Ohhh great! I’ve looked at this one a number of times but never pulled the trigger. Your build could be my downfall. Looking forwato what you do with this big boy…well from my perspective anyway, probably a toy for you 1/200 guys haha
no way mongoose , a toy it definately is not , everything is just so small , the instruction book is 66 pages long , and I just found out , my LHS , is totally out of tamiya paints and I can’t get to brisbane till the weekend . so I wont be able to post pic’s till next week some time .
At one of our contests here in Orlando, we had a few company reps showing off the complated kit and had some for sale. Unfortunately at that time I wasn’t making enough money to get one. I did try to have them lowere the price a little but that didn’t work out. I may have to check on what they are going for now.
You could always do a diorama on what she looked like when they had intende to raise her, repair her and put her on display. The Japanese have always had a facination with this ship, much like we have with our battleships.
finally got down to brisbane , only to find out there is hardly any tamiya paints , in the whole of queensland . was told 2 , 40 foot containers have arrived , so next time .
got some mr hobby no33 russet , doesn’t look too bad . at least I was able to start it .
also got it mounted on a work board , which bill show me how to do .
the false deck is screwed down
started the aft area , rubbed a bit of uschi rubbing powder on the rails , to give them a bit of llife .
she sure is TB , would have loved to have seen her in real life .
on another point , a bloke on anther forum , has pointed out that the stern of the yamato model is all wrong . it should be a flat triangle shape , to allow for something called a hein matt , for the retrieval of the sea planes , also the deck hung out over the stern . is this worth the effort and possible stuff up , guy’s .
I’m in the middle of building her myself and I decided to let it be, not brave enough to tackle such an operation myself. The model at Kure does represent the ‘triangle’ shape you are speaking of (instead, as you mentioned, the kit demonstrating the typical rounded boattail)
Remember the ship did go through some changes before the time she was sunk. Maybe the model reflects ( Your’s that is) the last stern she had. My old Nichimo model had the stern like on the photo. I have seen it in model form in 1/700 both ways.
got to work on the sides of the hull and the deck’s .
I suppose you would call this the flight deck , I’ve added the PE , not use to this type , very hard to cut off of the sprue .
painted with a bit of weathering , those brown things are not decals , they are stickers , I am not a fan of them . you only get 1 go at putting them on , with decals you can slide them around a bit . you have to cut really close to the edge , which can be dangerous .
My old Nichi had decal,s surprisingly enough. But unlike yours, it was a bear to assemble. No Screws! I do have to say,You are getting to the point where you will get Mesmerized by her shape forward. Especially the curve to the deck.
I must say TB , this kit goes together beautifully , the fit is just superb .
I had a wooden deck for the ship , it was just rubbish , very thick and wrinkly . so I just painted it instead , First a layer of MM light tan , then a layer of gloss .
then a layer of burnt umber oil wash .
then wipe off with clean tissue’s .
I’m not sure how to weather it , does anyone have any suggestions , please .
That’s some attention to detail at masterclass level, to be sure.
The weathering of the superstructure is a bit over-done, though. Yamato had 2700 crew who spent a lot of time in port and with the pride of serving on a Fleet Flagship.
Everything within arm’s reach would have een clean painted or polished to within an inch of its life.
Plenty of debate on whether Yamato’s wood deck was painted for war service or not. Or if it was more of an oiled Teak color rather than Japanese cedar–that’s modeler’s pick, really.
Watching one’s references for where russet linoleum was put down.