The Ship Model Forum

Hi all

Thought I'd share my Yamato build here. I'm predominantly an armor modeller with the odd wingy or car in between. But I decided to tackle something new to me: a ship. I like 'm big and mean so I went for Tamiya's new tool Yamato. I got the extensive Pontosmodel upgrade. The gun barrels were of the bad batch with off center holes but I'm getting the replacements so that would be ok. I started the build couple of months ago.

I'm planning to depict here during Ten Ichi Go and hopefully I'll manage to put her in some water and with a crew on board. However, in stead of building the waterline model I built the full hull, though I won't be weathering the lower parts - or at least not too much - because none of it will be visible when she's in the water.

Anyhow, this is where I stand so far








That's all for now

Nice to see someone else going at it at the same time.

The hull sure does look like it's gonna require a lot of work to get those seams out.

yes I was surprised a bit because that's not something which you'd expect from Tamiya, certainly not if one knows the price of the kit :O But nothing we can't manage I guess

The new kit is just beautiful the more i look at it the more i want it. Excellent job



Jose

I'll be following this one as well!

Those Pontos pieces are impressive.

Very nice and clean build! The new Tamiya kit is looking really good, too! I think I can find a cheaper one over here...
Looking forward to more pics!
Aop

_________________
On the way:
--1/350 Tamiya DKM Tirpitz Nov 1944

--1/350 scratch-build HMS Lion never built battleship (1938)

And our artworks!

What do you think overall of the Pontos set?

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Gabriel

Hi guys, thanks and glad to have you tagging along.

@Angeliccypher: well, the kit costs a bit but then again, you are getting a lot of goodies. I must say I had one of the 'bad batch' with incorrectly drilled out 460 mm gun barrels and some missing parts, but that's being adressed. Other than that it looks like a great set.

One thing I find a pitty though is that the Pontos set hasn't replacement ladders for the 155 mm and 460 mm gun turrets. So you need to stick with the very thick hard Tamiya etch ladders. Which is a pain in the bum to cut from the sprue and even harder to sand down the sprue attachment points. Would have been much better if Pontos provided replacements in their set.
And being used to Aber and Voyager models sets (like I said, I mostly build armor) with clear instructions it's a bit getting used to the Pontos instructions. They aren't bad, but could be much clearer sometimes.

But although I mentioned the negatives, I think it's a great kit and good value for money. Time will tell if there are some frustrating assemblies or not

In between doing nothing and painting the figures for a StuG build of mine I did some things here and there concerning the Yamato.

I managed to more or less finish one of the main gun turrets (some small bits need to be added here and there, and I need to scrape off some glue spills in some areas). I'm still waiting for replament barrels so I dry fitted just one (the only one correctly drilled out :O). I also added the Pontos AA gun platforms on the roof, as well as the railings and other tiny stuff.

Today I assembled one of the open Type 96 triple AA guns. It consists out of 17 parts (:X) and took me nearly two hours to assemble just one. Yamato had more than thirty on board face 21. To show the shear size of the thing I layed a toothpick and a 1/35 Tiger I next to it for comparison.




Cheers

Looking good!

Are you planing to use the Tamiya blast bags instead of Pontos ones?

I think I will, first of all since the resin Pontos ones are solid and need to be drilled (always a chance to mess up), but second: personally I think the Tamiya ones look better.

Well, my wife gave birth to my second son (third kid) last tuesday, so modelling time will probably be a bit limited...but still, I managed to do a bit on my Yamato .

I completed the degaussing cable assembly. Most of it was glued in place again with Gators's Grip Glue. Except for the parts at the aft section of the hull. Lots of corners and all and it was a bit harder to get it stuck there. So superglue to the resque. I found something new recently, called the 'Glue Looper'. It uses cappilary action to add very thing ca glue in narrow nooks 'n crannies. Basically I loaded the Glue Looper with ca glue and held it to the edge of the degaussing cable.



Other than that, as you can see in the photo above, I glued the gun platforms for the shielded AA guns at the edge of the hull in place.

On both sides a swinging boom was assembled and glued in place.



Each side of the hull has some ventilation gaps. According to the model of Yamato museum at Kure, Japan, the port side has only 5 (starboard has 6). The Tamiya Yamato has 6 on each side, so I had to fill one on the port side. After that I glued the ventilators in place (Koppalakki's thread is most valuable!)


The aft deck was finished as well (added some smaller bits and a ladder). As you can see I also made a start on the aft flight deck.



And that's how the hull stands at the moment:



Tsudzuku,
Taisa Wouter

Looking really nice! I do like the Pontos kits. The brass that they use seems to be a better quality, don't you agree?

Cheers, Jabb.

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HMS Hood, the big one!

I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure.

I agree, it has different thicknesses and it's more than workeable. I think I can compare it a bit with my favourite brand Voyager Models. Although the latter have much better instructions

And I must say I like the service of Pontos model as well. I had off center drilled out 18inch guns. I contacted Luckymodel (I bought the set there) for replacements and they always kept saying yes we are trying to score them blablabla. Then I contacted Mr. Kim through a PB and this week the replacements arrived, nice service, as it should be

Nice progress looking sharp!

I spied some of your AFVs and they look damn good! Just waiting for you to get some paint on that monster and seeing some finishing touches!

Congratulations on your son's launch! By the time he starts to climb around, don't forget to keep the (finished?) Yamato out of reach!

One of the finest PE works I've ever seen! And except that seam at the bow, the kit is super good! It's like a museum model and a toy compared to the Tamiya Tirpitz.

Cheers!
Aop

_________________
On the way:
--1/350 Tamiya DKM Tirpitz Nov 1944

--1/350 scratch-build HMS Lion never built battleship (1938)

And our artworks!

First of all: Koppalakki: thanks, glad you like my armor. I will try to my best not to give my Yamato a muddy finish though LOL

Aur: thanks for the congrats mate and glad you like it. I completely agree, except for some flaws it's an amazing kit indeed.

Well, having three kids is defo time consuming , I haven't done much last couple of months .

However, today I managed to finish the two Kure Type No.2 Model 5 catapults. About 70 indivdual parts make one catapult.






Next stop: the jib crane.

Cheers

Seems I'm on a roll this week, I managed to assemble the jib crane already.



And I couldn't resist a dryfit of the catapults and crane at the stern

Cheers

Last couple of days I worked on the flight deck. I removed the moulded on details and glued on the etch parts. Also, I scratched a bottom piece and supports for the protruding armoured AA gun support, as seen on Koppalakkis thread.
Just need to add a splash to the underside and then the flight deck can be glued in place.