Lovely work so far Don. Looking forward to seeing more.....Cheers Mark

OK Folks, the new Tamiya 1/350 Yamato is announced in Japan, release date apparently in a few weeks. List price above $300, HLJ is having a pre-release sale with the basic kit at $240, with or without some hand rail, boat and gun barrel add-ons. No info yet on any specific PE sets released for it. I'm assuming that most of the existing stuff out already will work with it. No other info other than Janusz Skulski served as a consultant for the kit design and Mr. Ishida may have been on the design team.

Last night I began work on the aircraft handling deck. Will make a progress report soon. Finally, I decided to make this klit into a 1944 "Leyte Gulf" Yamato rather than an earlier version, in order to take fuller advantage of all the Ishida pieces, many o which would not have been applicable to a 1942 version.

Update (thanks Michi) - Pontos plans to release both a full PE set and wooden deck. It will be interesting to see if Tamiya updates the color recommendations for the kit and what that would mean for wood deck manufacturers.

Japanese modeler who has done extensive corrections to the Tamiya kit, using Lionroar #2 and Ishida parts...

http://hephaestus.kan-suke.com/making-yamato01.htm

Hi Doug.

Isn't it always the way you go out of your way to modify an old kit to get more detail and someone goes and brings out a kit with all the goodness already there. Good idea to build an early Yamato as I am sure the Tamiya kit will have hundreds of AA guns etc.

I ordered mine from HLJ in Japan and it comes with extras, Brass barrels, PE hand rails and boat details sets. I couldn't resist and ordered a set straight off. Saved a bit by ordering early as well... I hope...

Keep up the good work mate!

Hi Warren, yes, I ordered the new kit myself last night. In a way, it will speed up my progress on this one since I will have an "accurate" kit to use as a modeling guide as I go along.

More progress... in addition to placing the aircraft handling deck, I've added the braces, lift track, gussets and access ladder underneath the deck, plus the Ishida replacement supports for the catapults. I initially placed the Lionroar #2 track, but realized there was no way I was going to be able to successfully add the hundreds of incredibly small gussets along the sides of the track. Scratch building the gussets also did not work. So, I went back to adding the original Tamiya track after sanding down the sides to make it thinner, and then added gussets made out of Evergreen. These were not uniform when placed, but were sanded into shape easily enough after the super glue had dried.



A close-up of the Ishida replacement support. What with the new PE grid deck and my simulated plating, the piece was not quite flush to the surfaces it touched, but some Mr. Hobby Surfacer has successfully filled in the gaps.



As Katseas Kostas has mentioned, the braces that Lionroar #2 provides, although by far the most aesthetically pleasing of any provided in other PE sets, do not fit the intended areas very well, and the upper legs of them actually over hang the edge of the cut-out deck grill. I used some super glue to bridge the gaps so that all braces meet solid plastic at one point or another, and used two small pieces of square rod to hide the error from viewing from above. Also, I realized after I placed the access ladder that the degaussing cable actually goes behind it. I can probably move the cable slightly behind the ladder so this will not be an issue. Also note that I repositioned the open and closed portholes looking out over the boat handling deck a little lower so that they are in line with the ones located further aft on the hull.

Getting better and better each time I see her.....Cheers Mark

Thanks again Mark. Over the weekend I added the Lionroar #2 aircraft handling deck piece, the turntable pieces, and the grills that go over the two extending wings of the deck. While fitting the deck piece, it became immediately obvious that the holes for the two rear inclined ladders did not exactly match the locations marked for them on the original Tamiya deck piece, which I had sanded down to use as a base. This required some surgery on the Tamiya piece, which went easily enough since it did not need to be perfect (the new PE piece covers everything except the hole itself. Once this was done, the deck pieces went on without too much trouble, after a liberal slathering of super glue spread out with a razor. The weights I placed on top of it (full bottles of paint) were hardly even needed.





This shows a close-up of the two grill pieces. The instructions in Lionroar #2 incorrectly tell you to align them with the rounded edge of the opening for the inclined ladders facing the exterior side. It should actually be reversed, as the ladder coming up from the boat handling deck, by way of a small platform part way up the hull, actually runs away from the side of the hull. Also, although I located this platform in the exact same location as the Tamiya original, it does not exactly align with the opening above, so the small safety rail along the side of the platform will have to be removed. I will deal with this another day.

Beautiful work Doug, looks fantastic Noticed your reference to Mr. Surfacer. Have you tried Mr. Dissolved putty? really good for filling fine cracks or smoothing over joins.
Cheers,
Julian

Thanks Julian, I was not familiar with Mr. Dissolved but I will see if I can track it down. BTW, your binary joke is 10 cute.

