The Ship Model Forum

This model has been recently finished, but if the Moderators allow, I will now afterwards write a short build history. Due to persistent health issues, this project took longer than planned. And as most of Yamato class fans know, this version is not the best model from Tamiya (in many cases historically incorrect plus poor quality in many parts), probably due to lower technology level during 1970s & 1980s.

This was actually the first kit I bought when I decided to restart this great hobby. But after doing some research in the web and seeing the quality of todays modelling (eg. masterpieces from my fellow Finnish modeller "Koppalakki"), I decided that I needed some practise before I can tackle this monster. Also, it is easy to say now, that if I had known that Very Fire is going to release their new version of Musashi, I would never had bought the old Tamiya kit. Furthermore, I made the mistake of buying Eduard's PE sets instead of Flyhawks (or Pontos) comprehensive set. So, in the end I had to purchase several generic PE sets from Flyhawk, FStar, Infini and Tamiya, which was even more expensive. Additionally, I purchased a wooden deck from Pontos, binocular set from Bunker Studio, barrels from Aber plus used boats from Tamiya IJN Utility Boat Set and planes from Hasegawa IJN Ship-borne Seaplane Set A. Altogether there were more than 2000 PE parts plus around 200 other extras, so not a kit for beginner !

I will divide the story into 5 categories: Hull + Deck & superstructure + Armament + Rig + Auxiliaries, just to make it more readable. And this will not be in chronological order.

HULL

The hull of the old Tamiya tool is really poor containig a lot of historical errors and quality issues. Luckily, in this forum there is an excellent list of the modifications needed by Chuck (Aug 3rd, 2008: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=4707&start=320#p233702). My very best thanks to You Chuck , the list was a huge help although I was so lazy that I did not correct all the issues (left away numbers 4 & 14-17).

Please note that throughout the project, I followed the book Skulski's AOTS Battleship Yamato and Musashi. Probably not correct in all details, but just to make life easier.

Hull continues (final corrections and initial paint work):

Finished the hull with weathering method described by Koppalakki which gives the model a nice wornout look (but requires quite a bit of work and patience !). Used mostly products from AMMO Mig (MIG-1208 Rainmark Effects & MIG-2010 Scratches Effects) plus AK Interactive (AK027 Slimy Grime Light, AK304 Brown Streaking Grime for Red Hulls & AK306 Salt Streaks for Ships). Final touches with AMMO Mig DryBrush paint MIG-0612 Rust.

DECK & SUPERSTRUCTURE

As with the hull, the deck & superstructure contained a lot of mistakes of which I tried to correct a few, but did not really bother to attack all the details, because it would have taken far too much time. And it was already clear, that to make this old Tamiya kit historically correct was not going to be a realistic target (at least with my skills).

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

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: final touches with railings.

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?

Thank You Steven !

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.

ARMAMENT

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.

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 ). But the end result is impressive.

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

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

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Uao you are building it really fast!

Thank You SG1 for your kind words! Well appreciated.

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.

RIG

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.

AUXILIARIES

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.

AUXILIARIES continues with boats & crane.