The Ship Model Forum

After years of nit picking at my Nichimo Yamato its time to post some pics and thoughts regarding the build. I'd like to thank all the kind folk who have given me idea's and wisdom on the model and ship modeling in general.

SgtRyan13's Yamato build is a great for ideas and for issues with the model. This is just about required reading if you plan on doing this model.

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Philman62 posted pics of his Yamato that are worth noting. Wish he would have shown the finished product but that is life. His weathering is great. And since I've never weathered a ship I will be using his and Ryan's build for reference. His pics are on pages 27 through 33.

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Here are some links to builds that I've found useful.

This is a very detailed build..changing the model to a 1944 version of Musashi. http://sea.ap.teacup.com/applet/shin196 ... 15/archive

The deck on this build is fantastic and this is overall a great reference. http://www.geocities.jp/dancyou3/yamato0.html

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Building 1/200 Nichi.'45
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Regarding printed reference the Super Illustrated Yamato book is my bible. Only downside is there are limited overhead close up views and not a lot of front on pics. Most are from an angle. I also used the Anatomy of the ship Yamato book. Good reference but not very up to date. I had purchased a 1/200 paper model prior to buying the model and I use this as a guide for scratch building parts and paterns for my rivet making.

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Building 1/200 Nichi.'45
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For parts I went to Ebay. There is seller who casts his own parts... resellersunlimited2007. His parts are nice and also pricey. I paid more for his upgrade parts than I did for my model. The 5 in turrets are nice but I think they are just a bit out of scale. They seem bigger. When I put these I found that the guns weren't pointing straight. Might want to watch out for that. The extra 25mm encased guns are nice. Just hard to add detail to metal. The main gun turret upgrades are big and are better than the originals. I made the barbettes a little bigger to make them look right. The doors and hatches are nice but I'm having a damn hard time getting the extra resin off the doors to make them set flat. Also the ammo boxes. They are made of metal and you need to shave off almost a millimeter of metal to get these to look right. If anyone has any ideas on how to do this please let me know. The bridge add on corrects things to the way they would have looked in '45. Looking back I should have just tried to scrap build this considering it cost almost $40. The long diamond tread resin piece I believe was to be used for remaking the forecastle deck. I just use this as a pattern for when I use time foil to replace damaged or changed locations on the deck.

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Building 1/200 Nichi.'45
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For photo etch I bought both GMM sets along with Tom's portholes. Also purchased the GMM 1/200 2 rail set which is great. Has iron grabs and a jig. And has limoleum deck strips Im probably going to use on the aircradt deck linoleum. I did purchase the 25mm photo etch guns from GPM but my getting cross eyed putting them together. I did use the sights like Bucketfoot-al used on his build. Atlantic models put out a photo etch set as well. I might get this when I build my 1/200 Yamato commission version. https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/Atl ... WZsrqJg-Dk

As the build goes on I will be adding additional things used.

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Building 1/200 Nichi.'45
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Just to clarify this is a 1945 build. Not the original 1944 set up. To start I wanted to plank my hull and thought I knew what I was doing. I was wrong. First don't use CA glue to glue down thin wood strips. It soaks through the wood and makes it so you cant stain it (my intention). You can paint over it but it comes out glossy. I should have used...like what Ryan did..and use pencil between the planks. I liked the way his deck turned out. But I wanted my to have a dark grey/brown look. So I competed the deck and then stained it and it looked like caca. I sanded it and tried to stain again but no luck. So then I painted it and that's the current state its in. I'm thinking of redoing the plank job and staining the wood prior to application. Then use the pencil technique and hope.

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Next up was the hull. I wanted to add hull plates and rivets. I was thinking of using foil tape and a pounce wheel for this. I got the tape off ebay and bought the pounce wheel from a hobby store online. The effect was OK but the edges were a problem keeping down. I Liked the way the foil tape adhered to the detail but it wasn't what I wanted.

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I was thinking of other ways to give the hull some detail. I was going to use styrene strips but I couldn't find any in the width I wanted. So after looking around I found chipbaord. It's like cardboard on the back on notebooks. I had access to a paper cutter so this made the job easier. I then wanted to add porthole covers and found a large hole punch for this. I also used the chipboard for the covers. After starting out not really wanting to go over scale much I said to hell with it. It's Yamato. She was over scale and so will this model be. I bought 1mm rhinestones to use as the rivets. I do wish they would have not been as much pronounced but what the hell. I did buy some 1mm dots that I plan on using for my 1941 version.

