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

[bucketfoot-al]

I painted my hull and guns with Tamiya IJN Grey Kure Arsenal spray paint (TS-66) which is xf-75 in the bottle. It seems a little dark. I doubt I'll change it. But there is a line in a book that states that Yamato looked silver on her final mission. So if you're doing a 1945 version might want to go with a lighter grey. And maybe go darker with earlier versions.

I think it's funny they paint the hull a light grey and and then paint the deck with black stain. Would,'t it be nice to have a color picture of Yamato!

Maybe someone out there has a color photo or one done digitally like they did for Bismarck.
Thanks for the info!

You can find several good colorized photos of Yamato and Musashi on my website (linked below), but none from overhead showing the deck. In any event such colorization of the deck would be conjecture as it is difficult to tell from grainy B & W photos taken by USN planes what color the deck was.

To my knowledge there are no color photos of Yamato or Musashi in existence.

[Timmy C]

I'm also fairly certain one or both of those PE super sets you plan on buying include anchor chain as well.

Note that truly accurate stud-link chain is not available in this scale, unless you wish to assemble each link individually via PE using the below sets:
North Star: https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/produ ... +chains/1/
WEM: https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/WEM ... k8ZZIaR_m4


Never trust digitally-coloured photos, because they are coloured based only on the judgement of the person who did the colouring!

[baseballbrat]

I just noticed that an Anchor Chain is included in the 1:350 Tamiya New Tool Kit. Is the chain included accurate?

[bucketfoot-al]

Hi y'all. Haven't had a chance to update my website with this diagram, so I'll share it with you first. The verdict is in - Yamato was hit by 22 (yes, you read that correctly) torpedoes. I suspected as much for years, but now we have proof.

Robert Lundgren examined the model of the wreck in the Kure Museum, which is based on extensive examination of the wreck. It clearly shows 16 individual round torpedo holes, plus a gigantic gouge where the 6 torpedoes from Lt Stetson's flight ripped out her underbelly and caused her to capsize within 5 minutes of the detonation. The commemorative book given to members to the Yorktown's crew following the mission shows the photo of Stetson's pilots with the caption: "Their 6 torpedoes sank the Yamato".)

Diagram is attached.

[Senkan]

Nice!

[zotz]

After seeing the Kure museum pics, I wonder why no sandbags were placed around the AAs. On the actual Okinawa battle photos and on some detail sets you can clearly see them.

[Senkan]

The Kure Museum Yamato isn't accurate.

[bucketfoot-al]

FYI: Robert Lundgren's book on the Battle of Leyte Gulf is due for release within the next couple of months (rumor has it).

I will post links to Amazon as soon as I get word.

[baseballbrat]

The Kure Museum Yamato isn't accurate.

How do you know that the Kure Model is not accurate? Yamato went through many configuration changes.

[Senkan]

The Kure Museum Yamato isn't accurate.

How do you know that the Kure Model is not accurate? Yamato went through many configuration changes.

If was made in I believe 2005. Couple years later (2007?) further research of the wreck showed inaccuracies. Most of these changes can be seen in the new Tamiya model and in books published more recently.

[baseballbrat]

The Yamato model was modified to represent the current information from the dives. If you look at the gun tubs, the older one is round and the newer modified one is 3 sided open in the back. Other parts of the ship are modified too. You have to compare photos through the years to see these changes. I would also assume that the Kure Museum would keep this model current.

As for one of the questions above about sandbags in Okinawa photos, I would do more research to be sure. I see so many photos that are identified wrong, so I look at other reference to check for accuracy. I have seen air photos of what was it's last day at sea be incorrect and a different battle. The Yamato was hit and damaged more then once before she sank. Also I understand that she was docked in Kure more then out to sea.

The Yamato was a symbol of the japanese people more then a weapon. By the time Yamato was complete Battleships were obsolete and the war was fought by air. I will take a guess and say Shinano would have been a battleship if air power wasn't working so well.

I don't think you can really find any great battle that Yamato was a factor in. Like I said before, it was a symbol more then a weapon. Sacrificing her at the end of the war and killing 2000+ sailors for the sake of saving face and showing the world they will never give up is insane.

[bucketfoot-al]

Baseballbrat - Forgive this shameless plug, but unless you've already visited there, please feel free to take a look at my Yamato website (link below my sig.) The Samar photos also include a lot of information about Yamato's performance on that morning, sourced from Robert Lundgren's book (which I was fortunate enough to see succeeding drafts of over the past several years). That book should be out in the next couple of months.

[prowannab]

I agree with baseballbrat, I have hundreds of pics from the Yamato at Kure and over time you can see tiny differences in how she is displayed. As they are trying to keep up with the current information available from the wreck site. I do however see that the vents in the forecastle have not yet been installed, So that to me means there is still work to be done to complete the accurate replication .
On another note; I know this will not sit right with some people, but I do not see that it could be accurate for 6 torpedoes from 6 different aircraft hitting the same spot at almost the same time.I can agree that about half of these would have hit the target as described, but to align 6 aircraft back to back and hit the target even though she was floundering. Would prove to be very difficult at best. Not to mention the captain of that flight stated that 3 of the 6 flew off to different targets. To me personally why would you send 6 fish to a target that was already keel up, when there was still other vessels still in the fight. I do get that this was a huge ship and a great score for the US, but it was already sunk.Moreover at the time the ship became a mushroom cloud, you can clearly see 3 distinct targets in those pictures. So it's not possible that these air crew couldn't see these different targets. I am most likely wrong, but these are questions that I just can't get over.

