The Ship Model Forum

I'll soon be adding my name to the long list of Yamato modellers, as in a week or so (depends on the shipping time) I should have a 4" long 1/250 Yamato kit (which will require many months of scratchbuilding!) - so I've a few questions to add to this thread.

Basically, I need to find out the differences between Yamato and Musashi - both as built and in 1944 - and possibly also the configuration of Yamato in 1943/44, particularly the number and type of 25mm AA mounts fitted.

I am thinking of building my model as Musashi in 1944 "as sunk" configuration. I'm surprised how much this ship is overshadowed by its more famous sister, particularly since it was also sunk in action. If the conversion to Musashi isn't practical, or I can't find the references I need, I'll probably build it as Yamato in mid-war configuration.

I don't think the Doyusha kit represents any particular fit (much like the Lindberg Hood) but it appears to be closest to a mid-war fit, as it has no side 6" turrets, and a lot more 25mm mounts (both open and enclosed) than the 1941 fit, though a lot fewer than 1945. (The Yamato and Musashi kits appear to be identical other than the box). The 25mm mounts will have to be mostly (or entirely) scratchbuilt in any case, but the number required for the 1945 fit would be daunting, even if I used resin casting.

Skulski's AotS book includes plans for the Yamato "as built" (1941) and "as sunk" (April 1945); however, surprisingly there is no information on how it looked in between. (It's an amazing book nevertheless and I'd recommend it to anyone building the Yamato, whether in 1/1200 or 1/72 scale.)
I've also downloaded the photos of the 1/10 museum model - these will be very useful for painting and detail reference, but this model also seems to represent the Yamato in its final configuration.

Could anyone help me with this?

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Model Ship Kit Reviews

Fujimi's Super Yammy now has a version with PE:

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10056743

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De quoi s'agit-il?

problem is the japanese succeeded in destroying most of their archives with technical info etc , combined with lack of references such as fotos either friendly or enemy you end up with what you have which is not much, even skulski had to revise his original book on Yamato after he discovered new material years after the first edition came out (got to find the new one now ).There is no point trying to be a detective were there are simply no clues left anymore.Nevertheless goodluck.

I didn't realise information on the Yamato during the mid-war period was so limited - that explains things!
My copy of the AotS book is dated 1988, so I assume this is the original, unrevised edition.

According to http://www.combinedfleet.com/yamato.htm, 4 new triple 25mm mounts were added in the 1943 refit; in February 1944, a further 8 triple mounts were added along with 26 single. In November 1944, to quote the Combined Fleet page, "Twenty-four older 25-mm AA single mounts are removed. Twenty-seven 25-mm AA guns (9 triple mounts) are fitted in their place". It would probably be possible to work out the 1944 AA fit from this.
The 1943 fit would require a lot more work as there were a number of other changes to the ship in February 1944, notably to the radar and the 6" turrets.

On the plus side, the enclosed 25mm mounts in the Doyusha kit aren't too bad and are probably usable with some added detail (though the open 25mm mounts are fairly crude and the 105mms are awful). However there are only 9 of them included.

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Model Ship Kit Reviews

Allow me to repost a link that came up in this thread which I kept under close bookmark:

http://homepage1.nifty.com/watakan/yamato/data/#yamato_spec

I think this should help. Personally, I'm a bit of a fan of the as-built version. Perhaps later...

How does/will the Fujimi kit compare with the (new mold) Tamiya:
1) Quality-wise (detail, accuracy, molding)?
2) Era (early, mid, late)?
3) If they are both very good, can one be modeled as Musashi without too much extra effort?

I have the new-tooled Tamiya Yamato and it's a VERY fine model, much better than my 1:600 Arii kit (which I felt was quite good).

PE or no PE, the Fujimi model must be a winner to start with--I might buy it unless it's the same old molding "updated" by simply throwing-in the word "Super" and a fret of metal parts.

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Danny DON'T "waterline"...!

Umm, by "Super", it means the never-built dual 20" version

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De quoi s'agit-il?

Even worse! A never-was.....

Thanks, Timmy!

except for the turrets i would expect everything else to be the same (it looks like that from all the pics i could get anyway).But if you want to know about the fujimi's late war version of the yamato i have that as well-see box art on first page under my picture post thread "new fuso/yamashiro pictures".The interesting bit is the kit has in the hull portion all the closed portholes were the tamiya one simply has not even an indication of them being there in the first place.
see the pics below.As for the rest of the kit they are pretty much identical with the exeption of tamiya providing much more better main guns.

