1/350 IJN Battleship Yamato during operation Ten Ichi Go

First, a shot of the kit and the goodies:


I must admit this is the largest subject I have ever built, being a 75cm long. This will be challenging to photograph no doubt.

I started with the hull assembly. As always Tamiya do some clever engineering, and polycaps and screws are provided in the kit.

Although I hope to put the model in an ocean setting (that's the plan anyway!) I assembled the lower hull (Tamiya provides you with an option to build her as a waterline model) and filled a gap. Rudders and metal propulsion shafts were added too.



So, with the assembly of the lower hull behind, I decided to paint it prior to further construction (less masking ). I primed the thing with Mr. Surfacer 1500 Black and then gave it a couple of coats of Tamiya Hull Red. Now, unlike the other Japanese battleships of WWII, Yamato had a bright red lower hull. But I wanted to go for the hull red, why...dunno, probably because I had it in stock . Remember that the plan is that Yamato will be sailing in some water when finished, so basically not much, or nothing at all will be visible of the lower hull 

Before I could start attaching the upperhull and deck to the lower part I decided to remove the moulded on degaussing cable first. Degaussing-what? Yup, I had never heard of it either . In order to prevent magnetic mines to be drawn easily towards the ships, the Japanese (and probably other navies too, but don't know too much about that) added a cable around the hull. This cable had electric current throught it to diminish the magnetic field of the hull. Gauss is a unit measuring the strenght of a magnetic field. The Germans predomantly used this unit.

And then I could make a start with the etch degaussing cable. Pontos actually give you two options: a 'flat' plain cable or one simulating multiple cables, so it has a bit of relief. I chose the latter. Quite some time later I could glue it around the bow. Took me some time to get all the bends right. (Quite annoyingly - and as a Tamiya user I should have known it - Tamiya paints dry flat. Now that's not in issue on it's own...but the drawback of it is that it attracts lots of dust particles 

And one more shot with the complete hull mated (btw, I forgot to take photos of that stage, but the upper deck parts are attached with screws as well)

Even though this is a great kit, it isn't perfect, when installing the side upperhull parts there were some gaps which needed to be filled. I must say I'm not a huge fan of sanding and all, I find it always risky stuff. But it had to be done. I also installed the aft lower deck/airplane/lifeboat hangar. The deck itself is part of the Pontos set, as well as the very cool bollards.

One of the more cool features is the amount of detail of the kit. Even the turret bearings are moulded, nothing will be visible of that.



The real challenge here were the rails. These consist of two similar parts each which needed to be glued together. It posed me with a question: how to do that without messing up? The risk was there that I'd bend them during handling or even glue them on my work surface. It happened with one part, but luckily that bit won't be visible afterwards . Then I discovered Gator Grip glue, it looks like PVA glue and dries clear, it also has a bit of longer working time than ca glue and spill can be cleaned up with water. Quite the revelation!

At the rear was a gap that needed to be filled as well

I finished adding the details on the bow part of the deck. I added the bollards, some parts were removed like the capstan base and the anchor chain brake mechanism and replaced by etch counterparts.

As you can see there are four cylindres around the capstan. Pontos gave you the option to add them or not. I thought it looked cool so I added them. However, in hindsight and after checking references, I'm not too sure if they were there on Yamato. Anywhoo, they are glued firmly in place so they will remain there

The achor chain brake wheels in place. Quite tiny, I had to remove the moulded on simplified part and drill a hole for the cylindre. After that I glued the wheel on top. Not too hard to my surprise.

Something which Tamiya didn't imply on the kit was the paravane fairlead. Quite a complicated part but I managed to assemble it without too much trouble. I added a 1 Eurocent piece to make a comparison.

The silver pieces you see on next photo are the Tamiya etch ones. Now that's the one thing I don't like in this kit: the Tamiya etch is very sturdy and hard. This can be an advantage, but it's very hard to remove them from the sprues and clean up.

On the hull sides I glued on the correct number of pipes. Not 100% sure but I guess these are the exit holes for like toilets and drains and such? I added some more of the degaussing cable as well, all glued with Gator Grip. Any excess glue cleans up easily.


And last but not least. I glued the propellers in place. They are some cool machined parts and save me the effort of painting (why do I glue them in place anyway ey LOL)


Robbo : oh yes April 2016 was more or less the beginning of all of this 

Oop, there they are! Crossed posts

That looks superb fella...........soooooo glad yav put it up on here for us to follow mate......and there is no rush

One more update for today
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 ). 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  and took me nearly two hours to assemble just one. Yamato had more than thirty on board . To show the shear size of the thing I layed a toothpick and a 1/35 Tiger I roadwheel (what else ) next to it for comparison.




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 (consist out of 2 parts each)


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:


I assembled the two Kure Type No.2 Model 5 catapults. Each one consists out of a staggering 70 parts 

Assembly was timeconsuming and a little frustrating from time to time (though not too often) but the result is ok:




Although not an easy assembly, the jib crane definitely is much faster assembled than I expected.

The base for the crane consists out of many parts already, and a wonderfully turned piece of brass

And completely ready!


I couldn't resist dryfitting the catapults and crane to the stern, as well as the platforms for the stern AA guns (which are still a WIP)

That's all for today folks!

Tsudzuku,

That is stunning etch work buddy........ , seems a shame to hide it all under paint

I like that glue looper thingy

This build is special

Outta this world mate........etch work just blows me away

Unbelievably detailed and tiny etchwork fella, too much for me to even attempt!

In-feckin-credible build so far Wouter, the AA guns are masterpieces on its own !