Nichimo 1/200 Yamato Build: Kill Me Now!

[Senkan]

Here are some pics of the superstructure early on. Once again foil tape and the rivet maker by trumpeter. I tried to putty up the tower that was incorrect. I put styrene behind and built up the putty. I was fearing how this would come out but I like it.

[FlowerPower]

speechless....

[prowannab]

Talk about pulling out all the stops!! Very nice work.

[Senkan]

Thanks.

I ordered my deck planking wood last week from Hobbylinc and the the ship day was today. So today comes and they send me an email that they only have one pack in stock. Would have been nice to let me know a week ago when I ordered it. So I went to RC Planet and got it cheaper. HA! Hope they have them. Tried calling them but it was after hours.

I plan on putting the wood in watercolor before I apply to the ship. Hope this effect works. I have some basswood left over from my last attempt and I should have pics of my experiment. I'd like to get a lot of color variations. Friend of mine is a painter. I showed her a pic of the Mikasa weathered deck. And her eyes picked up blue. I didn't see any...lol. She said it had a greyish blue tint. We'll see. Never worked with watercolor so this should be...ummmm...fun.

[prowannab]

I'm having the same problem with evergreen,I emailed them 3 days ago( yes I do realize that was Sunday ),and haven't heard anything yet. I just can't seem to find the large packages I need for the i -beams I need. I can find them in 1-3pc packages.But when you need at least 100 pcs.That's a ton of extra money.

[Secondo]

I plan on putting the wood in watercolor before I apply to the ship

Which wood? If it's the extra thin wooden deck, I'm afraid you're bound to disaster. Those thin wood sheets have allergic reactions when exposed to any kind of humidity...

[Senkan]

Its not the whole wood deck...its wood strips cut probably 1.25 to 2 inches long and .0625" wide. Im hoping there wont be much warpage since the strips are small. And if there is any warpage I'm hoping glue will solve that.

[Dan K]

I can appreciate the truly fine effort but, you're nuts.

It's just a matter of time before a new tool 1/200 comes out.

[Senkan]

Hey Dan. I'm a huge Yamato fan. This is a labor of love. You won't see me doing this with a model of any other ship.

I don't know when they will make another 1/200 Yamato. I thought they would make one years ago but haven't heard a word.

[Dan K]

I'm a huge Yamato fan

I hadn't noticed

[Angeliccypher]

I have a tip for you on the wood deck if you are not too far along. I recently acquired the Nautilus wood deck for my Hornet build. I paint using acrylics and was very afraid of it warping. Calling my wife's uncle who is a master wood worker in a historic township that is now a living history park for the public. He has been there for nearly 40 years. His suggestion is to mix denatured alcohol with shallac (50/50 mix) and lightly brush it on covering every surface. It will dry fairly quickly. Just to be sure I stick it under some heavy books on a flat surface (with wax paper around it so I do not get anything on the books or surface) for about 24 hours. Do about three coats on it. After it is fully cured paint it. Again with the books. You should end up with a great look to your deck and it will be flat.

Later I will post a more detailed version of this in the "Tips and Tricks" thread. If you have any questions before then, PM me. Hope this helps.

[Senkan]

Thanks Gabriel. I'm hoping I won't have any trouble with warping. I'm not using a pre made deck to cover the entire deck. I'm using individual pieces of wood .0625" x 1.25". They are .0208" thick. I'm going to be using watercolor as a stain. I'll be dipping the wood into the mix. If I do get unmanageable warpage I might use alcohol instead of water. I'll have pics and commentary hopefully this weekend. I haven't gotten my wood but I have some extra from my last attempt and I will use that as trial and error wood.

[Senkan]

I thought taking off the wood planks from the deck would be a 20 minute job. Took like 3 hours. Damn CA clue hates me.

[Senkan]

I found something very nice to help me with my coloring of the deck. I got a pic off the internet of the Yamato Wharf deck at the museum in Kure. I used Paint to cut a piece and made a new file. Then went here:

http://www.cssdrive.com/imagepalette/index.php

Found the file on my hard drive and voila...color palette. Just wish I could figure a way to sort them from light to dark. Now I need to start mixing colors.

[MattRivetIT]

I'm about to start my own Nichimo Yamato in a couple of days,i'm following your building thread with great interest

[Senkan]

After surgery, and buying a new car, and selling my old one, I'm back to Yamato.

The deck. I used a rotary trimmer to cut my deck planks. I put a piece of painters tape over them, then measured, then cut.

I wanted to cut them into 4 cm lengths which would make 7 per piece. But good ol Midwest says they are 28 cm long but they are actually 27.9 cm. So much for accuracy. Also while cutting I noticed some of the wood was wider and some was thinner than the norm. I don't remember seeing this the last time I used Midwest. Hope they don't have new management who likes to skimp when it comes to getting things right.

So now I have about 1500 planks. I need to get out the water color and see if this is going to work. I've got some balsa wood I'm going to use to get an idea of how the wood will color. I should have some pics tomorrow.

[Christian M.]

Well ...

beside the great job you do here, the title is correct with "kill me now"! You must be really masochisic in building this ship with all the necessary corrections and improvements ...

[Senkan]

I'd like to think I'm going to be able to modify the ship to be as accurate as possible but in the end I will compromise. Redoing the deck planking isn't going to be fun. It might be if I'm happy with the way the deck color turns out. I want the deck done by the end of June. I might cut some corners.

[Senkan]

I started back on the big sucker. I colored the planks to the deck and will start putting them on tonight. I didn't go with a black colored deck but with a grey. Hope it looks alright. I'm not doing this a third time! Should have pics over the next couple days.

[Fliger747]

Mostly I attached the planks on my 1:192 Missouri with yellow wood glue. The thin strips should remain stable. I started at the centerline and worked outward. A primed surface helps adhesion.

Good luck!