1/350 Yamato Tamiya premium

[Edoardo81]

Hello everyone, new year, new ship!!!
This year it's the Yamato's turn!!
Here's a nice overview. This time I also wanted to experiment with a bunch of extra resin parts, which I thought were truly impressive!!


Let's proceed in order and list the accessories:
Tamiya Premium Kit
Pontos Advanced Kit
Various Bunker Studio kits
Open Flyhawk Portholes
Closed FS Star Portholes
I have the Flyhawk cranes on the sides of the ship waiting at customs, hoping they'll unlock it and deliver it.
Let's get to the main kit. Tamiya seems to have wanted to make a model of superior quality to its standard models.
This is evident from the considerable number of parts and the presence of photo-etched parts (I think it's the only ship with them).



Even the ship's license plate is embossed. I must say, it's truly beautiful.


The hull is divided into many parts so there will be a lot of work to do.


As for the pontos kit, It always has a good amount of photo-etched parts and this time also a good amount of 3D details.


As for the ship, I was surprised to see that the Yamato was initially very bare on the sides of the superstructure because the Japanese had underestimated the importance of aircraft carriers in combat and so they filled the sides with anti-aircraft guns and much more.
So I decided to build the ship in 1944 when she was fully armed.
This will involve a darker wooden deck and a good level of weathering. Let's hope for the best!!


Enjoy yourselves for the work!!

[Edoardo81]

The first job was to eliminate the space between the two hull parts. Unfortunately, this took a lot of time because I tried to accommodate the different depths of the panels on the hull, so I had to do the raised ones first and then the more recessed ones separately.













I hope I managed to keep the different levels well. I did a few extra sanding in some points after taking these shots.

Now let's move on to the axles and stands. Tamiya supplies metal axles, so I'll have to cover them during painting to keep them intact.



Finally, I installed the seacocks under the hull. I must say that the Tamiya PEs are thicker than the Pontos ones, so they are more rigid. However, they don't have a pre-cutted section where the sheet meets the object, so every time you cut the PE, you have to sand to remove the small connection that remains.

[Madhatter]

Good start on the Beast from the East. This Tamiya kit of the Yamato is well known for the hull gaps - something that wasn't there on their first release. Their use of Stainless steel for PE is also a slight downside - especially when it comes to bending it. Still, first world problems right?
I am roughly 1/5th of the way through the Veryfire release and it is almost a dream so far. I've found the wooden deck sticker is too big in some places whilst not big enough in other areas.
I'm looking forward to seeing you tackle the Pontos PE. That volume of PE is too much for my ADHD brain to deal with, so I shall sit back and enjoy your efforts
Hope to see more soon
Regards
Simon

[Edoardo81]

Thanks Simon. I had to buy the tamiya premium because the pontos kit is made to fit with that kit.

I have seen a series of videos for comparison, tamiya premium, veryfire and border. The conclusion is that tamiya and veryfire are better than border, but there's no a final winner over the other two products. If you like I can post the link of the comparison.

For the wooden deck it will take a bit for reaching that working step. I will keep the post updated

[Yuth]

That's a good start

This will involve a darker wooden deck and a good level of weathering. Let's hope for the best!!

Agree for the dark deck, As it was painted with soot, the ageing process may be quite pronounced, especially on the bow of the ship.

However, when it comes to the weathering on the superstructures, we will need to take it slowly, as it had a fairly quiet operational career and was therefore polished like a brand new coin...

[Madhatter]

Thanks Simon. I had to buy the tamiya premium because the pontos kit is made to fit with that kit.

I have seen a series of videos for comparison, tamiya premium, veryfire and border. The conclusion is that tamiya and veryfire are better than border, but there's no a final winner over the other two products. If you like I can post the link of the comparison.

For the wooden deck it will take a bit for reaching that working step. I will keep the post updated

Is that the video from Sen Navy? If so, then yes, I've seen it. 2 or 3 times actually. He really doesn't like Border much does he? Rightly so given the response/ unvield threats he got from the CEO of Border.

[Edoardo81]

Yes I mean that user

[Edoardo81]

Hello everyone, a little update.
We've moved on to the stern. We need to start working on the hangar.
This is where the Pontos kit starts to fit.

First, we need to smooth out the plastic because we're going to put a large PE on it.


Unfortunately, I noticed that one of the two bottles of 5-minutes two-component adhesive has dried out. So, while I wait for the package to arrive from Amazon, let's move on to the rest of the hangar.
Same thing. Erase everything!



In the meantime, let's start laying the tracks. I prefer to put everything together first and then glue the PE for greater convenience, especially since I then have to hold the tracks in place while drying.



See you next time!

[veliko_pile]

Hi Edoardo,

nice to see you picked up the Yamato, I'm returning back to it in 2026 too, hope it all goes well in your case

Waiting for future updated!

[Edoardo81]

You are my reference topic!! Waiting for your updates

[Edoardo81]

Hi to everyone, a little update.
Unfortunately, I'm pretty stuck because I made a mistake on the tracks on the stern and so I had to reorder a sheet of photoetched parts from Pontos.

In the meantime, I've been pursuing an obsession of mine that I can't understand why Pontos doesn't reproduce, especially considering they do it on 1/200 scale models, so all they need to do is convert the plates to 1/350 scale, i.e., the steps!!!
This is the first thing I thought needed to be removed:
[image name=22.jpg key=91983]

So I slowly started drilling holes with the 0.3mm drill and gradually replaced them.







