The Ship Model Forum

Hi everybody, here I'll post photos of my current build, and the biggest and most complicated build for me up to date.

I'm using the new tool Tamiya Yamato, beautiful kit to work on (in the past did the old tool, day and night difference), with that I got the advanced Pontos PE set, some generic PE sets for IJN, a lot of 3D printed parts from Bunker Studio and Blue Fatty Model (Hobbyeasy) and on top of that I'm designing myself and printing other parts that are not available and that I feel would benefit from this treatment.

I'm representing the Yamato as it was during the last mission (Operation Ten-go), will try to go for the most realistic and history accurate option, in that endeavor I found the amazing gentleman Christian van der Sanden on Facebook, on the 1/200 Trumpeter build group, he's truly a Yamato GURU and the knowledge he has is beyond anybody I met. He's helping me a lot in researching and making this the most accurate model.

Since I've been working on this project for more than a year (on and off) I have a lot of photos, so I will divide them in a couple of post.


First up general photos of what I'm using on this build:









1. 3D modeling

I've been 3D modeling for some time now, and gave it a go for scale model purposes also. I'm using Fusion 360 and printing on a Phrozen Mighty 8K with Aqua grey 8K resin.

Since I'm using "Anatomy of the ship" (2017) book as a reference, it's easy to make this parts because the book has really good drawings, dimensions and also 3D renders that help you understand the shape better.

Most of the parts you see here are not 100% finished, I have to test print more than half of that and adjust the design if needed.

2. 3D test prints

An important part of 3D modeling is test printing, to see if the design is good, if you made some parts too thin, too big etc. This was also a learning experience for me, because now I know what to expect, how big or small details should be etc. In some cases you have to over exaggerate some details (like rivets) so they come up good after printing. All of this parts you see here are, again, just tests, nothing will go on the ship, every part needs a small adjustment, some tweaking and then I can go into printing for real. As I said before I'm using Phrozen 8K printer, with their standard resin, but as you will see in the next post, this printer can do so much more if properly tuned

3. 3D parts from Hobbyeasy

During the last year I've seen some 3D parts on Hobbyeasy, mainly from WULA (China I guess), that got me really hooked up, but they were selling only a "full ship" set for 700+ USD, not my cup of tea spending that amount based on 3-4 photos online, not really close ups, nothing painted etc. So I've stepped back for a bit. In the meantime Bunker Studio (I think they are the guys that did a lot of 3D modeling for TAKOM) and Blue Fatty Model (a sister company , collaborating with Bunker Studio) came out with a series of set Yamato related, so I jumped on, got 2 sets and said to myself "let's see how this looks, if it's bad, it's better to throw 50-60 USD then 700+", and so I did.

When the package arrived, I unboxed it , and OH BOY was I surprised. The photos online don't do it justice. The amount of details on this parts is crazy, when you look it under a lens or take photos on 3X zoom you can see some "printing layers" and small defects, but that's all gone after a coat or two of MR Surfacer 1500. With the naked eye you can't see nothing, almost no defects, voxel etc. This would serve also as a review let's say, there is not a lot of photos of this sets and company in general online, so see it for yourself on this photos.

After the first 2 sets I was sold, so got another shipment from Hobbyeasy, and I still have some sets left to buy after summer.

4. Actual scale modeling >.<

Finally we get to actual plastic scale modeling. Of course I started with the hull, since Tamiya split it up in a lot of smaller segments I had to take care of those joints, not an easy job, and not a fast one. I tried to get the best fit and alignment during gluing but when sending you always loose some details, especially on the raised armor plates.

I resolved the issue with 2K (2 components) body filler (auto industry), it's a primer/filler used in body shops, it dries hard rock in around 12h at room temp and you can lay it down thick in order to get back that raised plate texture. So I masked and sprayed, sanded and smoothen everything down as best as possible. Hopefully it will be good enough after the last coat of MR surfacer will go on.

After that I glued a lot of small parts, screw shafts, degaussing cable etc. I took some time away from the hull as a therapy (so I don't get bored) and did some other stuff, too many to write about it but you'll see in the photos.

Hope you like it until now, more to follow!

Oh my God, what a work!!!!
Super! We can say you bought top of the top of the parts.
I will surely follow this topic!!

Great bulding abilities, congratulations!
It's coming really amazing!

Thanks Edoardo for the kind words

New update, been working mostly on priming the rest of the parts, and heavily on the main superstructure, adding details such as railings, handrails, ventilation openings etc.

I still have to 3D design some parts for the superstructure in order to start painting. Next week a bunch of Bunker Studio parts will arrive from HobbyEasy so keep an eye for new updates later this month.