This, I appreciate! Thank you for your reply--it appears I may have to do some kit-bashing, making a better model using parts from both kits! As for detailing parts, I've picked-up a number of PitRoad equipment sets and a bunch of photo-etch IJN sets, so i can easily compare kit parts with aftermarket stuff. I'll have to grab one of these Fujimi kits on my next order.

I've avoided buying Fujimi/Seaway products except for their Kai Matsu destroyer escort, on grounds of poor quality and detailing when compared to others. On a side note, another Fujimi kit I may acquire, is their Tone kit. This class of IJN heavy cruiser is the only one I haven't purchased a model of yet, and I understand Fujimi's version is pretty good.

Again, thanks much-ly!!

It turns out I was wrong - Skulski's book does include a (1/1200 scale) general arrangement plan of Yamato in October 1944. It's not in the General Arrangement section, but in the Superstructure section, on page 84. I only got the book last month and haven't read the whole thing from cover to cover, so I missed this page.
The AA configuration of the Doyusha 1/250 kit appears to be fairly close to the mid-1944 fit.

An odd thing I noticed about the 1944 AA fit is that there are two open gun tubs either side of (I think) the "B" 18.1" turret; on one side both of these have triple 25mm mounts, but on the other side there is one triple and one single mount. What's the reason for this asymmetric configuration - were there simply not enough triple mounts available at the time of the refit?

Another thing I found (probably already well known, but I don't remember seeing it mentioned): the hull scuttles/portholes were plated over during the February 1944 fit - this might be a tricky job to scratchbuild, though I think PE portholes for IJN ships are available in 1/350 (WEM certainly sell a set intended for Kriegsmarine ships) The difference maybe wouldn't be noticeable in 1/700 or smaller. I'll be building my Yamato (decided against building it as Musashi due to lack of reference) in late 1944 fit in any case.

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Model Ship Kit Reviews

5/19/2007 UPDATE:

Even more 'battle scenes' of the Yamato added to the website - from the movie website. Close-ups. Real nice!

Check them out here:

http://bucketfoot-al.tripod.com/DinoMod ... m?i=79&s=1

http://bucketfoot-al.tripod.com/DinoMod ... m?i=80&s=1

http://bucketfoot-al.tripod.com/DinoMod ... m?i=81&s=1

Hi Gang!

I have created a wallpaper of the Yamato's final battle by removing the name of the film "Yamato" from the first photo and fixing up a few other things digitally to scale. I think you Yamatoholics will really like it!

The second photo I found on the web and am presenting 'as is'.

Click on the link, then click on the 'View full-size image' legend on the lower right, and when that opens, right-click and save on your computer (if you like the photos, that is). Also check out the shots from the movie Yamato on the site.

Here is the links:

http://bucketfoot-al.tripod.com/DinoMod ... r?i=78&s=1

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bucketfoot-al
Creator of the Yamato/Musashi Archive Photo Gallery
http://www.battleshipyamato.com
dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

I wasn't aware that the ship had been rear-ended , causing some seventy feet or more of its hull to shorten behind the funnel....

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Danny DON'T "waterline"...!

Talk to the folks who created the shot in Japan - I just removed the film title so it looked more 'au naturel'. (Noticed the problem myself).

Wait a minute - what are you saying - you want me to try to build 70 feet back onto the rear of the ship - BY MYSELF??

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bucketfoot-al
Creator of the Yamato/Musashi Archive Photo Gallery
http://www.battleshipyamato.com
dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

OK Dude - You owe me BIG TIME. The shot is out of scale - so I DID add-on about 70 feet of the hull behind the smoke stack - all by myself!

Give me 5 minutes to upload the replacement photo, and THEN let me know what you think!!!!!!!!!

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bucketfoot-al
Creator of the Yamato/Musashi Archive Photo Gallery
http://www.battleshipyamato.com
dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

i was thinking the same thing... looked more like Rodney or Nelson than Yamato.... (obviously not your fault)

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It's not who you are, but what you do that defines you.

I've added the 70 "missing" feet to the rear - you'll note that the smoke is now much wider than at first - I went back and re-photoshopped the pic.

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bucketfoot-al
Creator of the Yamato/Musashi Archive Photo Gallery
http://www.battleshipyamato.com
dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

Thanks. I hope my wife doesn't mind the new look of our wallpaper.

I rather thought it was OK myself. What didn't you like about it?

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bucketfoot-al
Creator of the Yamato/Musashi Archive Photo Gallery
http://www.battleshipyamato.com
dulce et decorum est pro patria mori