Calling all Yamato (大和) and Musashi (武蔵) fans

[philman62]

Chuck, is it one of your creatures (http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html) ?

[chuck]

No. It's much better than what I am working on, especially the nice orderly deck planks.

[philman62]

Jib crane, quarterdeck and main gun (WIP)

[J. Soca]

Outstanding Phil you can really do marvelous things at this scale.. day i get my own home i'll make sure of buying this kit and finish once and for all my undying wish of having a Yamato bigger than 1/350 scale. keep it up Phil!


Jose

[Guest]

Thanks, Jose. Your works are outstanding also, but at 1/700 and 1/350 it's more difficult, although with less details.


Phil

[chuck]

The frequently shown set of onboard photos taken of the Musashi during or shortly after her acceptance trials shows instrumentation truss work and work platforms on Musashi's 18" barrels. My understanding is those trusses are for main gun calibration and for serving subcaliber training guns that would be attached to the main barrels. Would these truss and work platforms have been retained through the war?

[philman62]

I don't know, Chuck. Maybe you're right, and the 1/10 Kure model seems to confirm it, but at the same time the 1/35 model showed during the launch of Yamato movie (operation Ten ichigo) is set with these truss and work platforms (what about blasts???).

[chuck]

The still captures from that movie shows the animators made the barrel truss beams so overly thick, and the truss angle so wrong, that I don't think they had any direct reference whatsoever to guide them. So they probably made it up from some vague description, which may have come from anachronistic photos of the Musashi in 1942. In general, I don't trust the props from that movie as any definitive reference. I think they concentrated on making the props look like a lot of research went into it (Which is fast and cheap, and provide rapid reward if done cleverly) rather actually doing a lot of real research to put into it (Which can be slow, costly, and controversial).

[philman62]

I totally agree with you, but we are only enthusiast model makers and since for me this is the second Nichimo model (the first one was a pristine building, based on all the references and researches known at that time (10 years ago)), this time my build will be without any bond and will follow only the pleasure for this great hobby. I have two well-known sources that I like very much: the above-mentioned Eigamura Yamato model 1/35 http://www.geocities.jp/yamato_model_gu ... gamura.htm and one of the best Nichimo model I've ever seen http://www.geocities.jp/dancyou3/yamato0.html. Anyway I agree with you, they are not museum models, just as mine.

[chuck]

What shape is the light platform midway up Yamato's main mast? What lights are actually on that platform?

All sources agree that just above the junction between the two prominent angled antenna spreaders and the central shaft of Yamato's raked main mast, there is a small platform that support some lights. But different sources seem to interpret the shape of the platform and the what lights are actually there differently. The Kure model depicts a circular platform supporting what appears to be one single 60cm search light in the middle. AOTS depicts a 6 sided platform supporting what appears to be two 30 cm deck lamps, one on each side of the central mast shaft. Normally I would take the Kure interpretation over the ATOS any day. But there is one photo of the Yamato, taken during her fitting out, that appears to shows the top of the railing of the platform. The top of the railing appears to be straight, as if fitted to a back edge of hexagonal platform, and not curved, as if fitted to a circular platform. The rest of the platform is completely obscured by the aft main director. So my question is does anyone know of any better photographs of this region?

[chuck]

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/i ... sp?c=14156

Hehehehe.....

[ninjrk]

Out of curiosity, since I'm getting to that point on my 1/350 Yamato, does anyome remember who made the great resin binoculars for the top of the bridge? The platic ones from the kit have to go!

Thanks,
Matt

[zotzviper]

Out of curiosity, since I'm getting to that point on my 1/350 Yamato, does anyome remember who made the great resin binoculars for the top of the bridge? The platic ones from the kit have to go!

Thanks,
Matt

Veteran or Voyager in China.

[Dan K]

I'll just stick my nose in hear about the trusses and platforms used for calibrating the main guns. I don't believe these were permanently attached, only the mounting rings. They are light enough to be portable and stowed away when not in use. Too prone to blast damage, and vibration. Same for lesser IJN BB classes. FWIW.

[chuck]

Thanks, Dan. I also think they were portable, and may be rigged for trials and gunnery practices only. Although open steel truss framework are remarkably resistant to shock waves, and I have no doubt they would survive muzzle blast without problem.

P.S. Do you have any references regarding the type of lights that might be carried on the platform midway up the main mast? 60cm search light or 30cm deck lights?

[Dan K]

Well, I think we pretty much have the same references, Chuck. The Super Illustrations vol. is not particularly helpful but the Gakken deluxe volume on Yamato and AOTS both agree that those are 40cm signal lights. Which amuses me greatly as, with so much else, the Yamatos just HAD to have signal lights bigger than all the other ships, i.e. the 30cm type.

There's a typo in my AOTS voulume about 70cm lights, but it's referenced correctly on two more pages.

[chuck]

Well, I committed myself to a 60cm light on a circular platform there. The way I constructed my copper tube lower tripod of the main mast is such that the vertical central leg in the back is carried upwards to form the top mast, while the slanting side legs in the front is carried upwards to form the antenna spreader. This is apparently not how the mast was actually constructed. The actual top mast appears to have originated at the junction of the two forward slanted side legs of the tripod, while the rear vertical leg of the tripod supported the base of the 2 antenna spreaders. The difference is the real tripod allowed more space forward and back between the main top mast and antenna spreaders at the level where the light platform is than my tripod. This is the space where 2 40cm signal lamps, pointed to either side, would be. I don't have enough space there for these, so I fell back onto the Kure interpretation which shows a single 60cm light in the middle of platform pointed backwards.

Oh well.

[Dan K]

I'm not going to tell anyone.

Of course, one day, some ultimate Yamatoholic will call you on it, whereas the 300,000 folks who viewed it before him never caught it. Will you be ready for that moment?

[Timmy C]

Can there be a Yamatoholic even more so than Chuck?

[chuck]

Being an engineer I am a "holic" of finding out details about how ships, planes, and other devices are put together and how they are meant to operate. Yamato so happen to be the subject at the moment. It is the process, not the subject, that I am a "holic" of.

My 1/100 scale HMS Victory with fully functional riggings is still awaiting finishing touches.