Very impressive all around! Very nice 3D design and printing being incorporated with other AM and good old fashioned model building!

Matt

_________________
In the yards right now:
USS Utah AG-16
On Hold
1/350 USS Portland CA-33 1942
1/350 Trumpeter Texas with a twist

amazing 3D printing.
I am particularly interested in the bridge and the funnel assembly. any chance you'd sell any printed parts?

beautiful job !!!
What wonders me is if you will make also detailing for main superstructure? Main funnel is reach of details and rivets while superstructure look quite plain…

IMHO models with properly balanced detailing may look better than models unbalanced in details.

Looking forward for next beautiful pictures !

_________________
...in my shipyard...

Hi, thanks. In what parts are you exactly interested? What I designed I can think about selling yes, but nothing is finished yet, so I don't have anything to sell at the moment.





Hi! Well we don't know how it will look in the end, maybe good maybe unbalanced, but we'll find out in the end.

The funnel assembly was a bit like this in real life also, the upper part is much busier then the lower, granted that the lower has around 6 rows of rivets overall (much much less then the upper part), that is not included in the model since it's not a printed part. The rest of the superstructure was mostly plain in real life also, there are some rivet lines on the tubs of the 12.7cm open guns, and some other lines, but was mostly welded I guess.

Since the details on the printed parts are a bit over exaggerated, the lack of them on the plastic parts makes a bigger difference yes. We'll see how it ends

THIS IS NOT MY MODEL, taken from this post: https://forums.kitmaker.net/t/my-ultima ... /25736/257

Here we can see how it looks, the fellow modeler also use heavily 3D printed parts.

Latest update on the Yamato, received a new shipment of 3D parts from HobbyEasy and went to work with it. Assembled everything and primed with Mr Surfacer 1500.

Other than that I've been designing and test printing some new stuff, new floor for the air defense level on the main bridge (wooden texture and position for the 3D printed binoculars).

Also the front ventilation system under the secondary turret is almost done, will go nicely with the detailed print of the turret blending it in with the rest of the ship.

As always I'm open for feedback

WOW! Your 3d models combined with the stuff you bought pretty much make for a whole new kit. Looks amazing. I will be following this with interest.

Cheers,

Chris

The details are incredibile!!
Waiting for a panoramic picture of the entire ship. Should be fantastic the whole together

Long time! But I've been working tirelessly in the background, mainly finishing smaller parts one by one, painting, drybrushing, washes, oils, weathering, clear coating...it takes a lot of time of course.

But I finally have a substantial update to show you.

PART ONE will be about the Yamato mighty armament. All parts here are 3D printed, some designed and printed by me, some things are from Bunker Studio and some are from Blue Fatty Model.

I'm still missing 28 Type96 triple 25mm guns that will be visible on the open decks, the ones in the photos are meant to go inside the closed turrets, not much will be visible in the end so I used those one as practice and did not take much care about weathering, painting etc.

I used as reference the well knows areal B&W photo of the Yamato during the operation Ten-Go, and replicated the elevation on the n1 and n2 turret, n3 turret is highly elevated suggesting AA "flak" firing. I know it's not everybody's cup of tea, having the guns in different angles, but since I had this option with the very nice 3D blast bags I just could not resist.

PART TWO is mainly rangefinders, control towers for the AA guns, searchlights etc. Pretty straight forward, every part has it's own interior depicted , with binoculars, communication tubes etc. It will be for sure a nice small detail to look at in the end.

PART THREE are miscellaneous parts like searchlights, catapult, smokestack and the current status of the hull. Again, most parts here are 3D printed and you can find photos of the original unpainted parts in some of the posts before.

I bought the Artwox wooden deck, did try to replicate the darken deck of the Yamato during the last days, but I failed and did not like the look of it (it was too black), so I went and got the Pontos deck, which is a bit better in my opinion, and went with a different approach, using more dark brown shades. I'm still not 100% sure if I'm gonna use this deck or buy another one and do it all over again, some feedback would be nice here. Thanks

excellent progress so far!
the 3D printing has really turned the modelling industry upside down in terms of detail and how easy it is relative to PE and resin.

I don't see any new pictures

Thanks, I have to agree on that statement, 3D printing is the new revolution in our hobby, some people dislikes it because they call it cheating, I see it like a new tool where I can get even more absurd details that no PE, plastic or resin would give me, all in the name of getting the best result possible. I did 1/350 ships "the old way", spending weeks during summer vacation bending and gluing hundreds of PE parts for AA guns for the USS Missouri so I know the hustle. Hopefully people will start to get more used to 3D printed sets, just like resin cockpit sounded cheating back in the day for sure

Hmm, strange, I see them also on my phone and PC when I'm not logged in, could it be something from your end?