¹⁄700

Build Up of the Tamiya 1:700 IJN Yamato

Rigging

Rigging was made of very fine stretched sprue and smoke colored nylon thread. The long runs were made with stretched sprue. They ended up bowing a bit but the appearance looked good. A pivot was made out of sliced styrene and sturdy wire. It was painted, cut and inserted in the top of the crane. Rigging was then attached to this, allowing for the crane to pivot.

I used the book for a reference, used stretched sprue for straighter runs and the nylon thread when a bowed or curved run was desired. Where possible the section was glued then the excess trimmed off when dry. All rigging except the yardarm and flag rigging was painted black with a few white markers here and there for effect. Navigation markers for the mast rigging were created with sliced cylindrical styrene for the circular starboard side and triangular paper was used for the cone on the port side.

Final Ship Details

The final ship components are the flags, anchors and the gold crest on the front of the ship. The forward anchors had their middles bent back to be inserted in the holes and the rear anchors had theirs only slightly bent; both were painted Modelmaster Gunmetal. The large crest from the W fret was also painted gold and then added to the model.





I made my own flags on a computer and used them on the model. I did use the ‘Ten-Go” mission banner from the kit after scanning it into the computer in case I made a mistake. Using a ruler and sharp hobby knife I cut out each flag, folded and glued them together with superglue. This made the paper stiff and when bent, will keep the shape of the waves made in each one. They were added to the model and then the edges were lightly tipped with the India ink-alcohol mixture for a slight worn look. The banner was made the same way except the leads which made the triangle were created using stretched sprue and painted black before adding to the model.