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Building 1/200 Nichi.'45
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Next was adding the degaussing cable. I bought half round styrene strip and channel styrene. Buying the half round was a bad idea. Should have bought square. The channel styrene was hard to cut. I was using scissors and it bent the edges. If anyone knows of a better way to cut channel styrene please let me know. Saw maybe? The outcome was OK but if you had a closeup of the cable you can tell the defects.

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Building 1/200 Nichi.'45
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Next up was priming and painting the hull. I had been trying things out and after over a year I had yet to use any paint. I don't have an airbrush (might get one soon) so I used Tamiya dull red and Tamiya Kure Grey spray paint. It came out alright. But Im not looking forward to weathering it. I should have kept the rhinestone detail off the waterline. It was a pain in the arse to mask and I'm going to have to touch up the waterline to get it looking right.

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This is insanity, wonderful insanity. Your work on the hull looks good. I've seen these kits in person and felt like my 1/700 Fujimi had more detail...

HOW do you not have an airbrush?! I've seen some of your builds and your paint always looks fantastic. For a build like this, I'd definitely get at least a single action Badger or something.

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- Chris

This is my only build. This is my first try at detailing a ship. I can get by with spray paint at this large scale. But I'm keeping my eyes open for a deal on a good airbrush.

These kits don't have a lot of detail. I'm hoping I can change that. The kit was made back in the early '70's I believe. Im pretty sure it has good detail compared to other models of that time but compared to now it doesn't.

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Building 1/200 Nichi.'45
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Oh. Sorry. I could have sworn I'd seen your screen name on some builds before.

If you're looking for something in person, Hobby Lobby usually has some great deal on single action air brushes. I bought my first one there last year and still use it (even with some better offerings I picked up a few months ago.) Check online. They often offer insanely good blanket sales. The same goes for Michael's. Sometimes, Squadron will put a decent one up for sale.

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- Chris

Hey hey! Glad to see you finally starting a WIP thread for this beast!

As you know, I sympathize with your undertaking. Great start, too bad about all the trials with the deck though. If you do re-plank it, I colored the edge of the planks with a black sharpie marker. If you do that, be sure to only color one long edge, and one butt edge, otherwise the caulking will look too thick.

I'll be following, if for no other reason to see someone esle fight with this kit!

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Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

Ryan the man. I'm close to pulling the trigger and replank the monster. I was looking at your build to see how you did it and saw you used a sharpie. Not sure what I'll use. I will be doing tests before I begin a final attempt to get what I want. Im thinking of staining the planks prior to putting them down. Will try to get multiple colors involved. I worked with Scale Decks to make a custom deck for my 1/350 Yamato. He sent me the colors he was using. I'd like to use at least 10 colors. Here are some picks of the deck. I'd like to add more grey. This is a little dark for my taste.

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You are a brave man to tackle that REALY scary monster. Keep us posted!

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-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

I went ahead and put an order in for the basswood. Should have them in about a week. I've got more pics of 25mm guns and 5" turrets I will post later today. Also work on the super structure and forecastle and aircraft deck.

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Building 1/200 Nichi.'45
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Next up was the 25mm guns and gun turrets. For the open guns I used Ebay aftermarket guns and used the GPM sights. Damn sights keep falling off the more I touch them. Will be nice to actually put them on the model and be done with them. For the encased gun turrets I added rivet detail with foil tape and a rivet maker but without some shading it is hard to see. I used loose 25mm guns from GPM that I inserted into cork.

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I tried again to add detail with foil tape to the 5 inch turrets. The camera on my phone sucks. So the detail doesn't show as well.

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I've seen the aircraft deck with 2 different patterns so I went with the one I liked. I carved the hull with a file. I attempted to put tread plate under the rails using tin foil. I lost the GMM grills and had to make my own with wire. I haven't painted the linoleum strips yet.

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I wanted to change the incorrect AA directors. I was going to file down the sides to to make it angular but think this might be OK. I used 1/200 and 1/350 ladders for the director face.

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Building 1/200 Nichi.'45
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=152105