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

[Gilbert]

Probably this Autumn.

Gilbert

[Goodwood]

Looks like I'm going for a 1942 backdate; here's the result of preliminary surgery wherein I chopped off the starboard superstructure extensions:

Unfortunately, the hull is badly warped in this kit. Once that's corrected, it's really just a matter of watching out for which gun directors and AA types I use (mostly shielded versions).

[Oterlia]

My fleet of Yamato class vessels in 1/200 scale.

They are all under work. To the left is Yamato, in center Musashi and to the rigth is Shinano.

I am trying my best to get the models as accurate as possible. The small one between Yamato and Musashi, is Musashi in 1/700 scale.

What do you guys think ?

[marengtech]

Hello,

Currently building Tamiya's most recent addition of the Yamato '45 while I wait for L'Arsenal release the 15.5 cm turrets for the Nichimo.

I bought Lion Roar's super detail set; on page 42, part P21 (see photo) calls for 5 of these port and stbd. To me they look like a fan of sorts, I'm not sure as I've never seen them before in actual pictures of the ship.

Does anyone know what they are and if they are indeed part of the ship or is this a mistake by Lion Roar.

Thanks for your help!

[baseballbrat]

I'm sure their must have been some kind of exhaust fans onboard somewhere. I looked at Anatomy of a Ship, but couldn't find anything to back my comment up with. Anyone have anything to add?

[bucketfoot-al]

Its not a mistake. It is a fan/vent. I can't tell you when or where, but I have seen that type of opening with a fan, in Japanese illustrations of Yamato. In one of the books that is buried somewhere in a box in my garage ....

[baseballbrat]

Found some photos. Sorry for the size!

[Dan K]

Skulski sort of glosses over them in his AOTS book but they are prominent on the 1/10 Yamato model at the Kure Maritime Museums. Credit to Mr. Wood.

[baseballbrat]

Must be exhaust fans for some kind of fumes or moisture. Is it possible Cordite for the shells is stored in that area?

Kinda strange that only 11 fans on the entire hull exist.

Photo courtesy of: http://www.geocities.jp/yamato_model_gu ... museum.htm

[marengtech]

Looks like I got some surgery to perform judging from the pic provided by baseballbrat. Makes me wonder why Tamiya did not pick this up when they made the premium kit since they went through the trouble of correcting everything(?) else and Lion Roar only provided 10 of these fans.

If they are for the cordite or fumes you would think they would have a set for each barbette?

[baseballbrat]

Looks like I got some surgery to perform judging from the pic provided by baseballbrat. Makes me wonder why Tamiya did not pick this up when they made the premium kit since they went through the trouble of correcting everything(?) else and Lion Roar only provided 10 of these fans.

If they are for the cordite or fumes you would think they would have a set for each barbette?

Gerry, I would say that in the scale your are building in, that kind of detail won't really show up. I wouldn't worry about trying to scratch build something that small IMO.

Tamiya for some reason, missed out on various details. Maybe their reference couldn't confirm 100%, so they must of thought either it wasn't very important or the detail was so small it didn't really matter and too costly to add it. Another item missed was not to include a detailed "Rigging Schedule" along with plans showing where the wires attached to. No one anywhere has this information, and modelers are just guessing using Skulski's book or japanese Yamato books. The best thing is use what you can get your hands on and take an educated guess. The ship is in deep water and I really don't think that someone will question you and go deep sea diving to conform your build as being incorrect. I'm the same way at bought 4 different sets of PE along with over 20 different publications and I will guess what works best.

I am going to take another stab at what these fans are. My last guess was formulated from reading Skulski book drawings and see the only two things it could be is Crew Quarters or Ammo Storage. I took out of consideration Crew Quarters due to they are everywhere on the ship and not in specific locations.

Now looking at the shape of the fans and further research I am now going to make a more educated guess and say that since the Yamato is know to have the most comfortable living conditions of any IJN ship, these fans on both sides are venting the Air Conditioning Compressors in two separate rooms (one on each side). Looking at the way the vents are situated there must be 9 compressors each with a fan and two separate rooms for electrical/relay equipment that have to be cooled separately by the other two fans which are further apart in the row. (4/1 & 5/1)

It would be logical to determine this is what they are. Only finding a total of 11 fans, it would only make sense that these rooms, one on each side would be needed. Also two opposing rooms would make sense to balance out the airflow and weight. Also running ducting through the ship would be easier when split into starboard and port.

Anyone want to confirm or am I just crazy?

[J. Soca]

I counted 11 fan openings too, we need a Japanese interpreter now!

source: Gakken 50






Jose

[baseballbrat]

After an exhaustive translation by my Japanese friend back in Japan, she has come up with this..........

Outboard boat storage air vents.

Makes sense being next to the boat hanger bays!

My Bad!!! My last post was way off. The fans must circulate air around and keep boats and inner deck area dry. Kinda strange that one side has six and the other five.

[J. Soca]

After an exhaustive translation by my Japanese friend back in Japan, she has come up with this..........

Outboard boat storage air vents.