Pictures of the new Tamiya 1/350 kit from a Japanese web site -









Not too much detail visible from this distance, but it does look like the kit comes with a waterline option.

Another site with some better detail pics of the new kit. I see there is some hull plating detail included in the mold...

http://www.asahi.com/shopping/gallery/111014hobbyshow_3/2_tamiya_02.html

Some additional, even closer pics of the new kit from the Tamiya.jp web site

http://www.tamiya.com/japan/products/78025yamato/index.htm

Soon we will be down to microscopic level detail..

Did you get the detail sets with the Tamiya kit mate?

I ordered the HLJ special which comes with extra boat and railing PE set. I will probably have enough PE from the sets I've already purchased to fill in everything else, but we'll see once the kit actually arrives.

Seeing the new close ups of the new kit by Tamiya, i have to say it is a better base to start a model of Yamato, but one will still need to apply a considerable amount of extra etch replacement parts (Rear hangar supports, davits , the entire rear steel deck also seems to be rather void of much surface detail) .There are some improvements that save you time and they do look better (separate pipes around the funnel , better detail around the bridge, better deck engraving ,hull plating , but having worked on the old kit now , i say that these alone do not justify the huge jump in the price.Anyway, i have completed the first hull and moving on to the superstructure now (will post some pics in my blog later,) .

Yes, it will still require a full set of PE for sure. However, just to get the right dimensions on the superstructure parts is a big plus. Hopefully, superstructure is not attached to the deck either. Bear in mind that we are suffering badly right now from the horrible yen exchange rate. Maybe the Japanese govt. intervention the other day will help bring that down.

Howdy folks, long time between posts while I waited for the new Tamiya kit to arrive, which it did on Thursday. Part of the reason was to acquire the new kit as a guide for corrections on the older kit, and I'm please to say that it will serve that purpose well. I will post pics of the kit here soon, but for the moment, I can say that there are very few downsides with the kit. It will still require PE, even though the kit does come with some basics that will allow intermediate modelers to complete without any additions except railing. Highlights - Kit comes with waterline option, no need to cut the hull. Hull is fully detailed with plating and welding plates. Superstructure is separate from the deck and is designed to allow you to build either the 1941, 44 or 45 versions (wing AA mounts are separate pieces), although parts for the 41/44 are not included. There is a clear plastic sprue for search light pieces and a huge number of binoculars for the observation decks. All the additional corrections noted by Skulski and others are there, including a few that were only recently noted. Aircraft are much better molded and extra boat set is very well done. The hull does not include the degaussing cable..you will have to add that via PE, and the aircraft handling deck still has solid tracks and does not have plate details. However, plate details on the bow are included. The light 25mm guns are acceptable but you will want to replace, and the open mount shields will look better with PE versions. OK, pics to follow...

No Degausing cable,not even a guide for it, not plate details at the aircraft deck, option for 44 /41 but no additional parts?.....300 usd and still the need for aftermarkets AND scratch building.It just doesnt sound so appealing all of a sudden to me.I rather get a Fujimi Fuso or Kongo first.

There is a faint indented guide for the degaussing cable. Other than that and the lack of fully detailed AC handling tracks, this is a big improvement, but the price of course is an issue exacerbated by the exchange rate. I'm assuming that the "41" pieces will be sold as an optional add-on package at a later date. I didn't see any errors on the kit at all and the molding is super clean, no flash or injection marks what so ever. Scratch building should be a minimum if you go that route - just sanding down the ac handling deck for the Lionroar pieces, I'd think. It does come with quite a bit of PE for the basics (cranes, catapults, radar, etc.), although I would say that either Lionroar #2 or WEM are superior. Biggest issue was the extra railing set included in the package. These are stanchions-only, and require you to thread super-thin wire through them. Only the masochist among us will take that route. One other note I was annoyed at, painting instructions do not show the white heading markers and "black" decks are mentioned in passing but not portrayed. Kit includes a full color 1/350 scale painting template of both side and above views, similar to the one appearing in Google, but not including that one's errors.

The white heading markers at the edges of the deck in either side ,if i remember well, were placed in 10 meter intervals from each other so you could calculate that .

I guess i will have to buy that as well at some point.Just pretending i am annoyed for the moment as i have too many kits in my closet waiting .

OK, Prepare for pics. Main superstructure piece first...

Hull pieces. The bow part of the hull (both above and below waterline) are separate pieces, presumably to allow optional "as built" bow with open portholes.

deck pieces. The two deck sides are separate pieces, for easier access to the locator holes you'll need to drill depending on early/late ship version.