard for it. It's not conclusive and it doesn't correct the kit errors but the investment is more reasonable than using an expensive Pontos set on a kit that's not the best anymore. The rigging looks complicated, you pulled it off beautifully though I think it's not the superfine elastic thread?

Deck & superstructure: final touches with railings.

Deck & superstructure continues with the Pontos wooden deck.

This was my first ever wooden deck assembly and it was a bit tricky because the old Tamiya tooling has included a big part of the superstucture in the deck mould. This meant that every hole, bend and corner had to be adjusted painstakingly before the actual glueing. It took me several hours to get everything ok (and not to damage the fragile material). It also meant that most of the paint work for the superstructure had to be made before mounting the wooden deck. For the same reason, I also stained the deck before the mounting. I tried to copy the colour of an aged & weathered cypress wood. So, although it looks a bit towards grey, it was not my idea to copy the black stained deck during the breakthrough in the San Bernardino Strait (which seem to have lead to some "heated" discussions in the net).

Deck & superstructure continues with the command tower & initial painting.