[bucketfoot-al]

prowannab - Lt Stetson's Yorktown flight arrived late to the battle. Their target was Yahagi. As the Yahagi was already partly under water and obviously in her death throes, Stetson redirected 6 of his torpedo bombers at Yamato, which was listing heavily to port, exposing her bottom on the starboard side.

They dropped 4 abreast, with the last 2 planes dropping abreast right behind them. Stetson saw at least 3 wakes heading for the ship. The pilot of one of the two remaining planes stated years later that his torpedo went true and hit the ship as well. Stetson had first had the crews readjust the running depth to make sure they hit below the armor belt. The detonation as described by Yoshida, who was on the bridge, was so powerful that it threw everyone to the floor, and - in his own words - felt like the impact of "several airborne torpedoes."

The gigantic gash in the hull at the point of the impact not only corresponds to the accounts of Stetson's drop, but the enormous damage is consistent with 3-6 torpedoes impacting the underbelly and blowing out the side and bottom out of the ship.

Whether all 6 hit or not it is certain that at least several did. The Yorktown after action memento book given to the crew had the caption "Their 6 torpedoes sank the Yamato" under a photo of Stetson and his pilots. I saw this with my own eyes, I'm not quoting an account there.

Having said that I have a favor to ask of you. Please check you PM.

[prowannab]

Will do, But As I have found in my research of all military action in those days, most of the reports have been embellished in one way or another( please don't misinterpret that as falsifying). I do agree with you that at least 3 of these fish found their targets true. I (like I said before) can't understand why a seasoned flight captain, that was sent on a mission to destroy the attacking force would send all of his fish to a ship that was "already dead". like I said before maybe it's just me, but I just have a problem with this scenario.
I do like this debate though, because (in my opinion it gives everyone a different view that may open a different possibility as to what happened to this gorgeous gal).

[prowannab]

I must make a correction, I stated earlier in this post that I have hundreds of pictures of the Yamato from Kure. That is not true. I have a total of 366 pictures of Yamato all together.
Bucket; I also have to say that in your response to mine you stated that the flight crew originally targeted the Yahagi, but it was already partially under water. Then why would the flight crew decide to attack another target that was mostly underwater? This is the thing I can't get over. I know that this ship was a huge prize for the US , but why not try to attack the remaining vessels that were undamaged? Or slightly damaged and capable of holding the fight?

[baseballbrat]

At the time Yamato was sunk, wasn't the war pretty much over? I was under the impression that it was more target practice then an important mission. I thought this was a clean up mission by the navy and any ship sunk was just another notch on the side of their planes. If I am wrong, please someone correct me.

[prowannab]

Once again, I must agree with baseball, Even though there was multiple land based action to happen and much to do about the mainland consideration going on, but in hindsight, Yeah. This was the last of the naval conflicts in WWII

[bucketfoot-al]

Well, Lt Stetson is long gone I suspect, but them's the facts as reported. Spurr did have a chance to interview many of the participants for his book. Stetson undoubtedly redirected to Yamato because she was the "big fish". She was not underwater, she was just listing to port and still moving at about 10-12 knots. I have photos on my site of the last moments of Yamato, just before the Yorktown flight arrived. As you can see there, she was still underway.

As far as the mission, it was a one-way "Surface kamikaze" mission and no one on board had any illusions about surviving. Nimitz initially sent his battleships to engage Yamato (what an ending to naval warfare that would have been), but Rear Admiral Deyo moved his carriers into position and cabled Nimitz that he was ready to attack. Nimitz cabled back "You go get them."

The USN battleships thus became the "second line" of defense in case Yamato survived the aerial onslaught.

The idea was for Yamato to engage the US landing fleet, then beach herself and serve as a gun platform against American forces onshore, while her crew took rifles and went ashore to fight the invasion....yeah, I know....

Vice Admiral Ito initially refused to commit Yamato to such a mission, and only relented when the vice-commander of the IJN made a personal trip to Yamato. He informed Ito and his captains that Yamato would be a decoy that would draw the USN planes away from the kamikaze attacks coming from Okinawa. When one of his destroyer captains, unable to hold his rage at being told that the IJN Commander Admiral Toyoda would not be joining this last mission of the IJN, accused the commander of the IJN of "hiding in a bunker" while "we are sacrificed", Ito calmly retorted that "our sacrifice will herald the sacrifice of 100,000,000 Japanese...

...yes, the A-bombs actually saved millions of Japanese lives that would have been lost in an invasion ... but that's another story ...

[Ed Roth]

The Pacific war ended in August - let me see, carrier raids on Formosa and Indo China, Bunker Hill hit by kamikaze, Enterprise hit by kamikaze, battler for Okinawa and dozens of US ships hit by kamikazes, US carrier raids on Japan, US battleships bombard Japan, Indianapolis sunk by IJN sub...