I kid you not, folks: a 1/10 scale model of the Yamato is currently under construction (and nearly finished) at the Yamato Museum in Kure City, Hiroshima, Japan. I was flipping through this month’s Model Art magazine and ran across an article about it. Man-o-man, it’s beautiful! It’s supposed to be completed February 2005, I believe. I will definitely be heading to Hiroshima to see that monster (it’s only about an hour and a half or so from Osaka)!
At 1/10 scale, it is 26 meters long…that’s over 85 feet long!! Amazing…
It’s an introduction to the Yamato Museum, a part of the “Maritime History Museum of Science,” which according to this link will open during “Golden Week” next year. “GW” is at the end of April, so maybe the article I read on the Yamato model meant that the model itself would be finished in February. I should have bought the magazine! I’ll pick it up tomorrow.
The site only briefly refers to an “oogata moukei” (large model) of the Yamato.
Click on the artist’s rendering of the museum, and you can see how the landscaping will feature a 1/1 relief of the Yamato on the grounds! It should be a very interesting museum, indeed.
Oh how I’d love to cruise the local lake in a thing like that! I hope to someday get a sailboat, around 25’. Yamato model is over 3 times that size! Isn’t that about the length of a PT boat or even longer?
[oX)]I’d love to put a fast propulsion system in that thing and show up all the local boaters.
Why not??? I’d rather see her in 1/1 scale than any model, any day, and I’m willing to bet that 99.9% of ship modelers feel the same way. Preservation of historical artifacts, whether is the good guys or the bad guys, is vital to avoiding the mistakes mankind has made in the past.
George Santayana wrote that “Those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it.”
Her survival, or any other individual capital ship in history, would not have effected the outcome of World War Two, be it Bismarck, Hood, Yamato, or Arizona. Chances are, had they survived, they would have been unceremoniously scrapped when they exceeded their life expectancy. Most certainly the Axis vessels, and most likely the Allied ones as well. Arizona’s sister ship, Pennsylvania, was expended as a target. Hood may have been saved, but the Brits didn’t save Sheffield, Warspite, Rodney, Nelson, King George V, or any other equally famous warships from that era.
What survives from the Imperial Japanese Navy in WW2??? Some anchors here and there, a gun from Mutsu which blew up at anchor, and Mikasa, which was a training and barracks ship for naval cadets during the war. The only reason she was spared was because of her significance to the Japanese victory at Tsushima.
Sorry about the rant folks…but I’d trade ANY 1:1 historic vessel for a model any day.
But I think Mikey was probably just joking around that it’d be too big in 1/1 as a model, as compared to the 1/10 model we’re talking about, that’s all! I don’t think he meant “thank goodness that evil enemy ship no longer exists to threaten us.”
That’s my take on the comment, anyway.[:D]
Mikey?[:)]
actually just think of the cost involved in building a 1/1 scale Battleship first you would need a shipyard so that you can build the ship and secondly you would need to decide on what you want to build it out of. wood or metal? and thirdly you need people to build it.
I am sure you could find qualified volunteer help, but tying up a shipyard for the time a volunteer crew would take to build a BB, would be expensive.
I think most people here would volunteer to lay decing on even this 1/10th scale model
Here are some quicktime files online of the model.
"Shift"Key will zoom in
“Ctrl” key to zoom out
Mouse click and drag to pan
OMG! That would be an incredible model to see. Thanks for the link, Brian. I wonder if the Japanese could be convinced to build some carriers in that scale.
I sure would love to see everything they listed at the museum. The 1:1 mural, the 10th scale model and the Zero (I assume this is a restoration) would all be worthy trips, but all in one place…now I have to win the lottery to make a pilgrimage to Hiroshima.
