well i am sure that you guys are aware that in tamiya battleships350 scale the deck come together with some parts of the island itself. currently i hav some problems tinking of how to paint the deck. do you paint the hull colour 1st or the deck 1st?

Hello Chuanren!
I usualy paint the hull and lower edges of the superstructure also all of the deck objects, vents ammo box's extra first. Then I paint the deck. This way I can go back and touch up any run overs or goofs I made a lot easier.
If you have more questions, just ask.

Cheers,

Garry

I am currently working on the yamato and there are some low and thin AA turret mountings. how do you go about masking the sides of these mountings?

This is my Yamato build. I just finished it, same kit as yours.

http://p196.ezboard.com/fmodelfleetfrm21.showMessage?topicID=31.topic

I brush paint all of my ships, so I dont do any masking. You could airbrush your deck, then touch things up with a hand brush. Also, visit my selected link below. We still have the Yamato group build going on there, and there is a lot of good information to be had!
HTH,

Garry

I build a lot of these 350 scale ships. Have built all 4 types of the Tamiya BB series as well as the Trumpeter Arizona and Essex. (Got a Hornet, Bismarck, and Enterprise waiting and hoping for a Nimitz for Christmas). I always paint the hull first. All three colors (red - black - gray cammo) I assemble deck onto hull attempt to hide the joints and then airbrush my deck color on masking off the hull sides. I then go back and paint the gun tubes / detail parts molded into deck the appropriate colors. I sub assembly build the guns, cranes, superstructures, etc and after they are all painted and pe stuff added assemble them onto hull. The last thing I do is put the PE railings along the sides of the ship. A final spray of flat and touch up and VIola. Lately I've been experimenting using ULTRA light guage guitar string to similate rigging.