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

[chuck]

Yamato has 2 stream anchors stowed against hullside like other Japanese battleships. But unlike other Japanese battleships, there appears to be no davits directly over the stream anchor for handling this anchor. The aircraft crane is not long enough to reach it. Should there be a davit over the anchor? Else how does one hoist that anchor back up to its storage position after use?

[chuck]

The five larger round holes in the hull that you're looking at were actually a series of bladed fans that helped exhaust the plane and boat hangars when they worked on engines there. The openings should be square, not round, and then have a circle within it representing the guard edge of the fan. If you want to be creative, you would then scratch-build the actual blades of the fans inside that. The new Lionroar 1/350 set has the correct shape included, but no one else so far.

Cheers, Doug

I suspect the opening was actually round. The square thing is just an outside frame for some sort of shutter that can close off the opening when the fans are not in use.

[Doug Hallet]

Well, several sources, including the Kure Museum, have them portrayed as square, so I'm inclined to go that way. The anchors towards the stern were auxiliary and not normally used. I would not imagine that a davit could support the weight of them. Either there was a pulley system under the aircraft catapult, or chains were simply attached to the anchor and it was dropped over the side unceremoniously, after attaching to the crane on the other side.

[Doug Hallet]

Not to stoke too many controversies among the folks with opposite opinions, but I am pretty enamored with this set of model pics portraying Yamato with what I feel is the real, final paint scheme. The color/black&white comparisons are also a very nice touch. Long live the scientific method!...

http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/tounnkai/ ... hBlackDeck#

[bucketfoot-al]

Not too controversial. Yoshida mentions the deck being black in "Requiem for Battleship Yamato" if memory serves me correctly. That is one nice bit of photoshop in that overhead photo. Thanks for the link!! I think I'm gonna use that photo for desktop background!

[chuck]

Well, several sources, including the Kure Museum, have them portrayed as square, so I'm inclined to go that way. The anchors towards the stern were auxiliary and not normally used. I would not imagine that a davit could support the weight of them. Either there was a pulley system under the aircraft catapult, or chains were simply attached to the anchor and it was dropped over the side unceremoniously, after attaching to the crane on the other side.

Other Japanese battleships have a dedicated davit directly over the stream anchor to service the anchor. So the davit is strong enough. I was mistaken. Yamato's aircraft crane arm is long enough to reach the stream anchor, so that might be how the anchor is serviced.

These anchors are not normally used to hold the ship to a mooring position. But they are used to maneuver the ship in tight quarters and help turn or pivot the ship into a mooring position.

[Atma]

Here is an interesting subject:
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10128631
A bit expensive, dont you find ?

[Doug Hallet]

When I was in Osaka in 2006, there was a 1/350 version of the same kit available for about 2000 yen ($20 at the time). Here's someone who went at it big time...

http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en ... 20&bih=924

[ir3]

Have a detail question. I am building the Woody Joe 1:250 Yamato. In the kit, the upper bulwarks have nicely lasered port holes. They have also printed an array of little cross hair targets that are below the line of the degaussing cable. I looked at several of my sources and can not conclude why the cross hairs are there. I don't know if I should drill these out or add some detail. Most of the sources as well as the Kure model show what appears to be, for lack of a better explanation, a large cover or giant rivet. Can anyone shed some light on this matter. It would be appreciated. BTW, my build is on RCGroups, http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1314630

One of the photos might just show the cross hairs that I am speaking about.

Thanks in advance,

IR3

[chuck]

Those were portholes. When Yamato was first completed, those portholes had openable glass windows with a hinged brass deadlight behind them. Sometime during early 1943, the glass window and brass deadlights were removed and the openings blanked off with a fixed round metal plate. This improves the she's damage tolerance by preventing flooding through damaged portholes should the ship list or settle in water due to battle damage.

[ir3]

Hi Chuck,

Thanks for the info on the portholes. While struggling through the kit instructions and looking through some of the accessories, there is a bag of tiny PE disks that represent the welded over or shut portholes, over 150.

IR3

[ir3]

I need some advice on color for the hull and superstructures. I have Tamiya XF-75 Kure Gray and Mr. Hobby H-83, Dark Gray. On my Nichimo Yamato I tried the XF-75 on the superstructure and it came out quite dark and most of the detail was obscured. I used an airbrush and sprayed sparingly. I need to settle in on the correct gray for the hull and superstructure for my 1/250 Woody Joe Yamato. I would like to use acrylics and I am not very good at mixing paints to get an exact match. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

IR3

[Doug Hallet]

I think the exact shade of paint is not so important here - with a kit as large as Yamato in 1/250, you'd want to avoid a monotone paint scheme. Try air brushing a base color such as a neutral gray on the model overall, then spray your Kure and dark gray (plus a mixture of the two) at varying distances and intensity, so the color does not completely mask the base paint. This will give your paint job a little bit of natural weathering to simulate the suns effect on the surfaces over time. Then, use various types of washes to pick out the details. Where did you find XF-73? Have not found it available anywhere so far....

[Doug Hallet]

Hi Al, another Yamato pic that I don't think you have...

http://userimg.teacup.com/userimg/105.t ... 003135.jpg

PS, contact me off board, I have something of interest for you...

[bucketfoot-al]

Hi Al, another Yamato pic that I don't think you have...



PS, contact me off board, I have something of interest for you...

Fantastic Doug, obviously taken after the first attack (rear deck is smoking), as an aside - see the bombs hitting the water behind the ship - was the pilot drunk? I mean how do you miss a ship by that distance???!!? Unless he had a malfunction/error and released early ....

[Sten Ekedahl]

Hi Al, another Yamato pic that I don't think you have...

http://userimg.teacup.com/userimg/105.t ... 003135.jpg

PS, contact me off board, I have something of interest for you...

403 Error - Forbidden

[Timmy C]

This is the image:

[Doug Hallet]

Speed appears to be reduced too. Notice she's not kicking up much of a wake. I'd guess the pilot got a little too excited and pressed the bomb release early while still in his run. I'm sure it happened frequently. By 1945, pilot training on both sides was tailing off due to wartime emergency conditions.

[Doug Hallet]

Another modeler from Japan who's completed the 1/350 kit using the Lionroar set (original version) and a lot of scratch building:

http://daimihiro.fc2web.com/hptzn/350ya ... eimenu.htm

Cheers / Doug

[bucketfoot-al]

Doug - Every time I see the work of one of these Japanese modelers, with the insane amount of detailing they put in, it makes me feel "like a piker" - as the old saying goes.

Un-freaking-believable.

Thanks for the link.