Time to get back to modeling now that the holidays are over and relatives are gone.
For me it started with a final review of the superstructure prior to painting. What I'm looking for are the arrangement of doors, ladders, and hand rails. While the original (old) version of the Tamiya Yamato was quite special when first introduced, it is severely lacking in detail by todays standards. I guess that is why they introduced a new tooled version. For example, when looking at the bare model, I could only locate three pair of doors on the whole kit and they were nothing more than a raised rectangle that really did not look like a door(?). Thanks to the Lion's Roar PE and some spare PE, I was able to replace them then research and add aproximately 30 more. The same can be said for the ladders which is also surprising to me considering they have tooled ladders on the main gun turrets and the hull. Once again, with the Lion's Roar instructions and some research I was able to replace them and add another 20-30 additional PE ladders. Why would you attempt to mold in a few ladders on the turrets and a couple on the hull only to forget about the other 30?
Anyway, enough rambling about the little details. The other resources used to detail the doors and ladders were mostly from various internet pictures, images from 3DHISTORY.DE by Thomas Schmid, photos of a completed new tool Yamato done by Olli-Peka Immonen on IMODELER, and a completed build on MODEL SHIP WORLD's forum.
After I finished the final overview of the superstructure I decided to try a new method of shading for me for a 1/350 model. I have decided to try drawing a force perspective of shading with an extra fine tip black sharpie marker. Using the same logic that the aircraft modelers use when pre-shading panel lines and other areas, I think I'm giving the Yamato the same treatment but with a permanent marker. That means lots and, lots of lines all over the hull, decks, and superstructure.
Once I was happy with that I started on the aircraft dolly tracks on the aft portion of the main deck. Previously I added the base plates for all of the track.
I was not sure if I wanted to add them before or after adding the deck to the hull, but the "before" option won on this time (I hope I will not regret it later.) The Lion's Roar instructions called out the PE part numbers, but one set was numbered incorrectly, specifically there were two sets of #4 on the instructions and no #5 PE set identified. Careful attention to detail is needed on these parts as one side has more relief and detail while the other side is smooth. In all instances with this assembly, every detailed side is suppose to be facing outward, not inside or towards the duplicate rail. The base plates provided a raised line to guide where the parts are suppose to be, though they really do not help very much.
IMPORTANT: Every rail should be test fitted to measure as the majority have very tight tolerances. In numerous instances a part of the rail needed trimmed (shorter) to fit the designated area, especially where the rails reach their point, near the center of the deck. Part of the reason is because two of the rails actually cross and in some other cases the inside rail may be shorter than the outside rail by a fraction, I believe you can see this in the photo above with your naked eye. If you do not do this they will not fit properly, they will buckle, and obviously not be straight. So, after all of that, here is what I got done today:
You may notice that I also created some hand rails for the platforms on the catapults (they were not part of the Lion's Roar PE set). you can also see some of the lines from the permanent marker that will be defused when painting.
Painting very soon I hope. Comments always welcome.
DRUMS01
"Everyones the normal until you get to know them" (Unknown)
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