And then I'll add the steps last when the entire hull is assembled and ready for priming.
Here's a test one.



Only problem: out of 11 boxes of drill bits I have, I broke 10 0.3mm drill, so I don't have any left! And I miss the steps on the bow!!

See you next time!

[Edoardo81]

Hi everyone, after a month, I finally managed to get the ship back on track.

Also, I made a mistake with the rails in the stern area of ​​the ship and had to buy an extra sheet from Pontos.
In the meantime, instead of waiting, I started working on the conning tower.






I'll add the portholes, steps, and doors in PE.





I've filled the gap with putty. I've discovered that Tamiya glue makes the putty more liquid and therefore easier to work with.

We need to start adding the binoculars. Now let's get started with the extra kits.

Here's the difference between the resin binoculars and the basic kit.





Plus, let's add the voice tubes.



I have to jump from the basic instructions to the Pontos ones to figure out which ones belong to which!




Once we reach the top, we also need to add the wind shield.



And here is the tower, with some upgrades.









Meanwhile, the piece has finally arrived, so I can resume work on stern





See you next time!

[Edoardo81]

Hello everyone, a little update, especially since I haven't made much progresses.

I've finished filling all the hull parts. I need to check the various sanding operations. Sometimes I'm worried about leaving too many grooves or sanding the plastic too much.





And finally, I've made a little more progress with the photo-etched parts on the main structure. The top cap is just resting on the top to make sure everything lines up. I need to make a few adjustments to the side windows.




See you next time

[Edoardo81]

Hello everyone, the work in progress on the hull continues.
Let's start by installing the photo-etched portholes. There are quite a lot but with patience I managed it.

Now I need to insert the ventilation fans on both sides as indicated in the instructions.

Looking at the details in the book, do you think it's better to drill the hole to add depth or leave it closed? Because if I leave it closed, the back would also become the color of the hull, whereas I imagine it would be black inside due to the lack of light.

Suggestions?

[Edoardo81]

Here's the completed photo-etched hull. I drilled the holes for the vents.
I added the degaussing cable all around the hull and all the foot-steps. It was a long job, but I'm happy with it in the end.
The next step is to place two lifeboats in the rear hangar (it's a pity that only the rear part of each will be visible, nothing else) then I can place the entire deck on the rear and ready to prime it!

Here the pictures!

[Edoardo81]

Goodday everyone, I'm finally posting an update on the ship. I haven't been idle, but I preferred to do a more substantial update rather than just small steps.

I painted and installed two boats at the stern.
I had to install them already because I installed the deck at the stern, so it was impossible to add them later.

Then I added the support beams for the rear deck.
[image name=74.jpg key=94579]

I moved forward with the bow.
Added cleats and supports for the paravanes. Let's say I put everything I needed to put in as photoetch

and then primered the entire ship.

[Edoardo81]

Then here the ship coloured

See you next time!

[Mr. Church]

Looking well. She really is such an impressive size at 1:350.

[Edoardo81]

Thanks Mr. Church but this time I bet you won't say looking well!!

Here's the next step.
This time I think I did worse than good.
I did my first weathering on the hull by watching tutorials, reading, etc.
Since I'm not a master, I obviously always went with small attempts. The problem is that I watch videos where they just brush and it seems like the liquid settles the videomaker' command. Nothing works for me!!
So in some cases some examples seen on tutorials didn't work with me.
Before weathering, I applied a coat of matte clear so as not to touch the underlying layers of paint. However, in one spot, the base red of the hull was coming off.

In this case, I'm happy to take advices, but I'll start by saying:
I use Tamiya paints and use lacquer thinner (yellow cap) for thinning. If I spray with an airbrush or use a brush, everything's fine. However, if I smooth it with a cotton swab to try to blend it, it dissolves the paint underneath.

If I use the Tamiya Thinner X-20 with a blue cap, however, the color doesn't mix with the thinner; it remains like oil mixed with water.
So, in the end, I took three oil paints (white, black, and brown) and use the Tamiya X-20 with a blue cap to thin them or blend them with a cotton swab.
Let's say my fear is that I'll repeat what happened with the Bismarck, where all the paint dissolved (it's true that this time I applied clear coat).

I definitely lack of knowledge on colours andd their thinners above all for with the fading technique.

Here the pictures

[Edoardo81]

Hi everyone, here's an update.
I've been slowly progressing. I finished the bow using aftermarket chains that are much smaller but, more importantly, more accurate as links.

In the meantime, I've tried weathering the wooden deck. I didn't want to overdo it. I've seen decks that are much older, but since this is my first complete weathering of the entire ship, I don't want to risk doing more damage than good. If necessary, I can apply a few more dabs of dark brown.

Now I need to add numbers across the entire ship. I discovered that the Japanese numbered the side oh the hull along the ship's length so they could immediately identify the impact locations.
The numbers aren't decals, but dry-transfer.
Overall, they're coming out pretty well on the wooden deck.

It's the ones on the armored deck that worry me. Since it's corrugated, it definitely won't adhere well and will look ugly.

I thought about making a small square with the tape and brushing on a clear coat to create a smoother layer for the numbers to adhere to, but I'm not sure what clear coat to use, and especially how to keep it contained within the tape.
Any suggestions, or did I just say something completely silly?