New Tamiya 1/350 Yamato

Having the new tool kit, and as much reference as I can lay my hands on, I'd say that Tamiya have made a fairly accurate model.... of the 1/10 scale model sitting in the Yamato museum at Kure rather than an accurate model of the Yamato herself.

 Be advised, before plunking down all that money, that the new tool Yamato still has numerous hard to fix inaccuracies (many inexcusable in my view), this from a world authority on the subject whose help Tamiya turned down:

  fow.az.pl/.../viewtopic.php

 The issues around the stern are especially shocking, and more are pouring in such as the crude inaccurate prop shaft bases.

 Tamiya's Mogami and I-400 have much better press, accuracy-wise.

 Personally I found the multiple section assembly hull objectionable on principle, opposite to the minimal modeller effort expected, especially with all that plating detail... I found this much more objectionable than Hasegawa Nagato's bizarre hull plating, which can be toned down easily with primer...

 Even so, Tamiya's Yamato is not a bad kit, just not by a long way up to its outrageous price... I personally lean towards Hasegawa's Akagi as being somewhat better value to the finicky modeller, which is saying something if you add the phot-etch...

 Gaston

I do not think ship modellers will really run and grab the expensive kits but for those who really want something of this calber, it is here.

I suppose that, before they do anymore to this level, Tamiya is waiting to see the degree of commercial success of the new kit.

Because of my interest in two ships, The USS Missouri and the Yamato I take special attention to models of the these great ships in 1:350 scale. I was able to inspect the contents of the new Yamato and I think it is worth the money. It has corrected a lot of detail from the old kit and I think you might have to inspect the instructions carefully because so many features have been included before you buy  (if you want) any AM  PEs. I wish they will do something about the old Missouri as well.

Bruno

First let me say your build is truely amazing and a credit to your skill. Second I must thank you for a really full honest answer. My mind is pretty much made up to go for the new build, just going to wait for my birthday and make it a present to myself I think

Phil

As the Reviewer and builder of the Yamato in that review all I can say is you get what you pay for. The kit is VERY expensive, even at the steep discounts some places have it at, but a pleasure to build and I was still happy to come into the hobby room every morning for the 7 weeks or so it took to build it.

Now, the older Yamato kits from Tamiya can be brought up to about the same level of detail but it will take a full suite of photoetch and brass and various other detail parts. You are putting a lot of extra time and money into an older kit with good but not stunning detail. It can be done, and you can space out the purchase of the various upgrades needed so you don't get hit with the whole price all at once. But the final cost is going to come out very close on either kit. 

It's a choice every modeler has to make: your wallet or your time? Which is worth more? The new Yamato needs the degaussing cables, the metal gun barrels, and a railing set but that's all. The kit is stunning and fits beautifully. And the final product is a real show stopper.

The older kit will take a healthy amount of upgrades and a lot of modifications to approach the detail level of the new release. The time invested will be quite large. As will be the money. And in the end the new release will have sharper detail because that's how it was molded in the first place.

There are a lot of subtle differences between the new and old kits with the new kit being more accurate, but a lot of people really don't care if the bridge is perfect or if the 03 deck shape is off slightly. And honestly no one would see the differences unless they were a real Yamato fan. 

Either ship can be built into a stunning and award winning model if the builder is good enough to pull it off.

With all that in mind, you can make your choice. 

http://www.finescale.com/Products%20and%20Reviews/Kit%20Reviews/2012/03/Tamiya%201350%20scale%20IJN%20Yamato.aspx