Makes sense being next to the boat hanger bays!

My Bad!!! My last post was way off. The fans must circulate air around and keep boats and inner deck area dry. Kinda strange that one side has six and the other five.

My thanks to your Japanese friend this was really interesting find but it makes perfectly sense those boat hangars look extremely claustrophobic.


Jose

[marengtech]

That's pretty cool, never would have thought that is the purpose of these fans but logically makes sense where they are positioned.

Maybe in 350th would be to small but it would be possible for the Nichimo kit.

Thanks again for all the help!

[Mike W]

I seem to remember some mention of Yamato possibly having dark stained wooden decks later in the war. What's the current thinking on this and would it have applied to Yamato in April 1945?

I'm guessing it's probably been discussed here but I don't fancy trawling through 106 pages of info!

thanks
Mike

[bucketfoot-al]

Hi Mike -

Actually there has never been any real doubt about the deck color of Yamato during Sho-Go (Leyte Gulf) and later during Ten-ichi-go (Okinawa). However, as 99% of good Yamato info is "hidden" behind the Japanese language barrier, myths persisted, not helped by Japanese restorations that sometimes showed her with a light deck, undoubtedly "for show" - to show her as she was originally designed, and not as an indicator of historical accuracy - once again, the language barrier prevented these types of "nuances" from leaking through to the West (if I may use a somewhat-apt metaphor!!)

The answer: Her decks were painted black during her last 2 missions.

How do we know this? First of all because Yoshida Mitsuru said so - right in his book, written less than a year after he was one of the few bridge survivors from Yamato's suicide run to Okinawa.

Her decks were painted "jet black" according to the Minnear translation of Yoshida's wonderful memoir "Requiem for Battleship Yamato." He makes this comment while discussing how the several hours of bombs, bullets and rockets had made her decks, previously painted "jet black" for the mission, an unrecognizeable mess. As an aside, those damned wood decks created flying shrapnel shards of wood when they were hit, injuring and killing men topside. Yet another instance of "looking pretty" being the enemy of warfighting effectiveness. USN ships of course had metal decks, and no such problems.

Disclaimer: Yes, if you were to search all the pages of this thread, you would find posts of mine 7, 8 year back expressing the belief that the decks were nice and lightly woody in 1945. But as I delved more into the matter, I was chastened by the truth!

[baseballbrat]

After reading the last post, I now have to either buy a black deck or darken the light color one I bought from Pontus. I would like to know what the rest of you guys are doing or have already done. Are you buying the black deck or spraying black over the wood color ones everyone is selling?

Were the decks actually painted with black paint or rubbed down with coal? I had read somewhere that coal was used to stain the wood. Is this possible?

Also while we are on the subject, what other corrections have been verified over the years that the reference books overlooked?

[Mike W]

I actually have Requiem..... but it like a lot of my books, is still boxed up after my recent move. My main source of details is the Anatomy but that's been out a while and it may be the case new info has been learned since that book was printed.

So Black deck then? I think it's best if I check Yamato's other colours before commencing any work!

First of all I believe Yamato's last dry docking was at Kure, so I would assume she was painted in Kure Navy Grey - please correct me if I'm wrong. After that it's question time! So if the wooden decks were Black, did they leave the metal decks in Kure Grey, or were they painted Black too? Next, according to the Tamiya painting guide, the aircraft handling area on the quarterdeck was painted a lighter Grey, is this correct? Finally, Tamiya's instructions also have the top of the forward main fire control director painted White, is this correct for April 1945 as well?

thanks
Mike

[bucketfoot-al]

I'll try:

1. The metal front deck and rear concrete flight platform and rear metal deck at the stern were not painted black (or stained black - I do not know whether paint or some combination of soot/coal was used for the coloration of the wood.) There was no need to darken them as they were already in "battle color".

2. I personally do not know anything about a different shade of gray for the rear concrete flight deck. This is the first I've ever heard of that possibility (keeping in mind again, the "language barrier" that prevents those of us not conversant in Japanese from reading the original reports and first-person accounts and documents - of which I have a box full that I will never be able to read.) [Rob Lundgren, for example, had to hire a professional Japanese translator to get translations of all of the IJN after-action reports for his recent book on Leyte Gulf.]

3. Yes Yamato was only in Kure between Oct 1944 and April 1945.

4. Whether the top of the forward fire control director was painted white or not is one of those mysteries that, try as I might, I have been utterly unable to find an answer to from the aerial photos of Yamato in 1945. [Those photos do answer the question in the affirmative about the crane tower having been removed prior to Okinawa, however.]

The really, really stupid thing about all this is that the answer about the color of the director is probably a very simple one, to whcih we, once again, don't have access for inability to read the Japanese books on the matter.

I will opine that Tamiya really seems to have done a thorough job in researching the ship for this updated Ten-ichi-go model; so if they say it was white, I would go with that, regardless of whether I personally think gray would look better aesthetically.....there are a couple of photos that you can see on my website that appear to indicate that the top was white as of 1943 anyways....but with grainy B/W shots its always a matter of opinion it seems ...